Uncommon Denominator: Nina Katchadourian at the Morgan

February 10 through May 28, 2023

In Uncommon Denominator, Nina Katchadourian (American, born 1968) stages a conversation among works from throughout her career, artifacts of her family’s history, and objects drawn from every corner of the Morgan’s vaults. To enlist the taste, imagination, and expertise of others, Katchadourian asked Morgan staff members to explain favorite objects to her. She incorporated many of these into a sequence of clusters in which images and objects echo, contradict, or comment upon one another. The sequence encircles a newly commissioned set of photographs from Katchadourian’s ongoing “Sorted Books” project: stacks of books—selected from the Morgan’s Carter Burden Collection of American Literature—whose titles combine into statements, poems, one-liners, or brief narratives. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog featuring an independent image sequence and an interview with the artist.

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Uncommon Denominator: Nina Katchadourian at the Morgan is made possible by the Charles E. Pierce Jr. Fund for Exhibitions, Richard and Ronay Menschel, the Alturas Foundation, and the Sakana Foundation. Support is provided by Wanda Kownacki, Emily MF Korteweg, Nicole Avril and Dan Gelfand, and Corina Larkin and Nigel Dawn, with assistance from Martin Z. Margulies, Megan and Paul Segre, and Larry Kauvar.

Nina Katchadourian (American, born 1968), Giant Redwood, 2012 (Seat Assignment project, 2010-ongoing). Digital chromogenic print. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased on the Photography Collectors Committee fund; 2019.140. © Nina Katchadourian

Exhibition location: 

Engelhard Gallery

Publication: