The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) has announced a major survey exhibition titled 'MATRIX: 50 Years of Experimentation,' scheduled to run from January 2027 through April 2027. This exhibition celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the MATRIX program, a pioneering artist-centered series established in 1978 by James Elliott. The survey will feature over sixty artworks alongside a living archive of ephemera, documenting the program's role in launching the careers of nearly three hundred artists and its influence on the global contemporary art landscape.
The exhibition will restage the program's inaugural projects by Ree Morton, Susan Rothenberg, and Ursula Schneider, while also highlighting more recent contributions from acclaimed artists like Arthur Jafa and Young Joon Kwak. By showcasing works that range from conceptual performance to politically engaged installations, the exhibition underscores BAMPFA’s legacy as a site for creative experimentation. It specifically honors the program's history of providing first solo museum exhibitions for artists who later achieved international recognition, such as Nan Goldin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Cecilia Vicuña.