From Palazzo to Piazza:
Revisioning Art and Conversation at the Columbus Museum of Art

“From Palazzo to Piazza,” celebrates the addition to the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) and the new era for the Museum it represents. Employing a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary approach, the conference explores the relationship between the new structure and the Museum’s mission: Great Experiences with Great Art for Everyone expressed in the Museum’s message.

CMA is committed to serving as a forum for conversations regarding art, its meaning, and the viewing experience in which its diverse public is invited to participate in every way – from architecture, installation and lighting through exhibitions, programs, and other tangible expressions. The conference will:

• consider the ways in which Tsien & Williams’s design relates to that purpose
• contextualize the new building within the history of museum architecture and American and regional expressions
• explore issues critical to the full realization of the building’s and the institution’s goals
• assess how the principles central to the Museum’s vision can be fully realized throughout CMA’s program.

Among confirmed speakers are: Beverly Bethge, Founder/Partner/Chief Creative Officer, Ologie; Michael Bierut, graphic designer and partner at Pentagram since 1990; Brad Cloepfil, architect and principal Allied Works Architecture; Anita J. Ellis, Deputy Director, Curatorial Affairs, Cincinnati Art Museum; John Falk, Sea Grant Professor in Free-Choice Learning, Oregon State University; Neil Harris, Preston and Sterling Morton Professor of History Emeritus, University of Chicago; Leslie Hoffman, executive director, Earth Pledge, which partners with business, communities and government to facilitate the adoption of sustainable practices and the transition to sustainability; Jessica Luke, Director of Research and Evaluation, Institute for Learning Innovation; Nannette V. Maciejunes, executive director, Columbus Museum of Art; Lisa Koenigsberg, president, Initiatives in Art and Culture and founder of conference series on architecture, preservation and culture; Paul Marantz, founding principal and design principal of Fisher Marantz Stone, Inc. (FMS), a firm that approaches light as an integral architectural material; Andrew McClellan, Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts & Sciences and Professor of Art History, Tufts Universty; Michael Morris and Yoshiko Sato, partners in the New York-based architectural firm Morris Sato Studio since 1996; Godfrey Reggio, producer and director, who is prominent in the film world for his Qatsi trilogy; Jock Reynolds, Henry J. Heinz II Director, Yale University Art Gallery; Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, partners in a distinguished New-York based architectural firm; Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor of Architectural History, University of Virginia. (as of 11/30/2008). Program subject to change

A brief history:

Founded in 1878, the Museum (then the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts) cited a mission, the core of which remains the same today: “for the exhibition of paintings, sculpture and works of art as well as for lectures and teaching upon art and kindred subjects.” The original gallery (housed in two mansions where the Museum still stands) was replaced in 1931 by a building designed by Charles Platt, a major architect of the American Renaissance, and executed by the Columbus firm of Richards, McCarty & Bulford. The opening exhibition celebrated the gift of the Ferdinand Howald Collection, one of the country’s leading collections of European and American modern painting, and a selection of paintings by George Bellows, the seed of the largest public collection of Bellows’s work. Following the 1974 addition for temporary exhibitions, the building comprised 88,000 square feet. In 2007, CMA hired Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, an influential architectural partnership working out of New York City, to compose plans for a new expansion; the addition will greatly increase the space available for the collection and for temporary exhibitions, while providing a dramatic new entry experience for the visitor.

REGISTRATION
 
The symposium fee is $100; one-day registrations (day must be specified) are available for $50. A special rate of $30 for the entire symposium (or $15 a day) is available for students (ID required). Individuals may also register solely for the Godfrey Reggio evening for $10. Please complete the registration coupon below and mail to: Columbus Museum of Art 480 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio43215. For further information, contact Lisa Koenigsberg at (646) 485-1952 or Kelli Sproles at (614) 629-0302.

By Fax: Fill in the registration form, including credit card information, and dial (614) 221-0226, 24 hours a day.

By Phone/Internet: Using American Express®, Visa®, or MasterCard®, call (614) 629-0302; or go to www.columbusmuseum.org/architecture

Conference Location: This conference is at the Columbus Museum of Art and at various locations in Columbus and environs.