Maren Hassinger’s expansive new retrospective at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive offers a comprehensive look at the artist’s five-decade career, highlighting her distinctive synthesis of sculpture, performance, and natural materials. The exhibition, titled “Maren Hassinger: Living Moving Growing,” features a broad selection of works including large-scale installations, performance videos, photographs, and an off-site outdoor sculpture at the University of California Botanical Garden.
The artist, 78, who traveled from her home in Harlem for the installation, is known for infusing a sense of movement into her abstract sculptures, a quality stemming from her early background as a dancer. This dynamic interplay is central to the exhibition’s narrative, which explores how Hassinger’s performances and sculptural practice inform one another.
A prominent piece anchoring the show is a 10-foot-tall pyramid constructed from interwoven redwood branches, newly installed in a grove of mature oak trees within the botanical garden. The sculpture, created with the assistance of volunteers, rests on a concealed steel framework, and incorporates natural materials without damage to living trees. The artist has described the piece as feeling organically connected to its environment, likening the surrounding oaks to guardians of the work.
The retrospective traces Hassinger’s artistic development from her early years in Los Angeles and her education at Bennington College and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Initially aspiring to be a dancer, Hassinger shifted focus to visual art after encouraging feedback from instructors, ultimately earning an M.F.A. at UCLA. There, she developed a signature approach using industrial wire rope, a material that balances rigidity with pliability, allowing her to evoke organic forms and movement.
Curators Margot Norton, chief curator of the Berkeley Art Museum, and Anthony Graham have sought to highlight Hassinger’s individual contributions, distinguishing her from her collaborations with the experimental artist collective Studio Z. The group, active in Los Angeles during the 1970s, included notable artists such as Senga Nengudi, David Hammons, and Ulysses Jenkins, with whom Hassinger collaborated but has often been viewed primarily as a supporting figure. Norton emphasized the importance of recognizing Hassinger as a leading artist in her own right, a view bolstered by recent institutional acquisitions like the Getty Research Institute’s purchase of her archives in 2023.
Works in the show range from minimal wall sculptures incorporating natural branches and entwined wire to expansive installations such as fields of angled wood dowels and clusters of unraveled wire rope resembling tumbleweeds. A vibrant wall of inflated pink plastic bags adds a contrasting element of color and playfulness.
Performance videos document Hassinger’s dance collaborations from the 1970s and her later works addressing social issues during her tenure as sculpture program director at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In Baltimore, Hassinger confronted themes of racism and community through her art, evident in a 2006 video titled “Legacy,” which enumerates facets of African American cultural inheritance alongside experiences of systemic injustice.
One of the exhibition’s focal points is a reimagined version of Hassinger’s 2008 installation “Wrenching News,” composed of twisted ropes crafted from strips of newspaper. Initiated after Hurricane Katrina, the work symbolizes resilience and communal engagement. During the current show, Hassinger has organized workshops where volunteers and local artists create additional newspaper ropes, gradually expanding the installation.
Throughout her work, Hassinger employs twisting forms inspired by natural phenomena and sculptural traditions. While acknowledging metaphorical readings, the artist emphasizes a practical aspect of these techniques: twisting materials to increase strength and transform everyday components into enduring structures.
“Maren Hassinger: Living Moving Growing” stands as the most extensive presentation of the artist’s work to date, offering insight into her innovative melding of movement, materiality, and social commentary within the broader context of contemporary American art. The exhibition remains on view through the summer, inviting audiences to engage with the evolving interplay of form, performance, and environment in Hassinger’s art.