Aspen Art Museum

Registration Required

Free and open to the public

Aspen Art Museum

We welcome British-Nigerian artist Zina Saro-Wiwa to Aspen to unveil some of her rare and delicious botanical gins from her Illicit Gin Institute distillery. The Illicit Gin Institute is a thinktank and distillery created by the artist that explores the poetics and possibilities of palm wine gin—also known as “kaikai” or “ogogoro” or “illicit gin.” A spirit that, like tequila or clairin rum, was at first created by necessity as an inexpensive drink. Unlike tequila or rum, however, it has not yet been understood or appreciated globally. In this smoky yet smooth palm wine spirit, Saro-Wiwa sees a potent vehicle for storytelling, regeneration, and environmental repair. A voice for the maligned but historically Edenic Niger Delta region from which she hails. She has woven the gin into her art practice since 2013, and it has now culminated in the building of her own distillery and a research drive into Niger Delta botanicals and foodways. The tasting will consist of an introductory lecture and tastings of some of the botanical gins produced by her experimental distillery in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Her delicious botanical gin chocolates will also be offered.

At Capacity

Pine Creek Cookhouse

Cooking collective Spiral Theory Test Kitchen—Precious Okoyomon, Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Quori Theodor, and SK Lyons—present THE NOTHING, a post-Anthropocene eating experience and once in a lifetime culinary adventure. Enjoy a hike up to Pine Creek Cookhouse, followed by a sumptuous, out-of-this-world feast surrounded by the mountains.

Registration Required

Aspen Art Museum

Zina Saro-Wiwa’s next Illicit Gin Institute event is all about fruit and flowers. The artist will lecture once again on the gin and her practice with some emphasis on the idea of “sweetness” and the place of flowers in Nigerian culture. The tasting will open with a plain gin and a toast to the ancestors, followed by botanical gins flavored with unusual botanicals such as green orange peel and hibiscus. Bright and refreshing champagne cocktails that feature not only the gins but also bitters made from local Niger Delta basils and bitter leaves will also be offered.

Wednesday, August 4, 6–9 PM
Thursday, August 5, 2–8 PM
Friday, August 6, 10 AM–2 PM

Registration required

Into the Wood is a new pop-up, interactive installation by Los Angeles–based artist Adam Stamp. Created for ArtCrush 2021 and presented by L'Officiel Magazine, Into the Wood will provide a backdrop for Aspen Art Museum visitors to be photographed.

Limited to AAM Members and ArtCrush Ticket Buyers

Registration required

Join the AAM and L'Officiel in celebrating the launch of ArtCrush 2021 with a welcome party at the museum. Exhibitions on view include Cerith Wyn Evans’s Aspen Drift; Precious Okoyomon’s *Every Earthly Morning the Sky’s Light touches Ur Life is Unprecedented in its Beauty; Shara Hughes; as well as the ArtCrush auction galleries and The Store. The event also marks the launch of L'Officiel’s Photobooth project, a weeklong pop up photography studio in the museum.

Ticketed by Aspen Skiing Company Here

ACES invites you to the top of Aspen Mountain for their 4th annual Stars Above Aspen Astronomy Night! In partnership with Aspen Snowmass, explore the cosmos from 11,212 feet at this all-ages event that’s sure to be out of this world.

Free and open to all

Registration Required

Join Mary Weatherford for an informal discussion about her recent exhibitions at the AAM and SITE Santa Fe with Nicola Lees, Simone Krug, and Luis Yllanes, who all worked closely with Mary Weatherford and her team on the exhibition at the AAM. Weatherford will speak about her influences, the evolution in her process, and how neon made its way into her paintings. She will also expand on why she does not see herself as an abstract painter.

Wednesday, August 4, 6–9 PM
Thursday, August 5, 2–8 PM
Friday, August 6, 10 AM–2 PM

Registration required

Into the Wood is a new pop-up, interactive installation by Los Angeles–based artist Adam Stamp. Created for ArtCrush 2021 and presented by L'Officiel Magazine, Into the Wood will provide a backdrop for Aspen Art Museum visitors to be photographed.

Registration Required

Location to be shared upon registration

Join Zina Saro-Wiwa for the final iteration of the Illicit Gin Institute, which will be a “Silent Prekese Picnic.” Prekese (also known as Aidan Fruit) is a pod that is a species of the pea family and is grown on the Aidan Fruit tree. It is used mostly in savory soups and sometimes teas across West Africa, but it smells like toasted caramel and vanilla. Regarded as highly medicinal with many scientifically-documented health benefits, it is one of Saro-Wiwa’s favorite botanicals. The picnic, which will take place in a beautiful, bucolic setting near the museum, will be conducted in a warm and friendly silence. Attendees are invited to wander in, interact with prekese pods, and taste Saro-Wiwa’s deliciously ambrosial vegan prekese ice creams served with chocolate sauce spiked with clove gin and fresh strawberries. Other tree-related gins and savory treats will be offered. The observed silence is in service of the prekese itself, which, according to the artist, will allow the botanical to do the talking and encourage participants to engage with the unknown from a place of openness, humility, and meditative contemplation. A chance to listen to trees speak within you.

Free and open to the public

Registration Required

Aspen Art Museum

As part of the ongoing Questrom Lecture Series, the AAM will host a panel discussion with leading artists, scholars, and curators Allan Schwartzman, Doris Salcedo, Rebecca Siegel, and Naima Keith to explore the present landscape and future potential for monuments, as well as examine current debates about who and what should—or should not—be memorialized. This event is free and open to the public.