Art Talk: Dr. Melissa Chiu on the Legacy of Yayoi Kusama

March 19, 2024 | 6 – 7:30 PM

Presented in Whiteman Hall. Limited capacity.

TICKETS: Free for Members | $5 for the general public

Join us as Dr. Melissa Chiu, Director of the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, discusses the legacy and impact of world-renowned artist Yayoi Kusama.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Melissa Chiu is Director of the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. During her nine-year tenure, the museum has doubled its attendance, making it one of the most visited museums of modern art in the country with close to 1 million annual visitors. She has commissioned groundbreaking exhibitions, including an exhibition of Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrored rooms in 2017 that toured across the country to five other museums (acquisitions by Kusama remain on view at the Hirshhorn); Mark Bradford’s longest-ever painting of 300 linear feet spanning the entire length of the museum’s circular building reflecting on the Civil War history; as well as major survey by Laurie Anderson, Charline von Heyl, and Shirin Neshat. She has curated monographic exhibitions by Sarah Sze, Nam June Paik, and Lin Tianmiao, and was recently the Artistic Director of Hawaii Triennial 2022. She is one of the world’s experts in Asian contemporary art having served as Director of Asia Society Museum (2004-2014), following her appointment as the first curator of Asian and Asian American contemporary art in an American museum. She holds a PhD in Chinese contemporary art and has published the first books in the field of Asian contemporary art with Thames and Hudson and MIT Press.