Your Guide to Autumn at BAMPFA

by Jasmine Sov

No matter what kind of autumn you’re feeling, come to BAMPFA to view these exhibitions on themes and aesthetics that go hand-in-hand with the fall spirit.

Decay, change and impermanence

To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection

Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024

The ripening and subsequent decay of nature is just one of the things that autumn is all about. Running from August 14, 2024 to July 6, 2025, To Exalt the Ephemeral is a meta look at how museums uplift the work of artists who explore ideas of impermanence, decomposition, and regeneration.

Preservation of tradition

Abounaddara: The Ruins We Carry

​Abounaddara: The Imagemaker, 2024 (installation view)​

​Also showing from October 9, 2024 to February 23, 2025 is The Ruins We Carry, a 3-channel film installation by Syrian art collective Abounaddara. This installation depicts the creative process of Abou Diab, the last known practitioner of the Damascus art of stamped cloth, and how his work breathes life into ruin.

Connection to others

​MATRIX 285 / Young Joon Kwak: Resistance Pleasure

Installation view, MATRIX 285 / Young Joon Kwak: Resistance Pleasure, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California, 2024

In this multimedia sculpture exhibition (on view August 7, 2024 to December 15, 2024), Los Angeles-based artist Young Joon Kwak portrays the human form of themselves and their loved ones through resin, metal, neon signs and other materials. Autumn is a time when people come together, and Kwak’s pieces display both the intimacy and diversity of the many ways this can happen.