VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the exhibitiion Utopia/Dystopia: Construction and Destruction in Photography and Collage, on view in the Audrey Jones Beck Building March 11 through June 10, 2012.

Utopia/Dystopia explores artists’ use of photography to project a political, social, or cultural state of utopia or dystopia. Ranging in date from the late 19th century to the present, these photos, photocollages, photomontages, and moving images—along with photographs of a constructed space or sculptures that incorporate a photograph—have allowed artists to experiment with social, political, and urban construction and imagination.

The exhibition draws on works from the collections of the MFAH and Menil Collection in Houston; the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; and private collectors.

The timing of Utopia/Dystopia: Construction and Destruction in Photography and Collage celebrates Houston's FotoFest 2012 Biennial (March 16–April 29). An illustrated catalogue, published by the MFAH and distributed by Yale University Press, accompanies the exhibition.

Pictured:  Tom Thayer, detail Paper Puppets from Animations, 2005–09, mixed-media collage, the MFAH, gift of the Francis L. Lederer Foundation, courtesy of Sharon Lederer. © Tom Thayer, courtesy Derek Eller Gallery, NY.