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Article by Erin Corcoran <ercorcoran@ursinus.edu>
The Berman Museum received a grant of $245,900 from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage to advance efforts on the 2024 exhibition entitled Enrique Bostelmann: Apertures and Borderscapes.
The Berman acquired the works through the artist’s estate on a loan, including newly recorded interviews with Bostelmann’s collaborators and family members. Bostelmann, a Mexican photographer, depicted many social issues and conceptualist ideals in his art. All of this material will be curated into an exhibit that includes his works, an English/Spanish bilingual documentary film, a bilingual published catalog, and community events.
The grant provides funding for a part-time Project Assistant, new lights in the Main Gallery, bus chartering for public programs, an oral history project, the artwork shipped from Mexico, the documentary and more.
Installation of this exhibit will begin in the summer, with student workers supporting the project. In Fall of 2024, the exhibit Project Assistant will work with interested students and community members to work on an exhibition project, documenting oral histories, expand the documentation of the exhibit, and create an archive of the community involved. The finalized project will be available on the Digital Commons and the Berman’s website.
Barkun remarked, “Enrique Bostelmann was a tremendously humanitarian artist, and also an artist with great curiosity, humor, and experimental sensibility. Through photography, he asks questions, facilitates conversations, and encourages critical thinking, which strikes me as especially meaningful for a community committed to liberal education. His work pushes against boundaries of all kinds: national, ethnic, socio-economic, disciplinary, conceptual, formal, and artistic, to name a few. In this respect, he was a thoughtful, sensitive, and subtle agitator, and produced a diverse and impactful body of work. We are very excited for this opportunity to share Bostelmann’s work with Ursinus students, staff, and faculty, and grateful for the support of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.”
Students do not have to wait until next year to explore the wonderful offerings of the Berman. On display this semester is Printmaking | Worldmaking, Janet Bigg’s film experience Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape, Heaven is a Line (abstract works from the permanent collection), and José Ortiz-Pagán’s Umbral.
To learn more about the Berman, follow them on Instagram, check out their website, or drop by the museum Tuesday-Sunday 11-4. To learn more about the Bostelmann exhibit and the Pew grant, contact Creative Director Deborah Barkun at dbarkun@ursinus.edu.