Andy Warhol Foundation awards $100,000 grant to Harn Museum of Art

May 4, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts awarded a $100,000 grant to the Harn Museum of Art in July 2008. The grant, which is the largest national foundation grant given to support an exhibition at the Harn Museum of Art, will partially fund Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)Possible. Recently, the museum set the opening date of the exhibition for Feb. 9, 2010.

“The Harn is honored to be among a select group of highly respected organizations selected for funding from the Warhol Foundation,” said Rebecca Nagy, director of the Harn Museum of Art. “Other recipients include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Walker Art Center.”

Project Europa considers the relationship of art to democracy in Europe. In 1989, the unification of Europe was conceived as a vital and urgent social project to promote democracy and sustain cultural difference. Now, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, artists question the promise and potential of Europe’s democratic dream.

The work featured in the exhibition explores the complex and subtle relationship between art and politics, employing different voices and modes of representation. In addition, the reflection of Europe provides an avenue to re-examine and reinvigorate our understanding of democracy in the United States.

“The grant provides an exciting and unique opportunity to work with some of the most innovative artists in Europe,” said Kerry Oliver-Smith, curator of contemporary art and organizer of the exhibition. “With the support of the Warhol Foundation, the museum has the chance to feature work we would not see in Gainesville otherwise.”

The exhibition features more than 50 works by 20 international artists working in photography, video, painting and drawing. The museum has commissioned two artists to create site-specific work. The artists will be at the museum in January 2010 for the installations of their work.

Project Europa is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue that includes essays by Oliver-Smith and other scholars. In addition, the museum is hosting a film series, a symposium, lectures and other educational programs related to the exhibition.

For more information, call 352-392-9826 or visit http://www.harn.ufl.edu.