Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Nina Beier's work focuses on shared actions, experiences and histories that bind people together in close relationships, temporary groups or abstract communities

By Ken Burns
William Segal was a philosopher, publisher, writer and painter who searched relentlessly and compassionately for meaning in this chaotic and distracted time. The student of such diverse masters as G.I. Gurdjieff and D.T. Suzuki, Segal helped bring Eastern and Western spiritual traditions together, always stressing what connected humanity rather than what differentiated it. In the last decade of his life, Segal befriended filmmaker Ken Burns, and the two collaborated on this unique trilogy of short films. (1992–99, 73 min, digital video)
Film will be introduced by professor and author Dr. Jacob Needleman

Audience as Subject is a two-part exhibition that reverses the role of the audience from that of spectator to subject, exposing the dramatic mechanisms underlying public gatherings of people.