Butler Acquires Major $3.4M Collection of Modern Art | Entertainment

The collection features pieces created by many of the pioneers of technology-based art, including Marcel Duchamp, Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, Jean Tinguely, Pol Bury, George Rhoads, John Deandria, James Seawright and dozens more.

“In writing the history of 20th century art, you would have (to include) kinetic art,” Zona said. Duchamp and Paik, he continued, are considered among the greatest artists of their time, in any art genre.

The addition of the Bermant collection will “further enrich The Butler’s holdings of contemporary art,” Zona said.

The pieces in the collection are complex and large, and take time to unpack and set up. While some pieces will soon be on display, the full collection will not be ready to view until summer.

Visitors can expect intermittent closures of galleries and sections of The Butler’s Beecher Center during this ongoing installation process.

The works will be in galleries throughout Beecher Center, in the Bermant Gallery’s “Light and Sound” exhibit, and on the museum’s grounds, where they will be visible to passersby on Wick Avenue.

“I think it’s going to be enormously popular, especially among young people,” Zona said. “Young people will appreciate the dynamic nature of it.”

Zona said The Butler would consider collaborating with the Oh Wow! Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Museum for Science and Technology on certain pieces and aspects of the collection. The Oh Wow center is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but plans to reopen in May.