Friday, December 5, 12 – 1pm
David Hartt’s video work On Exactitude in Science (Watts), 2021, installed at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo by Robert Gerhardt / Courtesy of MoMA
Free; registration required.
About the Talk
David Hartt on Freedom Dreams
On-Site & Online Talk | Member Appreciation Days
Members are invited to join us for a presentation by Philadelphia-based artist David Hartt. One of the artists included in our spring 2026 exhibition Freedom Dreams, Hartt creates work that explores how historic ideas and ideals persist or transform over time. Hartt will discuss his film installation On Exactitude in Science (Watts), a poignant and visually dynamic exploration of the built environment within the historically Black neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles. Drawing inspiration from Charles Burnett’s 1978 film Killer of Sheep, Hartt’s installation, which will be featured in Freedom Dreams, reveals the tensions that emerge at the intersection of place, politics, economics, and race.
Following the presentation, Hartt will be joined in conversation by Freedom Dreams co-curator James Claiborne, Fleischner Family Deputy Director for Community Engagement at the Barnes.
David Hartt’s video work On Exactitude in Science (Watts), 2021, installed at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo by Robert Gerhardt / Courtesy of MOMA
Speaker
David Hartt
Hartt’s photographs, videos, sculptures, and installations offer a sensitive and concise portrait of contemporary post-industrial, post-communist, and late-capitalist societies. For Hartt, “place” is a way to investigate community, narrative, and the intersection of private and public life. Born in Montreal, Hartt studied at the University of Ottawa and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is an associate professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. Photo by Asger Carlsen for PIN–UP
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