To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection

August 14, 2024–July 6, 2025

To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection draws from BAMPFA’s art and film collections to explore how museums collect, care for, and amplify the work of artists who celebrate ideas of impermanence and cycles of decay and regeneration.

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  • Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024

  • Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024

  • Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024

  • Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Upcoming Events

  • Selected Wednesday, Sundays, and First Free Thursdays

    Exhibition Tour: To Exalt The Ephemeral

    UC Berkeley graduate students in the English and Critical Theory offer tours of To Exalt The Ephemeral on selected Wednesdays at 12:15 and Sundays at 2:00, and on Free First Thursdays at 1:15.

    BAMPFA
  • Thursday, November 7, 1:15 PM

    Curator's Tour: Tausif Noor on To Exalt the Ephemeral

    Tausif Noor explores how artists have taken up ideas of ephemerality to comment on the nature of memory and acts of memorialization across different media. Noor is BAMPFA Curatorial Associate and cocurator of To Exalt the Ephemeral.

    BAMPFA
  • Sunday, November 24, 3:00 PM

    Clouds from a Crumbling Giant

    Clouds from a Crumbling Giant is an examination of the life cycle and its mapping through a Daoist perspective, the nature and quality of decline through aging, and the inclusion of elder bodies within the performance landscape. It is performed by the physical theater and dance company inkBoat, with guests. Presented in conjunction with To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection.

    BAMPFA

Past Events

  • Saturday, October 12, 11:30 AM–1:00 PM

    Gallery + Studio—Exploring the Ephemeral with Suminagashi

    Learn the fascinating art of Suminagashi, which means “floating ink” in Japanese, and take home your own uniquely patterned sheet of marbled paper.

    BAMPFA

    For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)

  • Saturday, September 28, 3:00 PM

    Poetry Reading: Sophia Dahlin, Forrest Gander, and Noah Ross

    In conjunction with To Exalt the Ephemeral, BAMPFA presents a reading with three Bay Area poets: Sophia Dahlin, Forrest Gander, and Noah Ross. Their works touch on themes of everyday experience, ecological engagement, and queer legacies, and engage with the many facets of the ephemeral.

    BAMPFA

    Programmed by Tausif Noor

  • Selected Wednesday, Sundays, and First Free Thursdays

    Exhibition Tour: To Exalt The Ephemeral

    UC Berkeley graduate students in the English and Critical Theory offer tours of To Exalt The Ephemeral on selected Wednesdays at 12:15 and Sundays at 2:00, and on Free First Thursdays at 1:15.

    BAMPFA
  • Thursday, September 5, 1:15 PM

    Curator's Tour: Margot Norton on To Exalt the Ephemeral

    Chief Curator Margot Norton introduces To Exhalt the Ephemeral, discussing key artworks in each thematic section and highlighting the exhibition’s genesis and relation to BAMPFA’s collecting history.

    BAMPFA

Past Films