An Evening of Poetry for Etel Adnan, Guggenheim Museum, NYC

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Marking the closing date of the exhibition Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure, this evening of poetry brings together a cross-generational cohort of New York poets and writers to offer readings and reflections in honor of the late Etel Adnan (1925–2021). Presented in collaboration with the Academy of American Poets, the evening features participants including Ammiel Alcalay, Omar Berrada, Stephen Motika, Asiya Wadud, and Anne Waldman. Each poet will read selections from Adnan’s writings alongside their own work. Tickets to this program also include a copy of the newly published second edition of Adnan’s Journey to Mount Tamalpais (Litmus Press, 2021), originally published in 1986.

Available for viewing following the program, Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure presents a survey of Etel Adnan’s work, an artist whose first creative outlet was poetry. The exhibition explores how abstract art and the written word often intersect, profoundly affecting and transforming audiences. In celebration of this notion, the program will also serve as the launch of the Guggenheim’s year-long poetry initiative, with the announcement of the museum’s newly selected Poet-in-Residence.

Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure surveys the work of the late Etel Adnan (1925–2021), a renowned artist, poet, journalist, and novelist. Drawn from her practice since the midcentury, Adnan’s paintings, tapestries, drawings, and accordion-fold paper books occupy the first two ramps of the rotunda. Formed from elemental geometries and luminous planes of color, her works express a profound belief in the human spirit and the beauty of the natural world. Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure is presented alongside Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle, which examines an artist Adnan admired, presenting a conversation on abstraction and spirituality that traverses time and geography.

$35, $30 members, $25 students

Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure is organized by Katherine Brinson, Daskalopoulos Curator, Contemporary Art, and Lauren Hinkson, Associate Curator, Collections.

Support for Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure is provided by The Macallan Scotch Whisky; Galerie Lelong & Co.; White Cube; Étant donnés Contemporary Art, a program developed by FACE Foundation and Villa Albertine; the French-American Cultural Foundation; the Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation; Ellen and Alan Meckler; the Barjeel Art Foundation; GALLERIA CONTINUA; William and Agnes Peelle Jr.; Nicoletta Fiorucci Russo, London; Mr. and Mrs. John L. Townsend III; Karen E. Wagner and David L. Caplan; and those who wish to remain anonymous.

Additional funding is provided by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s International Director’s Council and Middle Eastern Circle.

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