Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present, the first major museum exhibition to acknowledge photographers for their creative and collaborative role in the history of rock and roll, will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum from October 30, 2009, through January 31, 2010. The exhibition is curated by photographic historian and author Gail Buckland and features many rare and never-before-exhibited photographs.

From its earliest days, rock and roll was captured in photographs that personalized and frequently eroticized the musicians. Photographers were handmaidens to the rock-and-roll revolution, and their work communicates the social and cultural transformations that rock helped bring about from the 1950s to the present. This exhibition is a history not of rock and roll, but of the men and women who have photographed it and given the music its visual identity.

Featuring approximately 175 works by 105 photographers, Who Shot Rock & Roll is organized in six sections: images taken behind the scenes; snapshots of young musicians at the beginning of their careers; photographs of live performances that display the energy of the bands on stage; images of the crowds and fans; portraits that go beyond the surface and celebrity of the musicians; and conceptual images and album covers highlighting the creative and collaborative efforts between the image makers and the subjects.

Among the works on view are such iconic images as William “Red” Robertson’s erotic 1955 photo of a pelvis-thrusting Elvis Presley which appeared on his first album; The Clash’s London Calling album cover by Pennie Smith depicting Paul Simonon smashing his Fender bass guitar; the contact sheet of Bob Gruen’s portrait of John Lennon in a sleeveless New York City T-shirt; Don Hunstein’s photograph of Bob Dylan walking with his girlfriend Suze Rotolo down a snowy Greenwich Village street; David LaChapelle’s image of Lil Kim as a bikini-clad cop; and Anton Corbijn’s shoot of U2 for their Joshua Tree album. The exhibition will also feature photographs by Diane Arbus, Annie Leibovitz, Woodstock photographer Barry Feinstein, Jim Marshall, Ryan McGinley, Linda McCartney, Mark Seliger, and Albert Watson.

Most of the photographs in the exhibition were uncovered in the photographer’s own files. Rarely, if ever exhibited pictures include a 1963 photograph by Philip Townsend of the Rolling Stones; an image of James Brown surrounded by female fans shot by actor Dennis Hopper; the working photographs and album cover by Jean-Paul Goude of Grace Jones for Island Life; the contact sheet from Bob Gruen’s famous 1974 rooftop shoot of John Lennon; the full sequence of never-before-exhibited photographs by Ed Caraeff of Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967; the 1976 photograph by Roberta Bayley used on the Ramones first album; Amy Winehouse on her wedding day by Max Vadukul; the four classic 1967 Beatles portraits by Richard Avedon; Ike and Tina Turner at Club Paradise in Memphis in 1962 by the African-American photographer Ernest Withers; and an approximately nine-by-seven-foot tour-de-fource by German photographer Andrea Gursky of Madonna performing in 2001.

The exhibition will also include music videos by artists featured in the exhibition, an eighty-image slide show by Henry Diltz, and a rock-and-roll chronology made from actual album covers.

We need your help! We entered our new community-powered mobile guide for the Groundswell Awards and need to catch the judges attention. Show the judges that we are awesome by giving us a starred rating...you don't even need to log in to rate it.

This year the competition is tough - we are up against Coke, Intuit, HP, TNT, Gain, LG, Ethan Allen and Jeep..and other big corporations.


Thanks so much!

Wikipedia Loves Art is a scavenger hunt and free content photography contest aimed at illustrating Wikipedia articles. Photographers can shoot on their own or form small teams to complete the scavenger hunt lists provided by Wikipedia Images submitted to the competition will be used to illustrate Wikipedia articles and teams with the most points at the end of the month will receive prizes.

The month-long contest has been coordinated by the Brooklyn Museum, with fifteen institutions worldwide collaborating on the project—six in New York City alone. Participating institutions include: Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Houston Museum of Natural Science, The Hunter Museum of American Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, New-York Historical Society, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Taft Museum of Art, and V&A.

Both the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have scheduled meetups in early February. All details, including meetup schedules and scavenger hunt lists; can be found at the Wikipedia Loves Art Flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/wikipedia_loves_art/

Looking for a way to support the Brooklyn Museum both here and from afar? Join 1stfans: a socially networked museum membership and help support the us for only $20 a year.   

Gilbert & George opens this Friday!   Here they are putting last minute touches on the installation. Members event tomorrow!



Target First Saturday is coming up and it's going to be a big one!  Our Beaux-Art Court re-opens with European paintings and the dance party, Gilbert & George give a gallery talk and we have a birthday party!  Target First Saturday turns 10!  Come have some cake - schedule here :)  Live updates via Shelley's iphone to our Flickr feed that evening.

Hey everyone!  Quick reminder that we don't have a Target First Saturday in the month of September due to all the West Indian American Day activities near the Museum.  We resume October 4th with our 10th anniversary! Check out Eleanor's blog post for a preview and the full schedule is posted here.

Panel Discussion
Saturday, June 28, 11 a.m.
Governors Island

Brooklyn Museum clicks with the crowd at FIGMENT 2008, a celebration of participatory art and creative culture held on Governors Island. A panel discussion about the process and outcome of Click! will be held on Saturday, June 28, at 11 a.m. Panelists include James Surowiecki, New Yorker financial columnist and author of The Wisdom of Crowds; Jeff Howe, contributing editor of Wired magazine, who coined the term "crowdsourcing"; Eugenie Tsai, Brooklyn Museum's John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art; and Shelley Bernstein, Brooklyn Museum's Manager of Information Systems and the organizer of Click! The panel will be moderated by Nicole Caruth, Brooklyn Museum's Manager of Interpretive Materials and a freelance writer and curator based in Brooklyn.

Please note: In order to make the panel you must take the 10 or 10:30 a.m. ferry, which depart from South Ferry and are free of charge.  Specific travel instructions can be found on the Figment Web site. The panel will take place in Perkins Hall. Seating is limited.

Come to the Brooklyn Museum on April 5, 2008, for the Target First Saturday party "Japanimated! Arts and Cultures of Japan." The party will kick off at 5 p.m. and run until 11 p.m., with many exciting free events for visitors to enjoy. Come dressed as your favorite anime or manga character, and get your picture taken by Museum staff between 5 and 10:30 p.m for a chance to win an exhibition catalogue! Other events include Japanese animated films, a poetry reading, tours of the new exhibitions, and traditional Japanese music. From 9-11 p.m., come dance in the Glass Pavilion (1st floor) to the spinning of Japan’s top DJ, Muro, the King of Diggin, who will keep the crowd grooving with his signature blend of hip-hop, funk, and soul.

At the Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturdays, thousands of visitors enjoy free programs of art and entertainment each month from 5–11 p.m. Free ticket distribution does not apply to © MURAKAMI.

Facebook Event Details

Full Schedule:
April 5, 2008

Japanimated! Arts and Cultures of Japan

5:00 p.m.–10:30 p.m. Cosplay Photo Contest
Rubin Lobby and Hall of the Americas, 1st Floor

Come dressed as your favorite anime or manga character, and get your picture taken for a chance to win a © MURAKAMI catalogue!

5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. Music
Hall of the Americas, 1st Floor

Taiko drumming group Taikoza performs traditional Japanese music and dance.

6:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. Poetry
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Forum, 4th Floor

Kimiko Hahn reads from her book The Narrow Road to the Interior. A Q & A follows. Free tickets (30) are available at the Visitor Center at 5 p.m.

6:00 p.m. Film
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, 3rd Floor

See the anime classic Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989, 103 min., G) about a young witch in training. Free tickets (330) are available at the Visitor Center at 5 p.m.

6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. Hands-On Art
Education Division, 1st Floor

Draw a cartoon alter ego. Free timed tickets (380) are available at the Visitor Center at 5:30 p.m.

7:00 p.m. Curator Talk
Meet at the entrance to Utagawa, 1st Floor

Join Curator Laura Mueller as she gives a gallery talk in Utagawa: Masters of the Japanese Print, 1770â€"1900. The talk is Sign Language–interpreted. Free tickets (30) are available at the Visitor Center at 5 p.m.

8:00 p.m. Young Voices Gallery Talk
Meet at the entrance to Utagawa, 1st Floor

Student Guides Kimberly Macron and Judith Barnes discuss the prints of the Utagawa school and popular culture.

8:00 p.m. Film
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Forum, 4th Floor

The documentary Smoke and Mirrors: A Geisha Story (Artemis Willis, 2004, 63 min., NR) chronicles the relationship between an elderly ex-geisha and a young Brooklyn filmmaker. Free tickets (30) are available at the Visitor Center at 7 p.m.

8:30 p.m. Film
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, 3rd Floor

Journey into outer space with the classic anime film Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage (Toshio Masuda and Takeshi Shirado, 1979, 95 min., NR) ) from the series that inspired Takashi Murakami. Free tickets are available (330) at the Visitor Center at 7 p.m.

9:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. Music
Hall of the Americas, 1st Floor

The Brooklyn-based Japanese bands Love Etc. and Sakura Madams perform their blend of pop and rock music.

9:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. Dance Party
Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Pavilion, 1st Floor

Japan’s top DJ, Muro aka King of Diggin’, spins his legendary mix of hip-hop, funk, and soul.

From March 1 to 31, the Brooklyn Museum is inviting artists to electronically submit digital photographs for a unique upcoming photography exhibition entitled Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition.

Click! takes its inspiration from the critically acclaimed book The Wisdom of Crowds, in which New Yorker business and financial columnist James Surowiecki asserts that a diverse crowd is often wiser at making decisions than expert individuals.  The exhibition will explore that idea in the context of visual art, inviting visitors to an online forum to evaluate the artists' submissions. Those submissions chosen by the online audience will be in the Museum exhibition, opening June 27, 2008. Participate!