NEWSLETTER
Hudson, NY — Hudson Hall presents A Place in the World (2025, dir. David Shayne, 59 min), a documentary tracing the remarkable sixty-year career of renowned British sculptor Garth Evans. The screening takes place on Saturday, April 25 at 4 PM and is followed by a conversation with Evans, author and critic Michael Brenson, and cultural leader and producer Anita Contini. The screening is presented in conjunction with Garth Evans: Watercolors, an exhibition of new paintings on view April 11–May 3, 2026.
A Place in the World charts Evans’ path from working-class British roots to international acclaim. At the center of the film is Untitled Sculpture, the monumental steel work Evans installed on a Cardiff street in 1972 as part of a nationwide public art program. For many Cardiff residents unaccustomed to abstract sculpture, the work provoked confusion and impassioned criticism. Evans returned to the site carrying a tape recorder, inconspicuously recording the reactions of passersby. In doing so, he captured the beginning of a fifty-year journey for the work that would include removal, disappearance, and an unexpected return to the city decades later. Told with humor and honesty, the film explores enduring questions about the role of public art and its place in a divided society.
“A Place in the World is a deeply moving film that shows how art can challenge and connect a community over time," says Hudson Hall Executive Director, Adam Weinert. "At a moment when public funding for the arts is under pressure, it’s a powerful reminder of what’s at stake.”
Presented alongside the screening, Garth Evans: Watercolors offers a rare glimpse into another dimension of the artist’s practice. Created over the course of one week in Lake Willoughby, Vermont, the luminous watercolor series begins with landscape views that gradually dissolve into fields of abstract color.
About Garth Evans
Over a career spanning six decades, Garth Evans has presented work in more than one hundred solo and group exhibitions, including Garth Evans at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, curated by Richard Deacon in 2013. He has received numerous awards and residencies, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship. His work is held in major public and private collections worldwide, including Tate Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum. In 2018 he founded the Sculpture Forum, an online platform for the discussion of sculpture.
About Michael Brenson
Michael Brenson is a writer, curator, and critic focused on modern and contemporary sculpture. He was a member of the sculpture faculty at Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts for two decades and previously served as an art critic for The New York Times. He is the author of Visionaries and Outcasts: The NEA, Congress, and the Place of the Visual Artist in America (2001). Brenson has curated exhibitions at MoMA PS1 and SculptureCenter and has organized and moderated programs at institutions including the National Gallery of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. His honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, and the Clark Art Institute. He lives in Accord, New York.
About Anita Contini
Anita Contini is a cultural leader and producer whose work has shaped major public art initiatives in the United States and internationally. She is the founder of Creative Time, where she served as President and Director from 1974 to 1986, producing pioneering projects such as Art on the Beach and Masstransiscope. She later served as Vice President and Director of the 9/11 Memorial and Cultural Programs at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, where she led the design selection process for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Most recently, she was Senior Liaison for Arts and Culture at Bloomberg Philanthropies, where she oversaw major initiatives including the Public Art Challenge. She currently serves on several arts and advisory boards and continues to work at the intersection of art, civic life, and public space.
Screening:
A Place in the World (2025, dir. David Shayne, 59 min)
Saturday, April 25 at 4 PM
Followed by a conversation with Garth Evans, Michael Brenson, and Anita Contini
Free with reservation. Reservations at hudsonhall.org
Exhibition:
Garth Evans: Watercolors
April 11–May 3, 2026
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 11, 5–7 PM
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Image: Garth Evans, Untitled Sculpture, 1972, Cardiff. Image courtesy of the artist
Press Kit:
hudsonhall.org/press-kit-a-
Press Contact:
Caroline Lee
Director of Marketing & External Communications
Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House
(518) 822-1438
caroline@hudsonhall.org