On View

exhibitions
film series
event series

  • Unlimited: Recent Gifts from the William Goodman and Victoria Belco...

    March 27–September 1, 2019

    Celebrating a major gift of photographs from a pair of local collectors, this exhibition features works by masters of the photographic form, with an emphasis on contemporary work from the Bay Area and around the world.

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  • Art Wall: Carlos Amorales

    March 27–October 13, 2019

    This new commission draws on multiple histories of Mexican muralism, graffiti, and political protest, while reinforcing the importance of social engagement in the present moment.

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  • Permanent Accusation: Art for Human Rights

    April 10–July 14, 2019

    This presentation of work by Fernando Botero and others asks how art can urge accountability for human rights in ways that the law cannot.

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  • Looking: The Art of Frederick Hammersley

    April 10–June 23, 2019

    Explore the extraordinary creativity of artist Frederick Hammersley in its full breadth, from painting and photography to computer art, in this exhibition marking a significant recent donation of the artist's work.

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  • The 49th Annual University of California, Berkeley Master of Fine...

    May 17–June 16, 2019

    BAMPFA showcases work by the latest graduates from the MFA program at Cal.

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  • About Things Loved: Blackness and Belonging

    May 17–July 21, 2019

    Cal Conversations

    Featuring creations by Black artists in the collections of BAMPFA and the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, this exhibition organized by UC Berkeley graduate students imagines the liberatory possibilities of celebrating blackness and belonging.

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  • Two Taras 18th century Nepalese sculptures

    Divine Women, Divine Wisdom

    June 26, 2019–December 8, 2020

    Art from South Asia and the Himalayan region that celebrates the beauty, fecundity, wisdom, power, and compassion of women within the context of Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

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  • No Horizon: Helen Mirra and Sean Thackrey

    July 3–August 25, 2019

    This exhibition brings together two Bay Area artists whose work embraces the simple act of seeing as an inspiration to deep reflection and understanding.

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  • calligraphy by Tetsugen Doko

    Meditation in Motion: Zen Calligraphy from the Stuart Katz Collection

    July 17–October 20, 2019

    The first exhibition at BAMPFA to present the unique art form of Japanese Zen-inspired calligraphy, Meditation in Motion features important works by Chinese Ōbaku monks who immigrated to Japan, as well as writings by Japanese monks who expanded on their examples.

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  • Dennis Feldman: Photographs

    July 31–October 13, 2019

    Photographs from two series, Hollywood Boulevard, 1969–1972 and American Images, demonstrate the artist’s achievements as an affecting social documentarian and explorer of what he calls “a world contained in a frame.”

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  • Strange

    August 21, 2019–January 19, 2020

    Featuring works from many cultures and time periods that resonate with the spirit of Surrealism, this exhibition explores the improbable, uncanny, mysterious, and miraculous as sources of artistic inspiration.

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  • The San Quentin Project: Nigel Poor and the Men of San Quentin State...

    August 21–November 17, 2019

    Following the evolution of artist Nigel Poor’s collaboration with men incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, this exhibition features visual documents, photographs from the prison’s archive, and episodes of the award-winning podcast Ear Hustle.

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  • Kader Attia / MATRIX 274

    September 18–November 17, 2019

    Part of French-Algerian artist Kader Attia’s ongoing investigation of the concept of repair and healing from the trauma of war, this exhibition presents his seminal installation J’accuse.

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  • Hinges: Sakaki Hyakusen and the Birth of Nanga Painting

    October 2, 2019–February 2, 2020

    The first US exhibition focused on Sakaki Hyakusen, the founding father of the Nanga school of painting in Japan, this presentation reveals his pivotal role in the history of eighteenth-century Japanese art and highlights the conservation of his masterpiece Mountain Landscape.

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  • Terry Fox: Resonance

    October 2–December 15, 2019

    Two of Terry Fox’s video and audio works are being presented at BAMPFA in conjunction with Terry Fox: Resonance, a multivenue celebration organized by Dena Beard and Constance Lewallen.

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  • Dennis Feldman: Photographs

    October 16–December 15, 2019

    Photographs by an affecting social documentarian and explorer of what he calls “a world contained in a frame.”

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  • BAMPFA AR—Augmented Time

    October 23–December 15, 2019

    A Project by Luisa Caldas

    Using augmented reality as a medium, BAMPFA AR—Augmented Time tells the story behind the new BAMPFA building by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

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  • Sylvia Fein / MATRIX 275

    November 13, 2019–March 1, 2020

    This career-spanning centenary tribute of Sylvia Fein showcases a wide array of works drawing on both the personal and the fantastical.

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  • Art Wall: Edie Fake

    November 20, 2019–June 27, 2021

    Edie Fake’s mural envisions affordable housing for transgender elders, using architecture to celebrate the uniqueness of trans bodies and the possibilities of queer space.

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  • Richard Misrach: Untitled (OF 104-91: Swimming Pool), from 1991: The Oakland-Berkeley Fire Aftermath, 1991; archival pigment print; 59 1/2 x 75 in.; BAMPFA, gift of the artist.

    Lands of Promise and Peril: Geographies of California

    December 11, 2019–August 23, 2020

    Cal Conversations

    This student-curated exhibition maps California’s many contradictions as a place of beauty and brutality, prosperity and inequality, sanctuary and exclusion.

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  • Ron Nagle: Handsome Drifter

    January 15, 2020–March 14, 2021

    Ron Nagle’s small sculptures combine modernism, pop culture, and sensory pleasure in compact, perfect packages.

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  • Brave Warriors and Fantastic Tales: The World According to Yoshitoshi

    January 15–July 19, 2020

    Legendary warriors and fantastical creatures come to life in the daring prints of Taiso Yoshitoshi, one of the last great ukiyo-e artists of Meiji Japan.

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  • photograph of Rosie Lee Tompkins 2005 quilt

    Rosie Lee Tompkins: A Retrospective

    February 19, 2020–July 18, 2021

    The largest exhibition of Rosie Lee Tompkins’s work to date, this retrospective reveals her as a brilliantly inventive quiltmaker and an artist of stunning variety, depth, and impact. 

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  • Art for Human Rights: Peace Now!

    February 26–August 30, 2020

    A selection of protest posters made in Berkeley in the sixties and seventies offers a chance to reflect on an era when Americans were at war with one another while waging war abroad.

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  • When All That Is Solid Melts into Air

    March 4–November 1, 2020

    Exploring the Intersection of the Folk and the Modern in Postcolonial India

    Featuring Indian folk art as well as less traditional forms, this exhibition tells the story of the momentous social and artistic transformations that unfolded in the relationship between the “modern” and the “folk” in India after 1947.

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  • Catherine Opie: Political Landscapes

    September 2–November 29, 2020

    On the Outdoor Screen

    Presented hourly on BAMPFA’s outdoor screen, this selection of photographs from Opie’s ongoing series documenting political protests in Los Angeles provides a glimpse into civic participation and affirms the right to freedom of expression.

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  • Orbits of Known and Unknown Objects: SFAI Histories / MATRIX 277

    September 30, 2020–Ongoing

    An exhibition in the form of a website, MATRIX 277 explores and honors the rich legacy of the San Francisco Art Institute on the occasion of its 150th anniversary, tracing connections among artworks, people, and places over the trajectory of the institution’s history.

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  • Ulrike Ottinger / MATRIX 276

    April 30–July 18, 2021

    In tandem with a streaming series of Ulrike Ottinger’s films, this exhibition highlights her work as a photographer, revealing her keen eye for landscape and intimate portraiture.

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  • Beyond Boundaries: Buddhist Art of Gandhara

    April 30, 2021–March 13, 2022

    Northern India’s Gandharan region was a crossroads of power, culture, and art from the second to ninth centuries. Rare sculptural images of the Buddha and his life story reflect cultural exchanges between the Hellenistic world and the native artistic traditions of India. 

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  • Present Tense: Five Centuries of Colonialism in Latin American and...

    April 30–June 20, 2021

    Cal Conversations

    An exhibition of historical and contemporary art that reveals how colonialism has shaped life in the Latin Americas offers captivating works that critique society and introduce beauty as a form of healing. 

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  • The 50th Annual University of California, Berkeley Master of Fine...

    May 14–June 20, 2021

    After a pandemic-related postponement, we showcase works by 2020 graduates from the MFA program at Cal.

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  • Kay Sekimachi: Geometries

    May 28–October 24, 2021

    This survey spans the innovative career of Kay Sekimachi, whose experimental objects fold together art and craft, found and made, and Japanese and American artistic traditions.  

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