“The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.” —Walt Whitman Americana: 50 States, 50 Months, 50 Exhibitions is a long-term presentation consisting of 50 displays, each approximately one month long, coorganized by Wattis Institute director Jens Hoffmann and CCA’s Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice. Each month’s display focuses on a particular American state, in alphabetical order by state name. Through artworks, historical artifacts, curiosities, and other elements, Americana examines overlooked and little-known aspects of each state. The brisk pace of the 50 displays reflects the varied and constantly changing fabric of this relatively young country and its multilayered, shifting national identity. All of the presentations take place in the same exhibition space, a vitrine configured in the shape of the United States. Americana also looks at how social and political imperatives condition the production, presentation, and interpretation of art and exhibition making. The title is a reference to an exhibition of the same name that was curated by the artist collaborative Group Material at the 1985 biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Group Material also focused on art and elements of mass culture that they understood as overlooked, forgotten, and outside the mainstream in order to investigate critically how museums and exhibitions assist in the formation of American identity. Upcoming Americana exhibitions: Massachusetts September 1 – 19 Michigan September 22 – October 10 Minnesota October 13 – 31 Mississippi November 3 – 21 Missouri November 24 – December 5 Montana December 8 – January 16 Nebraska January 19 – February 6 Nevada February 9 – 27 New Hampshire March 2 – 20 New Jersey March 23 – April 10 New Mexico April 13 – 24 New York April 27 – May 15 About the CCA Wattis Institute The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area. CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts California College of the Arts 1111 Eighth Street San Francisco CA 94107-2247 T: 415.551.9210 http://www.wattis.org