Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s provides a fresh look at the art of the pivotal decade between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11. Join exhibition curator Alexandra Schwartz for an exploration of the themes of the show, namely identity politics, the digital revolution, and globalization. She will also consider the diverse ways in which the developments of the 1990s—the ongoing culture wars, issues of artistic freedom and censorship, the impact of new media, and the increase of artists of color, women artists, and LGBT artists—redefined contemporary approaches to artistic practice and, in her words, “writes a history of the ’90s through the lens of the visual arts.”

Alexandra Schwartz is the founding Curator of Contemporary Art at the Montclair Art Museum. Previously she was a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, where her exhibitions included Mind and Matter: Alternative Abstractions, 1940s to Now and Modern Women: Single Channel at MoMA PS1. She is the author of Ed Ruscha’s Los Angeles (MIT Press, 2010). An editor and contributor to numerous publications, Schwartz has taught at Columbia University and the University of Michigan, and in the Education Departments at MoMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She received an AB from Harvard University and an MA and PhD from the University of Michigan.

Browse the exhibition and enjoy light refreshments after the program.

Lead support for the exhibition Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s is provided by the University of Michigan Health System. Additional support is provided by Samantha and Ross Partrich, Andrea and Joel Brown, and the Center for the Education of Women's Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.