Joan Jonas and Eija-Liisa Ahtila

Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things, 2004/05; video installation; dimensions variable; joint purchase, University of Calfornia, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, museum purchase: bequest of Thérèse Bonney, Class of 1916, by exchange, and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego with funds from prior donations by the Estate of George E. and Lois P. Osborn.

BAM/PFA is delighted to announce two major acquisitions that expand the museum's significant collections of time-based works. They also reflect our commitment to collecting work by women artists and those who have exhibited at BAM early in their careers. In partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, BAM/PFA has purchased Joan Jonas's The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things (2004/05), a reflection on the American Southwest, and Eija-Liisa Ahtila's The Hour of Prayer (2005), a deeply personal consideration of attachment and death. BAM/PFA presented the first major retrospective of Jonas's work in 1982, and holds several of her early works; Ahtila was featured in the MATRIX Program in 2004. With the acquisition of these important video installation pieces, BAM/PFA both honors the history of feminist media art, in which Jonas is a founding figure, and looks toward the genre's future. The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things will be installed in the BAM Galleries in fall 2007.