Authorship, Architecture, Anonymity: The Impossible Career of Petra Andrejova-Molnàr

Tuesday, Sep 10 - Sunday, Oct 13 2019, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM, VAPA Usdan Gallery
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Tuesday, Sep 10 2019 1:00 PM Sunday, Oct 13 2019 5:00 PM America/New_York Authorship, Architecture, Anonymity: The Impossible Career of Petra Andrejova-Molnàr OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | “Authorship, Architecture, Anonymity” is Katarina Burin's production as Petra Andrejova-Molnàr (known as P.A.), a fictional female Czech architect from the 1930s. The show is curated by Farhad Mirza '12 and Anne Thompson. VAPA Usdan Gallery Bennington College

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | In 2008, Katarina Burin felt the urge to design a monogram—but not for herself. An artist whose practice had long explored the social instincts of European twentieth-century modernist design, Burin imagined a female Czech architect from the 1930s and conjured the fictional Petra Andrejova-Molnàr, known as P.A. Burin spent a decade developing an entire career for P.A., conducting meticulous historical research to aid her production of architectural models, drawings, décor, and ephemera to anchor P.A. within legendary interwar design circles that rarely included women despite their utopian liberal goals. “Authorship, Architecture, Anonymity” marks the conclusion of Burin’s production as P.A. and forms a timely addition to this year’s wave of international exhibitions marking the hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the Bauhaus. 

"Authorship, Architecture, Anonymity" is curated by Farhad Mirza '12 and Anne Thompson. Mirza has a Master's of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has worked as a fabricator for various artists and currently is Technical Instructor in 3D Technology at the College. Anne Thompson is the director of Usdan Gallery.

Katarina Burin is a lecturer in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. Her recent exhibitions include: the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society (University of Chicago); Kunstverein Langenhagen; the Aspen Art Museum; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; as well as gallery shows at Ratio 3 (San Francisco), M29 Richter & Brückner (Cologne), and Lucile Corty (Paris). Among her awards are fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute and the Graham Foundation; the 2013 James and Audrey Foster prize from the ICA Boston; and residencies at MuseumsQuartier Vienna, Skowhegan, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony.

Usdan Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 pm.