Videos : Behind the Scenes

In an interview recorded at PEM in 2010, Michael Lin discusses his practice of appropriating floral patterns to create large-scale, public artworks that challenge the conventions of exhibition.

Filmmaker Peter Hutton and model maker Michael Wall discuss the inspiration for Shipbreaking, a one-of-a-kind ship model created for FreePort [no.004]. The model reflects the ship salvaging activities seen in Peter Hutton's 2007 film  At Sea. This model and Peter Hutton's film are on view in PEM's Putnam Gallery through June 30, 2012.

Peter Hutton's first contribution to FreePort no.004 is Two Rivers. Seen for the first time in public in a dual-screen presentation, Two Rivers takes us on two simultaneous voyages- the Hudson River in New York and the Yangtze River in China.

Susan Philipsz is the 2010 recipient of the prestigious Turner Prize - an annual award bestowed on the best contemporary British artist under age 50. In this artist interview filmed at PEM in 2011, Philipsz talks about If I With You Would Go, her original, site-specific sound installation in PEM's East India Marine Hall. 

This artwork is featured as part of PEM's FreePort project, an ongoing initiative that brings living artists into a unique dialogue with PEM and its audiences. Check our exhibition page for FreePort works on display today.

Images of Francis Child and his collection of ballads have been provided by the Houghton Library at Harvard University.

Swiss artist Marianne Mueller looks back at her contribution to PEM's FreePort project Any House Is a Home. In her exhibition, objects and images from PEM's collection merge and mingle with images of Salem and with Mueller’s own work to create a contemporary conversation that is colorful and complex. The installation is on view in PEM's Photography Gallery through early 2012. Don't miss it!

Charles Sandison reflects on his installation for PEM's FreePort no.001

Sandison brings the East India Marine Hall into dazzling new light with 'Figurehead,' a writhing sea of handwritten words and drawings that twist and flow across the museum's historic East India Marine Hall. The projected words and images were gathered by Sandison while exploring ship logs and sailor's journals at PEM's own Phillips Library.

This installation is on view through April 24th, 2011. Don't miss it! For more information about FreePort, click on the Exhibitions tab at pem.org.

To celebrate the opening day of Eye Spy, Playing with Perception, exhibition artist Michael Macaulay created a chalk mural on the floor of PEM's Atrium. As delighted visitors looked on, Macaulay's mural, Undiscovered, transforms from a simple black backdrop into three dimensional fun.

On loan from The Tina and Anil Ambani Collection of contemporary art from India, renowned artist Anish Kapoor’s sculpture "Halo 2006" arrived at PEM in early 2010. In this video, watch as the PEM crew unpacks and installs his immense stainless steel masterpiece.

A Behind the Scenes Interview with textile conservator Deirdre Windsor as she prepares for Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel.

NBC correspondent Matt Lauer and Henry Ng, Executive Vice President of the World Monuments Fund, bring us inside the Qianlong Garden.

PEM hosted "Down by the Sea!" at Dead Horse Beach in Salem in conjunction with the exhibition Trash Menagerie. More than 75 adults and kids helped environmental artist Kyle Browne create a giant sea turtle sculpture using found natural materials and beach debris. The July 11, 2009, event doubled as a beach cleanup - all the trash was later deposited in trash and recycling bins.

Master furniture maker Phillip Lowe demonstrates some of the same techniques that Samuel McIntire used during his career in the late 18th century as Salem’s preeminent wood carver and architect.

Master furniture maker Phillip Lowe demonstrates some of the same techniques that Samuel McIntire used during his career in the late 18th century as Salem’s preeminent wood carver and architect.

In 2009, PEM presented Mahjong, a major exhibition of contemporary Chinese art from the collection of Swiss businessman Uli Sigg. In this video, watch how curators and other PEM staff helped unpack and install 2000 A.D., artist Yu Minjun’s nearly life-size statues of a grinning (or is he grimacing?) man.