Art Study Center Seminar at Home: From Portable Studio to Digital Archive—A Look at Otto Piene’s Sketchbooks

Since we are unable to welcome you into the museums at this time, we are bringing our experts to you in the online series Art Study Center Seminars at Home.

Otto Piene (1928–2014) was a pioneer in multimedia and technology-based art, creating a large, kaleidoscopic body of work based on the intersections of art, science, and nature. In this session, curatorial fellow Lauren Hanson and museum data specialist Jeff Steward share their research into the 2019 gift of Piene’s sketchbooks—a visual archive of over seven decades of artistic practice—and how the bound pages of these “portable studios” act as a generative site for visual thinking. They will also discuss the current development of a digital project that will allow audiences around the globe to experience the intimacy and dynamism found in the nearly 9,000 pages of Piene’s sketchbooks.

Led by:
Lauren Hanson, Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art

Jeff Steward, Director of Digital Infrastructure and Emerging Technology

This talk will take place online via Zoom. Free admission, but registration is required. To register, please complete this online form.

You will receive an email confirming your registration along with a Zoom link and password for the program. If you have any questions, please contact am_register@harvard.edu.

For instructions on how to join a meeting in Zoom, please click here. Please note that closed captioning is available during this program.

Please check our Harvard Art Museums from Home page for a full list of online programs and a rich array of digital content on offer while the museums are closed. Receive regular updates by subscribing to our newsletter, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.