Nina Katchadourian (American, b. 1968) makes art from mundane materials and under self-imposed restrictions. In several locations in the Museum will be sculptures and photographs from Katchadourian’s  Fake Plants  series, made from paper food packaging, disposable medical masks, sponges, toothpicks, and other discarded common materials already designated as worthless. Based on invention rather than existing species, Katchadourian’s peculiar flora and fauna bring viewers closer to the overlooked matter that constitutes their domestic lives. A new series of Fake Plants uses upcycled industrial materials from the Finch papermill behind The Hyde Collection, central to the history of the Museum and its permanent collection. The integration of Katchadourian’s work throughout the historic collection encourages visitors to reflect on institutional identity and the continuities between old and new. 

Additionally, examples from Katchadourian’s Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style, created entirely on airplanes, will be in conversation with permanent collection artworks in historic Hyde House. Decked out with inflatable travel pillows, toilet seat covers, paper cups, and other materials close at hand , Katchadourian uses her camera phone and the cramped studio provided by the airplane restroom to create historicizing selfies that imitate fifteenth-century paintings. 

Nina Katchadourian is an internationally known artist based in Brooklyn and Berlin. Her video  Accent Elimination  was included at the 2015 Venice Biennale in the Armenian Pavilion, which won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. She’s been in group exhibitions at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, ICA Philadelphia, Brooklyn Museum, SculptureCenter, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, and other venues. A solo museum survey of her work, Curiouser, traveled from the Blanton Museum in 2017 to the Cantor Art Center at Stanford University and the BYU Museum of Art. Katchadourian had a solo show at The Morgan Library & Museum, Uncommon Denominator, in 2023. Her work is in collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Blanton Museum of Art, The Morgan Library & Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She is a professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University. Katchadourian is represented by Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, and Pace Gallery, New York. 

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