Sarah Cooper is a curator, writer, and art historian based in Los Angeles.
She is the Public Programs Specialist for performance at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where she directs the experimental performance series Ever Present, among other programs.
She has organized programs featuring artists and musicians including Kim Gordon, Simone Forti, Brendan Fernandes, Patti Smith, Lonnie Holley, Martin Creed, Midori Takada, Helado Negro, Moor Mother, David Wojnarowicz, Derek Jarman, and Solange Knowles.
In addition, Sarah has held positions at The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Royal Academy in London, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
She holds a Master's Degree in Art History from Hunter College, New York. Her thesis, Expanding Experimentalism: Popular Music and Art at the Kitchen in New York City, 1971-1985, explores the creative output of artists' bands and the relationship between popular music and avant-garde performance practices.
sarahannecooper [at] gmail.com
She is the Public Programs Specialist for performance at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where she directs the experimental performance series Ever Present, among other programs.
She has organized programs featuring artists and musicians including Kim Gordon, Simone Forti, Brendan Fernandes, Patti Smith, Lonnie Holley, Martin Creed, Midori Takada, Helado Negro, Moor Mother, David Wojnarowicz, Derek Jarman, and Solange Knowles.
In addition, Sarah has held positions at The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Royal Academy in London, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
She holds a Master's Degree in Art History from Hunter College, New York. Her thesis, Expanding Experimentalism: Popular Music and Art at the Kitchen in New York City, 1971-1985, explores the creative output of artists' bands and the relationship between popular music and avant-garde performance practices.
sarahannecooper [at] gmail.com
Devendra Banhart & Noah Georgeson
August 21 & 22, 2021
Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Ever Present: Refuges was a unique listening experience held in Robert Irwin's Central Garden at the Getty Center. During the weekend-long sound bath, a collection of images and texts distributed by the artists Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson. The original poetry, contributed by Lita Albuquerque, Stephin Merritt, Adam Green, Ali Sethi, and Mark Epstein, were offerings for wandering minds, refuges from daily thought, each accompanied by photographs by Devendra Banhart.
Refuge is the title of an album of new ambient music by Banhart and Georgeson. Born out of a dialogue between two friends and long-standing collaborators during the tumultuous events of the past year, it seeks to create an experience of meditative beauty which offers the listener a much-needed sense of peace and renewal.
At the Getty, the music played throughout the garden’s circular pathways, creating a space for meandering and contemplation. Marking the return of music to the Getty Center, the first public event since lockdowns took effect in 2020, it provides a moment to reflect on the engagement between people, sound, and site, as sonic vibrations cleared the air for a new era.
“We’re hoping to create a sense of comfort and coming back to the moment,” they say. “It’s really important to have a little bit of space between us and our anxieties and impulses. What you do with that space is up to you.”
