STANFORD, CA.- The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University announced Archive Rooms, a new, pilot installation series highlighting the rich art historical resources housed within the Stanford Special Collections. On long term view, the two inaugural presentations feature engaging selections from the robust archives of Lynn Hershman Leeson (b. 1941) and Bernice Bing (1936–1998), two individuals who have been deeply influential in the history of art in the Bay Area, United States, and beyond. These intimate, single-gallery installations offer profound insight into the artistic processes of these trailblazing artists, enhancing the understanding of their bodies of work, and providing greater access to quiet, contemplative moments that don’t often take center stage in an exhibition.

Stanford Special Collections holds hundreds of thousands of rare and unique items, as the institution acquires, preserves, and makes available materials of enduring historic value. The archive of multimedia artist and filmmaker Hershman Leeson was first acquired in 2004 and additional materials are continually added as her practice grows and evolves. In 2020, Stanford acquired Bing's papers, which include journals, sketchbooks, artworks, correspondences, and other materials documenting the life and work of the Bay Area painter. Displayed in dialogue with one another, the Archive Rooms enrich our understanding of these significant artists and the paths they forged.

“This pilot installation series underscores what makes the Cantor Arts Center so special,” says Veronica Roberts, John and Jill Freidenrich Director at the Cantor. “Housed at a teaching institution alongside a major library and archive, the Cantor is able to draw on the diverse resources on campus in order to mount the thoroughly researched and historically curious exhibitions for which we have become known. These two presentations by Lynn Hershman Leeson and Bernice Bing perfectly exemplify our cross-institutional collaboration with Stanford Special Collections, as we jointly celebrate their astounding impact on the Bay Area and beyond.”

EXHIBITIONS:

Archive Room: Lynn Hershman Leeson
July 17, 2024–ongoing

A San Francisco-based filmmaker and multimedia artist, Lynn Hershman Leeson is widely recognized for her prescient work in media-based practices and commentary on the relationship between people and technology. This single, small-gallery installation features a selection of videos, photographs, and ephemera related to select projects from the 1970s from the Lynn Hershman Leeson papers to consider the genesis of the artist’s career-long exploration of ideas of identity, as well as her consistent challenge to rethink what and where art can be.

Stanford acquired Hershman Leeson’s archive (Special Collections, M1452) starting in 2004, with additional material arriving in subsequent years. Audio-visual material in Hershman Leeson’s archive can be viewed online in Stanford’s online catalog.

Archive Room: Bernice Bing
July 17, 2024–ongoing

Bernice “Bingo” Bing was a queer Chinese American artist, community arts organizer, and arts administrator active in the Bay Area from the mid-1950s until her death in 1998. In the large-scale, gestural paintings that defined her work, Bing combined features of expressive abstraction, traditional Chinese calligraphy, and landscape painting to create emotive works attuned to color and movement. This single, small-gallery installation highlights material from the Bernice Bing papers and is presented by the Cantor’s Asian American Art Initiative (AAAI). The installation features a selection of highlights from the archive from the late 1960s to the early 1990s, examining Bing’s use of art and writing as tools for self-exploration and discovery.