Berkeley, CA, January 26, 2010-(Download a PDF version of this press release.) The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) presents BAMscape, a major new commissioned work by Thom Faulders, the award-winning architect and founder of Berkeley-based Faulders Studio. Faulders's BAMscape blurs the boundaries between art, architecture, and furniture design, serving as a site for rest, relaxation, and study, as well as a platform for the experience of live performance and multimedia events. Opening January 29, 2010 and running through Fall 2011, BAMscape is the new centerpiece of Gallery B, BAM's expansive 6,692-square-foot central atrium.

Constructed from brightly painted 3/8-inch-thick bendable plywood and 1/4-inch plywood sides, BAMscape is a shaped elevation of 150 individual curved modules, which were shipped and installed onsite. Each module was created using digital fabrication processes, which efficiently allowed Faulders to make all of the contours unique, based directly off of drawings. The modules are fastened together, and electrical outlets are spaced around the environment to facilitate laptop use. The resulting footprint of the object is 1,550 square feet of undulating curves.

Visually bold, structurally innovative, kinesthetically engaging, Faulders's design communicates a playful inventiveness resonant with both the museum's groundbreaking architecture and with BAM/PFA's dynamic and risk-taking programs. From their BAMscape vantage point, participants can observe some of the museum's most dynamic attributes: dramatically cantilevered balconies, radiating patterns of interconnected structural beams, and bright skylight planes. Visitors can also assemble on BAMscape to participate in, or view, a host of newly programmed events: artist and curator talks, musical performances, film and video screenings, and other activities that will occur in conjunction with the museum's new program, L@TE: Friday Nights @ BAM/PFA. During daytime hours, free wireless Internet will allow students and other visitors to enjoy BAMscape as a site for study and social networking.

Thom Faulders's work has been exhibited at La Triennale di Milano, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Lisbon International Biennale, and at Künstlerhaus in Vienna. His work is included in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). He has received awards from the Architectural League of New York, Bienal Miami + Beach, American Institute of Architects, and the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. Faulders is also a recipient of the SFMOMA Experimental Design Award. He is an associate professor of architecture at California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco.

Related Program: There will be an artist's talk on Friday, January 29, 2010, at 7 p.m. in Gallery B.

About BAM/PFA

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is the visual arts center of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the nation's leading research universities. BAM/PFA aims to inspire the imagination and ignite critical dialogue through contemporary and historical art and film, engaging audiences from the campus, Bay Area community, and beyond. One of the largest university art museums in the United States in both size and attendance, BAM/PFA presents fifteen art exhibitions and five hundred film programs each year. The museum's collection of more than 15,000 works, distinguished by artistic excellence and innovation, intellectual exploration, and social commentary, includes exceptional examples of mid-twentieth-century painting, including important works by Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, Eva Hesse, and Mark Rothko, as well as historical and contemporary Asian art, early American painting, Conceptual and contemporary international art, and California and Bay Area art. The PFA film and video collection now includes the largest group of Japanese films outside of Japan, as well as impressive holdings of Soviet silents, West Coast avant-garde cinema, seminal video art, rare animation, Central Asian productions, Eastern European cinema, and international classics.

Museum Information


Location: 2626 Bancroft Way, just below College Avenue near the UC Berkeley campus.


Gallery and Museum Store Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 11 to 5. Closed Monday and Tuesday.


Admission: General admission is $8; admission for seniors, disabled persons, non–UC Berkeley students, and young adults (13 – 17) is $5; admission for BAM/PFA members, UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty, and children under 12 is free. Reservations are required for group visits; for information, rates, and schedule, please e-mail sgvisits@berkeley.edu. Admission is free on the first Thursday of each month.


L@TE Admission: General admission to the BAM galleries is $5 after 5 p.m. Show your ticket for a same-day PFA screening or gallery visit and get in free. Admission is always free for BAM/PFA members and UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. Tickets can be purchased online at bampfa.berkeley.edu. For updates on L@TE programs, visit bampfa.berkeley.edu/late.

Information: 24-hour recorded message (510) 642-0808; fax (510) 642-4889; TDD (510) 642-8734.


Website: bampfa.berkeley.edu


PLEASE NOTE: For high-resolution images (available beginning Feb. 2) and renderings, please contact Ariane Bicho at (510) 643-6494 or abicho@berkeley.edu.

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