Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum and repertory movie theater and archive, associated with the University of California, Berkeley. The director is Lawrence Rinder who was appointed in 2008.

Collection

The museum was founded in 1963 after a donation was made to the university from artist and teacher Hans Hofmann of forty-five paintings plus $250,000. A competition to design the building was announced in 1964, and the museum opened in 1970. The museum has featured works by Albert Bierstadt, Jonathan Borofsky, Joan Brown, Robert Colescott, Jay DeFeo, Helen Frankenthaler, Paul Gauguin, Juan Gris, Ant Farm, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Robert Mapplethorpe, Knox Martin, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Sebastião Salgado, and Arvo Györköny. It also offers the The MATRIX Program for Contemporary Art.

The Pacific Film Archive (PFA) was founded by Sheldon Renan and began screening films in 1966 and specializes in international films. The PFA also includes a library which includes an online database of documentation associated with the films.

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley (also referred to as Berkeley, UC Berkeley, California or simply Cal) is a public research university located in Berkeley, California. It is the flagship campus of the University of California system, one of three parts in the state's public higher education plan, which also includes the California State University system and the California Community Colleges System.

It is considered by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings as one of six university brands that lead in world reputation rankings in 2015 and is ranked third on the U.S. News' 2015 Best Global Universities rankings conducted in the U.S. and nearly 50 other countries. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) also ranks the University of California, Berkeley fourth in the world overall, and first among public universities. It is broadly ranked first in science, third in engineering, and fifth in social sciences, with specific rankings of first in chemistry, first in physics, third in computer science, fourth in mathematics, and fourth in economics/business. The university is also well known for producing a high number of entrepreneurs.

Art museum

An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art. Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection. Paintings are the most commonly displayed art objects; however, sculpture, decorative arts, furniture, textiles, costume, drawings, pastels, watercolors, collages, prints, artists' books, photographs, and installation art are also regularly shown. Although primarily concerned with providing a space to show works of visual art, art galleries are sometimes used to host other artistic activities, such as performance art, music concerts, or poetry readings.

Types of galleries

The term is used for both public galleries, which are non-profit or publicly owned museums that display selected collections of art. On the other hand, private galleries refers to the commercial enterprises for the sale of art. However, both types of gallery may host traveling exhibits or temporary exhibitions including art borrowed from elsewhere.

South Asia

South Asia or Southern Asia is a term used to represent the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan SAARC countries and, for some authorities, adjoining countries to the west and east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land (clockwise, from west) by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably.

The current territories of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka form the countries of South Asia. In addition, with deviating definitions based on often substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory, Mauritius, and the Tibet Autonomous Region are included as well. South Asia is home to well over one fifth of the world's population, making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) is an economic cooperation organisation in the region which was established in 1985 and includes all eight nations comprising South Asia.

Asian art

Asian art can refer to any art among many cultures in Asia. See History of Eastern art for a summary art history.

Various types of Asian art

Gallery

Indian art, The Sun Temple in Konark.

Indian art, The Sun Temple in Konark.

Chinese art, painting Xiao and Xiang rivers by Dong Yuan (c. 934–962).

Chinese art, painting Xiao and Xiang rivers by Dong Yuan (c. 934–962).

Cambodian art, Stone bas-relief at Bayon temple depicting the Khmer army at war with the Cham, carved c. 1200 CE

Cambodian art, Stone bas-relief at Bayon temple depicting the Khmer army at war with the Cham, carved c. 1200 CE

Korean art, Joseon dynasty palace architecture.