PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art presents the 2004–5 Carnegie International, on view through March 20, 2005. The exhibition, North America’s preeminent survey of international contemporary art, will feature more than 400 works by 38 artists from around the world. The 54th installation of this 108-year-old series continues the historic legacy set forth by previous Carnegie Internationals in presenting new and compelling works by contemporary artists. Laura Hoptman, curator of contemporary art at Carnegie Museum of Art, organized the exhibition.

“Laura Hoptman’s outstanding work on the 2004–5 show will extend the exhibition’s distinguished history as it expands the public’s acquaintance with contemporary art and artists,” said Richard Armstrong, The Henry J. Heinz II director of the museum.

“All of the artists as well as the works selected for this year’s show have been chosen because they contributed greatly to the contemporary art discourse over the past four years. The works convey a particular attitude that goes beyond formal or thematic expression,” said Hoptman. “In distinct ways, the artists consider and use art as a meaningful vehicle through which to confront what philosophers have called ‘the Ultimates’—that is, the largest, most unanswerable questions ranging from the nature of life and death, to the existence of God, to the anatomy of belief. This may not seem unusual in light of the entire history of art, but it represents a subtle and important break from much of the work produced for, and viewed in, large international exhibitions of the 1990s.”

The 2004–5 Carnegie International will be organized into a narrative that will unfold through groupings of artists with shared affinities. The overall exhibition incorporates small monographic exhibitions of new and lesser-known work by three important older artists: Lee Bontecou, Mangelos and Robert Crumb. These exhibitions within the exhibition serve as touchstones and present sculpture and drawings by Bontecou, a series of sculptures and artist’s books by Mangelos, and a small retrospective of drawings, strips, and notebooks by Robert Crumb. The Lee Bontecou section of the show was co-curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith, the James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Mangelos section was co-curated by Branka Stipancic, an independent curator and critic based in Zagreb, Croatia.

The 38 participating artists are a diverse group in terms of age, origin, and expertise. A number of the best-known artists in the group will use the International as an opportunity to present new projects or new bodies of work.

The Istanbul–based video artist Kutlug Ataman will premier his largest most ambitious video project to date; painters Peter Doig, Neo Rauch, and Julie Mehretu will produce new works for the show; and the photographer Philip– Lorca diCorcia will present a new series of large-scale color photographs.

Older artists with distinguished careers play an important role in this exhibition. In addition to Crumb, Bontecou, and Mangelos, the Carnegie International will feature a new animation by American artist Robert Breer, a founder of experimental film animation; a series of video installations by the German filmmaker Harun Farocki, which represents the culmination of a decade–long research project; and a new installation by Colorado–based Senga Nengudi, an important voice in sculpture and installation since the mid–1970s.

Lesser–known artists, some presenting work for the first time in an American museum, will also be an exciting feature of this International. The exhibition marks the U. S. museum debut for Tomma Abts, Paul Chan, Jeremy Deller, Mark Grotjahn, and Eva Rothschild.

Hoptman was counseled by an advisory committee comprised of Francesco Bonami, the Manilow Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Gary Garrels, chief curator in the Department of Drawings at MoMA, New York; Midori Matsui, a Tokyo-based art critic and scholar; Cuauhtémoc Medina, art critic, art historian, researcher at the National University of Mexico, and associate curator of Latin American Art at the Tate Modern, London; and Rirkrit Tiravanija, artist and professor at Columbia University.

Additionally, the 2004–5 Carnegie International will reflect the combined vision and talent of an international team of design collaborators including exhibition design by Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los Angeles, and graphic design by Graphic Thought Facility, London..

“The Carnegie International is among the important exhibitions in the world,” said Marcia Gumberg, Carnegie Museum of Art board chair. “We are grateful for the generous support of all of its funders, and welcome the participating artists to Pittsburgh.”

Major support for the 2004–5 Carnegie International has been provided by the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Fund and The Henry L. Hillman Fund. Additional generous gifts and grants have been provided by Friends of the Carnegie International; Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development; Mr. and Mrs. Stanley R. Gumberg; Kraus Family Foundation; National City; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Sheila and Milt Fine; and The Pittsburgh Foundation.

Major gifts have also been provided by The Grable Foundation; The National Endowment for the Arts; the LLWW Foundation; the Woodmere Foundation; and The Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation, Inc.

Additional support has been provided by TIAA-CREF; The Broad Art Foundation; Pro Helvetia, The Arts Council of Switzerland; The Trust for Mutual Understanding; The Japan Foundation; British Council; The MAT Charitable Foundation, Inc.; Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e. V.; American-Scandinavian Foundation; David Teiger; Staley Communications; and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

Photos are available on Carnegie Museum of Art’s media photo web site. Contact the communications office at 412.622.3131 for the access code.

Carnegie Museum of Art
Located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895, Carnegie Museum of Art is nationally and internationally recognized for its distinguished collection of American and European works from the sixteenth century to the present. The Heinz Architectural Center, part of Carnegie Museum of Art, is dedicated to the collection, study, and exhibition of architectural drawings and models. For more information about Carnegie Museum of Art, call 412.622.3131 or visit our web site at www.cmoa.org.