Nasher Sculpture Center Announces Nasher Prize Laureate Lecture by Michael Rakowitz. 2020/21 Nasher Prize winner takes the virtual stage for a lecture on his artistic practice.
Dallas, TX (April 7, 2021) – The Nasher Sculpture Center announces the Nasher Prize Laureate Lecture for Michael Rakowitz on Friday, April 16 at 12 p.m. CDT. The lecture will be held in virtual format and Rakowitz will be available for questions following the talk.
Now in its fifth year, the Nasher Prize is an international award for sculpture, established to honor a living artist who elevates the understanding of sculpture and its possibilities.
In American artist Michael Rakowitz, the Nasher Prize jury selected a laureate whose work wrestles with many of the complex questions of history, heritage, and identity that are so much at the forefront of contemporary culture and politics.
In the words of Nasher Prize juror Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, “Michael’s work is about healing and about how to take the problem of cultural destruction and transform that into a resource for a very optimistic vision of the reconstruction of our society.”
In this virtual event on Friday, April 16 at 12 p.m. CDT, Rakowitz will deliver a dynamic, virtual lecture in which he will consider the meanings of places and objects that are part of his cultural heritage and their impact on his work as an artist. During this time of social separation, Rakowitz explores the question: “If I can’t be there with you, how can I show you where I am?”
Guests may register in advance here.
Images can be found here.
About Michael Rakowitz
Michael Rakowitz was born in 1973 in Great Neck, New York; he is lives and works in Chicago, Illinois and is professor of art theory and practice at Northwestern University.
He studied at Purchase College, State University of New York, where he received a BFA in 1995 and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, graduating with a Master of Science in Visual Studies in 1998.
His recent retrospective opened at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 2019, traveling to Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino and, in 2020 is scheduled to open at the Jameel Art Centre, Dubai. It was preceded by Backstroke of the West, a survey exhibition at the Museum of Contempory Art, Chicago in 2018.
He has exhibited in venues including dOCUMENTA(13), The Museum of Modern Art, New York; MoMA/PS1, New York; Tate Modern, London; MassMOCA; Castello di Rivoli; the 10th and 14th Istanbul Biennials; the Sharjah Biennials 8 and 14 ; the Tirana Biennale; and Transmediale 05.
He was invited to exhibit in the 2019 Whitney Biennial but withdrew in protest of the museum’s vice chairman, Warren G. Kanders, who is chief executive of a company that manufactures body armor and tear gas, before the Biennial’s participating artists were announced; after additional protests by other artists and activists following the exhibition opening, Kanders resigned.
Rakowitz is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the 2018 Herb Alpert Award in Visual Arts, a 2012 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award, a 2008 Creative Capital Grant, the Sharjah Biennial Jury Award, a 2006 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Grant in Architecture and Environmental Structures, the 2003 Dena Foundations Award, and the 2002 Design 21 Grand Prix from UNESCO.
ARTnews is the official Nasher Prize Laureate Lecture media sponsor.
About the Nasher Sculpture Center
Located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District and designed by architect Renzo Piano, the Nasher Sculpture Center is home to the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary sculpture in the world, featuring more than 300 masterpieces by Calder, de Kooning, di Suvero, Giacometti, Gormley, Hepworth, Kelly, Matisse, Miró, Moore, Picasso, Rodin, Serra, and Shapiro, among others.
On view in the light-filled galleries and amid the garden grounds is a rotating selection of works from the Collection, as well as important exhibitions of modern and contemporary sculpture, including Sightings, a series of small-scale exhibitions and site-specific installations that explore new work by established and emerging artists. In addition to the indoor and outdoor gallery spaces, the Center contains an auditorium, education and research facilities, a cafe, and a store. For more information, visit
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
