MUSEUM news BELOW: Headdress, ciwara kun. Bamana, Mali, Bougouni Region. 20th century. Wood, organic material. H: 65.7 cm. The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Paul Hester. 52 the reduction of form or the absence of representation. Works by Max Ernst, Constantin Brancusi, Frank Bowling, Sam Gilliam, Eduardo Chillida, and other artists who made important contributions to abstract art during the twentieth century are presented alongside a variety of abstract forms from earlier eras, showcasing the rich history of this aesthetic practice. A second show at the Menil, MicroCosmos/Details from the Carpenter Collection of Arctic Art, showcases one of the world’s great collections of Paleo-Eskimo material culture, which was assembled by the late Edmund Carpenter together with his wife, Adelaide de Menil. MicroCosmos is the Menil’s fi rst exhibition of this extraordinary group of objects and primarily focuses on artifacts from the Old Bering Sea cultures of coastal Alaska and Siberia, c. 250 BCE–1000 CE. The show celebrates the spirit of Carpenter’s curiosity and his pursuit of the underlying cultural signifi cances in Paleo-Eskimo expressive culture by exploring the animistic universe that these objects embody. It is on view until February 21, 2016. RIGHT: Human doll fi gure. Okvik/Old Bering Sea I, 250 BCE–100 CE. Walrus ivory. H: 8.6 cm. The Rock Foundation, New York. Photo: David Heald. ABOVE: Signed by Nikosthenes (potter), serving cup, kylix. Attica, Greece. C. 520 BC. Ceramic, paint. D: 35.9 cm. The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Paul Hester. will enhance understanding of their origins, creation, and function—information that has largely been considered lost. Co-curated by Cloth and Kristina Van Dyke, a specialist in African art, Kota is the fi rst exhibition to examine Cloth’s search engine and system of algorithms, as well as the fi rst to focus exclusively on Kota reliquaries outside of the broader context of African sculpture. It will be on view October 16, 2015– March 19, 2016, and will be the subject of a special issue of Tribal Art magazine. ABOVE: Cloak, ‘Ahu‘ula. Hawai‘i. C. 1830. Feathers and plant fi ber. 162.6 × 237.5 cm. The Rock Foundation, on long-term loan to The Menil Collection. MENIL Houston—A fascinating exhibition on view at the Menil Collection until November 8, 2015, challenges longheld hierarchies of art appreciation. Affecting Presence and the Pursuit of Delicious Experiences brings together a diverse selection of objects from the Menil’s holdings to explore the convergence of anthropologist Robert Plant Armstrong’s and museum founder Dominique de Menil’s separate but related philosophies of aesthetics. These break the boundaries of what is often considered to be art by examining viewer response and meaningful acts of creativity. The installation highlights abstraction as an artistic means used across time, place, and culture to make present the ineffable forces that shape human experiences. The works on view range from antique sculptures to paintings and works on paper from the recent past that exemplify
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