Betye Saar: Mojotech
In conjunction with Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide, Roberts Projects is pleased to present Betye Saar’s monumental altar assemblage, Mojotech. Created in 1987 during the artist’s residency at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this installation-based work is a testament to the fusion of contemporary technology and the mystique of ancient spirituality.
With Mojotech, Saar speculates on the presence of magic in technology by integrating a variety of ritual objects, charms and symbols with circuit boards and computer parts that draw aesthetic parallels between the natural and modern worlds. As a communal work, visitors are invited to participate by leaving personal or technological offerings at the base of the altar. This process of accumulation is inspired by traditional African sculpture, which incorporates various decorative and “power” elements from across its diverse cultural practices.
Archival materials from Saar’s artist residency will be displayed in the exhibition space, including original photos, slides, sketches, printed materials and initial communal offerings that connect Mojotech’s installation at MIT in 1987 to our present moment.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue to be published by Roberts Projects, featuring extensive materials from Saar’s residency at MIT and Mojotech’s installation history over the years.
Betye Saar (b. 1926) received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1949, with graduate studies at California State University at Long Beach, the University of Southern California and California State University at Northridge. Saar holds 6 honorary doctorates from California Institute of the Arts; Otis College of Art & Design; California College of Arts and Crafts; San Francisco Art Institute; Massachusetts College of Art; Cornish College of the Arts; and over 37 honors including two National Endowment for the Arts (1974, 1984); Studio Museum in Harlem (1989); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2019); Academy of Arts and Letters (2021). She has received 5 Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Congressional Black Caucus (2008); California African American Museum (2011); Edward McDowell Medal (2014); Museum of the African Diaspora (2017) and International Sculpture Center (2019).
Saar’s work is in over 80 museum collections including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; National Gallery of Art; Studio Museum in Harlem and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2018, the Museum of Modern Art acquired 42 important early works, making their holdings the largest public collection of Saar’s artwork.
Since 1961, Saar has been represented in more than 900 exhibitions. Current exhibitions include Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight, The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA (November 11, 2023 – November 30, 2025); Betye Saar: Atlas | The Alpha and the Omega, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2021 – present); Toward the Celestial: ICA Miami’s Collection at 10 Years, Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, FL (May 3 – November 1, 2024); Tender Loving Care, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (July 22, 2023 – July 28, 2025); Dream On, Bonnefanten, Maastricht, The Netherlands (June 6, 2024 – June 30, 2025) and In the Making: Contemporary Art at SBMA, Santa Barbara Art Museum (July 21, 2024 – March 9, 2025).
Upcoming exhibitions include Betye Saar: Wearables, Collegium at University of Chicago, IL (January 30 – April 18, 2025); Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, The Art Institute of Chicago, IL (December 14, 2024 – March 30, 2025); Vital Signs: Artists and the Body, Museum of Modern Art, NY (November 3, 2024 – February 22, 2025); The Shape of Power: Stories of American Race and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC (November 8, 2024–September 14, 2025) and Tarot: A Reading from Art, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain (October 10, 2024 - January 12, 2025).
Recent exhibitions include Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Centuries, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (October 25, 2023 – February 26, 2024); Entangled Pasts: 1768 – Now, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (February 3 - April 28, 2024); Mapping an Art World: Los Angeles in the 1970s-80s, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (June 18, 2023 – Mar 17, 2024); Cooking Cleaning Caring: Care Work in the Arts since 1960, Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop, Germany (October 22, 2023 – March 03, 2024); Artist’s Choice: Grace Wales Bonner – Spirit Movers, Museum of Modern Art, NY (November 18, 2023 – April 7, 2024); Groove: Artists and Intaglio Prints, 1500 to Now, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (December 16, 2023 – June 16, 2024); Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA (February 16 – May 23, 2023); Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (October 21, 2021 – March 6, 2022), FRAC Lorraine Museum, Metz, France (September 9, 2022 – January 22, 2023), Kunstmuseum, Luzerne, Switzerland (February 25 – June 18, 2023).
The Betye Saar Catalogue Raisonné Project was established in 2016 to preserve Saar’s artistic practice and educate future generations about her significant contributions to American art history. For more information, please visit betyesaarcatalogueraisonne.org.