Artist: Jennifer Steinkamp
Title: Madame Curie
Date: 2011
Dimensions: 83.5 x 21.9, 83.5 x 18.6, and 22.6 x 22.2 feet
Exhibition History:
- Jennifer Steinkamp: Madame Curie, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California, Madame Curie, curated by Stephanie Hanor and Lucia Sanroman, January 23, 2011 - February 5, 2012.
- Jennifer Steinkamp: Madame Curie, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, curated by Toby Jurovics, January 26 - June 9, 2013.
- Madame Curie, Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, curated by Margo Ann Crutchfield, October 28, - December 1, 2013.
- Jennifer Steinkamp: Madame Curie, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California, Madame Curie, curated by Kathryn kanjo, December 15, 2016 - August 27, 2017.
- no exhibition, The Van Every/Smith Galleries, E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center, Davidson, North Carolina, curated by Lia Newman, Madame Curie, 3, August 21 - December 10, 2017.
- Naturaleza Digital, Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Madrid, Spain, curated by Alejandro Sánchez Menéndez, February 23 - April 22, 2018, exhibited Madame Curie (wall 1).
Description: The Museum of Contemporary Art commissioned Jennifer Steinkamp to create a site-specific video animation work to respond to the interior architecture the Farrel Gallery, a former baggage room for the railway. Entitled Madame Curie, the seven-channel, synchronized projection is inspired by Steinkamp's recent research into atomic energy, atomic explosions, and the effects of these forces on nature. Marie Curie was the recipient of two Nobel Prizes for creating the theory of radioactivity, and discovering radium and polonium. She was also an avid gardener and lover of plants. Flora rendered realistically for this work include rambler roses, wisteria, chestnut blooms, and hop plants, among many others drawn from a list of over 40 plants mentioned in Marie Curie's biography written by her daughter, Eve Curie.
Text by Lucía Sanromán
Part of the Collection:
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California.
