Cecilia Vicuña & Senga Nengudi

Cecilia Vicuña: About to Happen is the first major U.S. solo exhibition of the influential Chilean-born artist Cecilia Vicuña. Comprised of Vicuña's multidisciplinary work in performance, sculpture, drawing, video, text, and site-specific installations, it covers the past forty years of her work. Reframing dematerialization as both a formal consequence of 1960s conceptualism and radical climate change—the exhibition examines a process that shapes public memory and responsibility.

The exhibit runs in conjunction with another exhibit, Senga Nengudi: Improvisational Gestures. In 1975, Nengudi began a series of sculptures, entitled R.S.V.P., which evoke the elasticity and durability of the human body. Made of everyday materials, such as pantyhose and sand, the works invite viewers to not only respond but to engage with them physically. Stretched and twisted, knotted and looped, the works occupy their space in the gallery much as a figure does—by projecting outward and reaching into the space of the viewer in unexpected ways. Improvisational Gestures includes works from the 1970s to the present, and is the first museum presentation to examine these sculptures together and in such depth.

There will be an opening reception on March 16 from 6 pm–9 pm that celebrates both exhibits. The reception is free and open to the public. Both exhibits are on view until June 18. cacno.org.