UMMA Dialogues: Artist Haroon Mirza and Curator Elizabeth Thomas

Haroon Mirza is a noted visual artist who wants us to listen, to train our ears on the incidental sounds that surround us, and to connect sound to the objects that create it. In his work, Mirza explores and attempts to restore the relationships humans have with sound that occur through objects, actions, and forces, relationships largely screened behind the black boxes of electronic keyboards, digital music players, TV monitors, and the bits of information they play. In experiencing his work, we, the audience, are placed in an in-between position, vacillating between isolating the part and apprehending the whole. The installation itself performs for us as an "unfolding composition in time," and we the audience unfold too, through our acts of looking, listening, seeing, and hearing. His installations-which could also be considered unique time-based concerts-have captured the attention of the public and critics alike. Mr. Mirza was awarded the prestigious Northern Art Prize in 2010, and his work for the 2011 Venice Biennale garnered the Silver Lion Award as the most promising young artist.

Elizabeth Thomas hails from the Carnegie Museum of Art, in Pittsburgh, PA, where she was assistant curator and then associate curator of contemporary art from 2001 – 2005. Prior to working at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Thomas was a curatorial fellow at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN. 

For additional information about this exhibit, please visit the UMMA website:

http://www.umma.umich.edu/view/

This program is followed by a public reception and opportunity to visit the exhibition gallery and is at UMMA March 17-July 22, 2012. This exhibition is Haroon Mirza's first solo museum exhibition in the United States.

This exhibition is made possible in part by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, the Susan and Richard Gutow Fund, and the CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.