The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in California will present the most comprehensive retrospective of interdisciplinary artist Maren Hassinger's work to date, opening in June 2025. The exhibition, titled "Living Moving Growing," will showcase five decades of the artist's groundbreaking work spanning sculpture, performance, and community engagement.
Margot Norton, BAMPFA's chief curator and co-curator of the exhibition, emphasized the importance of amplifying Hassinger's contributions to contemporary art. "One impetus is based on the need and desire to amplify, via the museum's platform, an artist that needs to be more recognized, like Maren, to effect a change in art history," Norton explained in a phone interview. She also noted how Hassinger's work resonates with emerging artists today, stating, "I feel like her work resonates so much in the present moment."
The retrospective will feature an extensive range of Hassinger's artistic output, including her pioneering early works from the 1970s crafted from wire rope and tree branches. Large-scale installations will be recreated specifically for the exhibition, while performances and workshops will be presented both live and through photographic and video documentation. Norton, who is co-organizing the exhibition with BAMPFA senior curator Anthony Graham, explained their approach: "In order to present this picture of what Maren does, we wanted to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of the practice and the varying forms that she has created."
Hassinger's unique artistic philosophy centers on transformation and creation from nothing. In an email statement, the artist shared her perspective on creativity: "Creativity means you start with nothing, just nothing, and you make something. It's a challenge and it's an adventure. It's not what a lot of people want to spend their life doing, but I think it's really important to make something that no one has ever seen." She expressed particular excitement about the museum setting, noting her happiness "to be showing in a place close to students, where people are serious about looking and learning."
Norton's interest in Hassinger's work spans over two decades, having first encountered her sculptures in major exhibitions including "Now Dig This!" at the Hammer Museum in 2011 and "Just Above Midtown: 1974 to the Present" at the Museum of Modern Art in 2022. The curator described being "struck by them in terms of how they hold space" and how Hassinger "infuses the spaces with this palpable energy" through her material manipulations.
The exhibition's title, "Living Moving Growing," reflects Hassinger's interdisciplinary approach where performance and sculptural practices exist simultaneously. Norton explained that Hassinger's work "often takes readily available objects and thinks through them in order to transform them so they appear to be natural—or living, moving, and growing." This transformation of everyday materials into works that feel both intimate and monumental represents a key aspect of Hassinger's artistic impact.
The retrospective will be organized in a loosely chronological format, with strategic interruptions by site-specific works such as "Love" (2008), an installation consisting of inflated plastic bags filled with love notes. Visitors will also have the opportunity to view works that no longer exist, as some of Hassinger's early large-scale pieces were destroyed over time due to storage limitations. Works incorporating tree branches will be recreated in partnership with the University of California Botanical Garden, which will help source the necessary organic materials.
A significant component of the exhibition will be the presentation of workshops and performances throughout its six-month run. One highlight will be a reconceived version of "Women's Work" (2006), which involves participants collaborating with the artist to knot and twist newspapers. This work has inspired Hassinger to continue hosting similar workshops informally for nearly 20 years since its creation. Norton recently participated in one such workshop at the Columbus Museum of Art during Hassinger's two-person exhibition with longtime collaborator Senga Nengudi.
The interactive elements reflect Hassinger's process-oriented approach to art-making. Norton observed that Hassinger "is not necessarily thinking about the finished product because the process is so important." The exhibition will demonstrate how the artist creates "a sense of impermanence and a capacity for simple acts of maintenance and care for one another and for the world—themes that feel essential right now." This approach to art as ongoing transformation and community engagement positions Hassinger's work as particularly relevant to contemporary discussions about sustainability, care, and collective action in the art world.
