ArtSpeaks | Floating Worlds of Leisure: Popular Culture and Performance in Edo Japan (1603 – 1868)

Friday, January 23, 6 – 7 pm

Enjoy a talk with Kirk Kanesaka, Assistant Professor of Japanese and Asian Studies Department of World Languages and Literatures California State University, San Bernardino. When the Tokugawa shogunate established its rule in Edo (present-day Tokyo), Japan entered a period of more than 250 years of peace and stability. This talk, presented alongside the prints on view, explores how performance and popular culture blossomed in the Edo period, spotlighting the actors who captivated audiences, the prints that immortalized them, and the luxurious costumes that brought their stories to life.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

Curator Conversation | Arden Sherman and the Curatorial Process

Friday, January 30, 6 – 7 pm

Arden Sherman, the Glenn W and Cornelia T. Bailey Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, will discuss her own curatorial practice, tracing her interest in documentary photography, public art, and socially engaged art through exhibitions dedicated to female artists. She will speak about her approach to exhibition-making and programming, which centers on audience engagement, experience-building, and art interpretation.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

Artist Talk | Achromatic Scales: Leslie Hewitt in conversation with Lauren Richman

Friday, February 13, 6 – 7 PM

Leslie Hewitt will present her interdisciplinary practice that spans photography, sculpture, and site-specific installation. She will discuss how her work engages with the interplay between personal and collective memory, often layering archival material, objects, and spatial interventions. From early explorations of still life as a vehicle for political and historical reflection to more recent projects incorporating moving image and historical research, Hewitt will trace the evolution of her practice and its ongoing dialogue with history, form, and perception.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

ArtSpeaks | A Conversation on Calligraphy with John Niblack and Shawn Yuan

Friday, February 20, 6 – 7 PM

Celebrate Lunar New Year with a special conversation between John Niblack, the Norton’s long-time trustee and patron, and Shawn Yuan, Elizabeth B. McGraw Senior Curator of Asian Art. Discover Mr. Niblack’s passion for Chinese culture through his practice of Chinese calligraphy, his collection of Chinese art, and his study of the written language. This conversation accompanies the Norton’s Lunar New Year celebration and features Niblack’s own calligraphy exhibited in the gallery.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

ArtSpeaks | Trevor Paglen

Friday, March 6, 6 – 7 PM (Registration available January 25 for members and February 1 for non-members)

Welcome to the world of the weird: How infrastructure, AI, mind control, and psyops are rewiring reality. In this talk, Trevor Paglen looks at the strange systems that shape how we see and understand the world today. From the cables under the ocean to the satellites overhead, from algorithms that guess what we’re thinking to media designed to steer what we believe — Paglen traces how power hides in plain sight. Mixing art, technology, and investigation, he explores how artificial intelligence, surveillance, and psychological operations are changing what’s real, what’s fake, and what we can even know.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

ArtSpeaks | Russell Shorto

Friday, March 13, 6 – 7 PM (Registration available January 25 for members and February 1 for non-members)

How did the art of Rembrandt and his contemporaries reflect the spirit of a nation expanding across the world? Join Russell Shorto as he uncovers the mindset that powered Dutch art, trade, and empire in the 17th century.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

Artist Talk | Danielle Mckinney: Shelter and RAW: In Retrospect

Friday, March 27, 6 – 7 PM (Registration available January 25 for members and February 1 for non-members)

Arden Sherman, Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, will lead a discussion with Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Svenja Deininger about their work and the future of women artists inside art institutions.

Cost: Museum Admission/Members FREE

Space is limited; online registration required. Walk-ins welcome if tickets remain on the day of the program.

ALERT! Ticketed events in the auditorium are capacity controlled. Please arrive 30 minutes prior to these scheduled events as they are first come first serve. Arrivals later than program start time may forfeit seating. 

Questions? Contact us at (561) 832-5196 or [email protected] 

Members can contact the Membership Line at (561) 659-6786 or [email protected]