Moholy-Nagy: Future Present

About

The first comprehensive retrospective of the work of László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) in the United States in nearly 50 years, this long overdue presentation reveals a utopian artist who believed that art could work hand-in-hand with technology for the betterment of humanity. Moholy-Nagy: Future Present examines the career of this pioneering painter, photographer, sculptor, and filmmaker as well as graphic, exhibition, and stage designer, who was also an influential teacher at the Bauhaus, a prolific writer, and later the founder of Chicago’s Institute of Design. The exhibition includes more than 250 works in all media from public and private collections across Europe and the United States, some of which have never before been shown publicly in the U.S. Also on display is a large-scale installation, the Room of the Present, a contemporary construction of an exhibition space originally conceived by Moholy-Nagy in 1930. Though never realized during his lifetime, the Room of the Present illustrates Moholy’s belief in the power of images and the various means by which to disseminate them—a highly relevant paradigm in today’s constantly shifting and evolving technological world.