Gallery 31
Corcoran College of Art + Design
May 29, 2008–June 22, 2008

Gallery 31 is the Corcoran’s dedicated exhibition space for the Corcoran College of Art + Design. The space hosts exhibitions by the Corcoran’s faculty, students, alumni, visiting artists, and annual senior thesis exhibitions.

Access to Life
June 14–July 20, 2008

Access to Life pictures the lives of AIDS patients in nine countries before and after they receive free treatment. Photographed by Jonas Bendiksen, Jim Goldberg, Alex Majoli, Steve McCurry, Paolo Pellegrin, Gilles Peress, Eli Reed, and Larry Towell and curated by William Horrigan, director of media arts at the Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, the exhibition is a collaborative project between the legendary agency Magnum Photos, and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Elena del Rivero: Home Suite
July 12–November 16, 2008

Elena del Rivero’s art inhabits the boundary between domestic space and public activity, between experience and memory, and between the desire for control and the surrender to chance. As part of its ongoing series of exhibitions showcasing the work of contemporary and emerging artists, the Corcoran will present two related installations by Del Rivero, [Swi:t] Home, 2000–2001 (on view through September 21), and [Swi:t] Home: A Chant, 2001–2006 (on view through November 16). In both, she uses the medium of paper to explore the passage of time and the ways in which daily routine and large-scale events intersect to shape our ideas about place and home.

Richard Avedon
Portraits of Power
September 13, 2008–January 25, 2009

Richard Avedon (1923–2004), America’s pre-eminent portraitist and fashion photographer, photographed the faces of politics throughout his career. As the country enters the next presidential election season, the Corcoran will bring together Avedon’s political portraits for the first time. This exhibition will explore the taxonomy of politics and power by juxtaposing images of elite government, media, and labor officials with counter-cultural activists and ordinary citizens caught up in national debates.

Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power will include approximately 250 photographs from the 1950s through the artist’s death in 2004, displayed chronologically and grouped within Avedon’s specific editorial projects. A major catalogue, published by Steidl, will accompany the exhibition.