Upcoming Exhibition
Robert Rauschenberg
Currents, 1970
Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925 – 2008), Surface Series 52 (from Currents) [detail], 1970
“I want to shake people awake. I want people to look at the material and react to it. I want to make them aware of individual responsibility, both for themselves and for the rest of the human race.”
—Robert Rauschenberg
This exhibition features 17 large-scale prints and a related sound piece from Robert Rauschenberg’s Currents series of 1970. During a tumultuous political moment in the US, the artist conceptualized the Currents project as an experience of immersion and overstimulation meant to jar viewers into action. “Currents” refers to current events as much as forces of nature — ocean currents, electrical currents — phenomena that can sweep someone away or jolt them into attention.
Each screenprint is composed of dozens of newspaper clippings superimposed atop one another, prompting a pattern of looking based on searching, reading, and decoding. An accompanying soundscape features a jumble of audio clips taken from newscasts of the period. The experience is overwhelming, an activation of the nervous system.
Rauschenberg explicitly understood his art practice as capable of stimulating political consciousness. “I want to shake people awake,” he explained. “I want people to look at the material and react to it. I want to make them aware of individual responsibility, both for themselves and for the rest of the human race.”
With support from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Des Moines Art Center joins an international roster of institutions commemorating the artist’s 100th birthday. Rauschenberg’s conviction that engagement with art can nurture people’s sensibilities as individuals, community members, and citizens was key to his ethos. The Centennial celebrations seek to allow audiences familiar with him and those encountering the artist for the first time to form fresh perspectives about his art work. A year of global activities and exhibitions in honor of Rauschenberg’s Centennial reexamines the artist through a contemporary lens, highlighting his enduring influence on generations of artists and advocates for social progress. The Centennial’s activation of the artist’s legacy promotes cross-disciplinary explorations and creates opportunities for critical dialogue. Learn more by visiting rauschenbergfoundation.org.
“Robert Rauschenberg: Currents, 1970″ is curated by Art Center Associate Curator Ashton Cooper.
This project is supported by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925 – 2008)
Surface Series 52 (from Currents), 1970
Screenprint on paper
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Gift of Lawrence Zicklin, New York, 1983.62.15
Photo: Rich Sanders
