Nasher to host nation’s first citywide, museum-organized public art exhibition

by Brentney Hamilton

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10 artists. 10 sculptures. 10 sites.

DOWNTOWN DALLAS — Echoing the Dallas Museum of Art's recent initiatives to make the Dallas Arts District financially accessible to more diverse audiences, the Nasher Sculpture Center announced today a monumental new public installation, Nasher XChange, in celebration of the center's 10th anniversary.

Over the following months, 10 artists from around the globe will travel to Dallas to create 10 public sculptures that will be installed in 10 areas of the city. Starting October 19 — that's the tenth month, of course — Dallas will host the country's first museum-curated, citywide public art exhibition in the United States. The free exhibition will run through February 16, 2014.

"Ray [Nasher] believed art belonged to the people and should be enjoyed by the citizens of Dallas," said Mayor Mike Rawlings at a press conference Wednesday at the Nasher Sculpture Center.

Before his death in 2007, Raymond D. Nasher proved instrumental to developing Dallas' artistic culture. In 1965, he designed and opened a synergistic retail and art space now known as the expansive NorthPark Center, which houses works by some of the most significant modern artists such as Jonathan Borofsky and George Segal. Near the end of his life, he founded the Nasher Sculpture Center with its noted garden featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Hemri Matisse, and Auguste Rodin.

"Dallas is a city of great art, as well as great business, which I believe was a theme of Ray's life. Art is one of the most powerful economic generators of a community. It stimulates revenue, tourism, encourages companies to relocate and attract employees," Rawlings added.

But Raymond Nasher's vision for Dallas — as interpreted by the city and his family, including daughter Nancy A. Nasher — includes fostering not only the largest contiguous arts district in the United States, as Dallas has done with its 68-acre Arts District, but also bringing art out of downtown and into its communities.

Nasher XChange seeks to enact that vision by creating what Nasher Sculpture Center Director Jeremy Strick called "a dialogue that raises the level of communication within the city and internationally."

The exhibition will include newly-commissioned works by artists both from and outside the DFW area whose practices range dramatically. Rather than having art shipped in from around the world, however, the artists will work locally to create the pieces from start-to-finish in Dallas. Among the 10 chosen are the Denton-based Good/Bad Art Collective and Dallas' own Vicki Meek.

Other artists include Lara Almarcegui from Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Rachel Harrison from New York City; Alfredo Jaar from New York City; Liz Larner from Los Angeles; Charles Long from Los Angeles; Rick Lowe from Houston; Ruben Ochoa from Los Angeles; and Ugo Rondinone from New York City/Switzerland.

The project's goal is to challenge assumptions about for whom art is created by placing outside a museum or gallery settings that only reach an already established audience, according to Strick.

"The idea itself is a piece of art," said Rawlings.

In addition to the exhibition itself, the Nasher will also host a free celebration on October 20 entitled 10+, during which the Nasher will extend its hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. to drive home the initiative's open welcome and invitation to experience the space in a new way.

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