June 16, 2010 - June 30, 2013

Explore the journey of Buddhism across several centuries and from India into Tibet through exceptionally beautiful objects of sculpture and painting dating from the ninth to the eighteenth centuries.

February 29, 2012 - June 17, 2012

Have you ever heard the sound of ice melting? <b>State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970</b>, part of Pacific Standard Time, offers an in-depth exploration of Conceptual art made by both Northern and Southern California artists during a pivotal period in contemporary art. The more than 150 works of art on display—many rarely seen or newly discovered—are organized by themes, such as the street, the body, politics, private/public space, and language/wordplay, that elucidate this dynamic era in our history and foreshadow the concerns of young artists working today.

January 18, 2012 - June 10, 2012

Come spend some time with the work of seminal Abstract Expressionists this spring at BAM/PFA. Forceful paintings by Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Hans Hofmann, William Baziotes, Asger Jorn, Philip Guston, and others hang in light-filled Gallery A, while Gallery C displays rarely seen works on paper by artists including Sam Francis, Mark Tobey, Antonio Saura, and Norman Bluhm.

January 15, 2012 - December 9, 2012

Come hang out in <b>The Reading Room</b>, a temporary project dedicated to poetry and experimental fiction. Bring a book from your own collection to leave and take home a book from one of several noted East Bay small presses. Spend time here reading, listening to recordings of selected poets , and viewing artwork made collaboratively by artists and poets. On selected Fridays, <b>The Reading Room</b> becomes the site of readings by young poets and writers, programmed by David Brazil and Suzanne Stein.<br /><br />

May 18, 2012 - June 10, 2012

Be among the first to encounter the work of seven exceptional artists as they embark on their careers in the <b>Forty-Second Annual University of California, Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition</b>.

May 25, 2012 - May 25, 2012

Join us in celebrating what would have been the ninety-fifth birthday of the brilliant and innovative California composer Lou Harrison. The evening features a performance of Harrison’s powerful <i>La Koro Sutro</i>, conducted by Marika Kuzma, and two chamber works, performed by the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio.

August 24, 2012 - December 9, 2012

Taking over the entire lower level of the museum as well as several outdoor spaces, this midcareer survey of San Francisco–based artist Barry McGee chronicles two decades of work, from drawings to large-scale installations. McGee will be in residence at BAM/PFA starting in mid-June as he prepares for this retrospective. Catch him in action!

January 30, 2013 - April 21, 2013

Whether experienced as a positive source of inspiration, an enigmatic force, or an unsettling limbo zone, silence has become scarce in today’s media-saturated world. Inspired by John Cage’s groundbreaking musical composition <i>4’33”</i>, and the one-hundredth anniversary of the composer’s birth, <b>Silence</b> considers the absence of sound as both subject and medium in contemporary art and film. Co-organized with the Menil Collection, Houston.

October 31, 2012 - November 11, 2012

Internationally acclaimed artist Fernando Botero (b. 1932) is widely known for lively compositions of volumetric, sensual figures. Yet his works also convey a deep commitment to human rights. Among his earliest influences were the Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Siqueiros, who, as Botero notes, “made the reality of the country the subject of their art.” In the fall, as part of the new BAM/PFA program Human Rights Arts Week, we will feature several works from Botero’s provocative <i>Abu Ghraib</i> series.<br />