About the Collection

Dedicated to supporting artists in the creation of new work in the visual, media, performing and literary arts, and to making these works available to various audiences, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center was founded in Buffalo, New York in 1974 by a group of artists including Diane Bertolo, Charles Clough, Nancy Dwyer, Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman and Michael Zwack. The organization continues to celebrate innovation by supporting local artists and by introducing Buffalo audiences to wider artistic communities. Over its history, Hallwalls’s exhibitions and residencies have spanned the genres of painting, sculpture, conceptual art, installations, experimental and documentary film, video art, performance, fiction, jazz and new music.

Opened in 2006 to coincide with the organization’s 30th anniversary celebration, the Hallwalls Collection contains the Hallwalls Video Collection Preservation Project, featuring recorded performances by national and international artists including Laurie Anderson, Tony Conrad, Ethyl Eichelberger and hundreds more; as well as thousands of items of publications, photographs, artist files, grant applications, business records, calendars, publicity materials and other ephemera and realia documenting the history of the Contemporary Arts Center.

The Hallwalls digital collection contains a selection of exhibition and installation slides, event posters and publications. It can be searched above by artist/creator and by subcollection. Also available are a list of artist files and videos and a finding aid.

For more information about the Arts Center’s history see Consider the Alternatives: 20 Years of Contemporary Art at Hallwalls (1996) and hallwalls.org.