After thirteen months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive will reopen its galleries to the public on May 2. The museum will operate under a new safety plan, maintaining a three-day weekly schedule (Friday–Sunday), timed ticketing and 25% capacity.
Awaiting visitors is the much-heralded retrospective of Richmond quilter Rosie Lee Tompkins, which was open for less than a month before the Bay Area shut down last year. Originally slated to close in December 2020, that exhibition of approximately 70 quilts, pieced tops, embroideries, assemblages and decorated objects is now up through July 18, 2021.
Three new exhibitions have been installed during the museum’s closure, including a survey of photography by the German artist and filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger; Beyond Boundaries: Buddhist Art of Gandhara, a presentation of rare artifacts from the ancient civilization; and Present Tense: Five Centuries of Colonialism in Latin American and Caribbean Art.
Not on view—to this writer’s great regret—is the survey of ceramicist Ron Nagle that opened last January, Handsome Drifter, which a museum spokesperson says they were unable to extend due to other commitments.
BAMPFA’s theater, film library and study center will remain closed until further notice, but their streaming film programs will continue online, along with live virtual programming. (On that note, an intriguing event by artist Zeph Fishlyn on April 25 invites participants to walk out of their front doors on a group Zoom call to explore ideas of safety, proximity and the limits of virtual meeting.)
