At the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, NYC: Alanna Heiss and Martin Puryear on Venice

The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City hosts "Noguchi Talks: Alanna Heiss and Martin Puryear — Two American Sculptors in the Venice Biennale" on Wednesday, November 18, from 6 to 8 pm, with the conversation starting at 6:30 pm. It marks the 40th anniversary of Isamu Noguchi's presentation at the US Pavilion at the 1986 Venice Biennale.

Heiss commissioned Noguchi's landmark show, What Is Sculpture?, as Commissioner of the 1986 American Pavilion. Puryear represented the United States at the 2019 Biennale with Liberty/Libertà. Hitomi Iwasaki, the museum's Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, moderates.

The discussion takes up what it means to represent America on an international stage, and how an artist's cultural background, racial identity and personal history shape that question. Noguchi, a Japanese American artist, moved across cultural and national boundaries throughout his career. Puryear, a Black American sculptor, works from material, craft, form and history. The talk bridges two generations and two moments in the Biennale's history.

Heiss founded the Clocktower Gallery in 1972 and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, now MoMA PS1, in 1976, directing it for 32 years. Puryear, born in 1941, received the National Medal of Arts in 2011 and made the Manhattan public work Big Bling in 2016. His show Martin Puryear: Nexus is on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta through January 17, 2027.

The event is free, but space is limited and reservations are required: email events@noguchi.org. It accompanies two current museum exhibitions, Light and Stone: Revisiting Noguchi's 1986 Venice Biennale and No Ordinary Light: Akari at 75. The museum is at 9-01 33rd Road, at Vernon Boulevard.