Gallery Spotlight: Backdrop—An Invisible Art

Free with general museum admission, the Gallery Spotlight series is a conversation with featured guests every last Friday of the month.

Mt. Rushmore backdrop from North by Northwest (1959), gift of the Coakley Family and JC Backings Corporation, Courtesy Academy Museum Foundation

Join us in conversation with Vice President of Curatorial Affairs, Doris Berger and Manager, Public Programs, Eduardo Sánchez, as we examine the exhibition Backdrop: An Invisible Art and its connection to the Lakota community and history.

The conversation will take place in the Ted Mann Lobby on Lower Level 1. Visitors are encouraged to check out Backdrop: An Invisible Art before or after the event.

About Doris Berger
Doris Berger, Vice President, Curatorial Affairs, is a scholar, curator, and author. She oversees the Academy Museum’s curatorial department, shapes the exhibition program with the leadership team, and curate’s exhibitions. She was previously a Getty postdoctoral fellow, a curator at the Skirball Cultural Center, and the director of the Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany, where she organized numerous exhibitions and public programs. She curated the touring exhibition Light & Noir: Exiles and Emigres in Hollywood, 1933-1950 (2014–17) at the Skirball and is cocurating the Academy Museum’s exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971 together with Rhea Combs. She wrote the book Projected Art History: Biopics, Celebrity Culture, and the Popularizing of American Art (Bloomsbury, 2014) and has published essays in German and English in catalogues, books, and journals. Berger holds an MA from the University of Vienna, Austria, and a PhD from the University of Art in Braunschweig, Germany.

If you have any questions, or need assistance planning your visit, please email museumeducation@oscars.org.

Back to Main Series

More in Series

Education Program

Fri, Nov 22, 2024

Gallery Spotlight: Effects in Film

The Gallery Spotlight Series is a monthly conversation with featured guests and is complimentary with general museum admission.

Education Program

Fri, Jan 31, 2025

Gallery Spotlight: Animating Worlds and Characters with Peter Sohn

Complimentary with general museum admission, the Gallery Spotlight Series is a monthly conversation with featured guests.

Education Program

Fri, Feb 14, 2025

Gallery Spotlight: Inside the Editing Room with Joi McMillon

Complimentary with general museum admission, the Gallery Spotlight Series is a monthly conversation with featured guests.

Education Program

Hayao Miyazaki Exhibition Conversation

Academy Museum curators Jessica Niebel and J. Raúl Guzmán with special guest scholar Susan Napier of Tufts University in conversation on visionary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.

Public Program

Gallery Conversation: Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple Black was one of the most successful child actors of her time. Temple earned a special Academy Award for her contributions to screen entertainment in 1934.

Director's Inspiration: Spike Lee Gallery in STORIES OF CINEMA

Education Program

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Gallery Spotlight – Director’s Inspiration: Spike Lee

Pop-up poetry performances by Roger Guenveur Smith in the Director’s Inspiration: Spike Lee gallery.

Academy Awards History gallery, Stories of Cinema 2, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Photo by Joshua White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation

Public Program

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Gallery Conversation: The Academy and the Award with Bruce Davis and Randy Haberkamp

Bruce Davis and Randy Haberkamp discuss Davis’s new book, The Academy and the Award.

Education Program

Friday, December 16, 2022

Exhibition Conversation: The Godfather and the Mandolin with Ben Brussell

Musician Ben Brussell explores the musical storytelling of The Godfather.

Education Program

Friday, January 6, 2023

Gallery Conversation: Significant Movies and Moviemakers with Dara Jaffe

Public Program

Friday, February 24, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Academy Awards History with Doris Berger and Randy Haberkamp

Gallery Image of Inventing Worlds and Characters: Animation

Public Program

Friday, March 24, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Inventing Worlds and Characters: Animation with Jenny He

Learn more about the gallery Inventing Worlds and Characters: Animation from Exhibitions Curator Jenny He.

Costume Design Gallery in Stories of Cinema 3

Public Program

April 28, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Conservation with Senior Objects Conservator Sophie Hunter

Learn more about the museum’s conservation practices from Senior Objects Conservator Sophie Hunter.

Education Program

Friday, May 26

Gallery Spotlight: Identity with Shirley Kurata

Free with general museum admission, the Gallery Spotlight Series is a conversation with featured guests every last Friday of the month.

Education Program

Friday, June 23, 2023

Gallery Conversation in Partnership with the Los Angeles LGBT Center: Stories of PRIDE with Tre’vell Anderson

Learn more about author Tre’vell Anderson and LGBTQ+ representation in film.

Education Program

June 30, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971

Free with general museum admission, the Gallery Spotlight series is a conversation with featured guests every last Friday of the month.

Photography within Boyz n the Hood Gallery, Significant Movies and Moviemakers

Education Program

July 28, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Significant Movies and Moviemakers - Boyz N the Hood

Join us for a conversation in the Significant Movies and Moviemakers: Boyz N the Hood gallery with Location Manager, Kojo Lewis, and native South Central, Los Angeles artist Uber Lopez Enamorado. The Boyz N the Hood gallery explores the movie's groundbreaking depiction of Black life in South Central as well as its lasting impact on popular culture.

The Path to Cinema: Highlights from the Richard Balzer Collection, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Photo by Joshua White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation

Education Program

Friday, Sept 29, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: The Path to Cinema with Jessica Niebel

Free with museum general admission, the Gallery Spotlight series is a monthly conversation with featured guests.

Education Program

Nov 10, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Land Acknowledgement

Free with museum general admission, the Gallery Spotlight series is a monthly conversation with featured guests.

Education Program

Friday, October 27, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Costume Design with Natalie O’Brien

Join us in conversation with costume designer Natalie O'Brien as we discuss the importance of horror storytelling through costume design.

Education Program

December 15, 2023

Gallery Spotlight: Music and Film with Paravi

Free with museum general admission, the Gallery Spotlight series is a monthly conversation with featured guests.

Education Program

January 26

Gallery Spotlight: The Legacy of John Singleton

Free with museum general admission, the Gallery Spotlight series is a monthly conversation with featured guests.

Education Program

Saturday, January 6th

Gallery Conversation with Gregory Nava

Join us for a conversation with director, writer, and producer Gregory Nava as he discusses the influences and impact on his creativity as a filmmaker as well as El Norte (1983).

Education Program

February 16, 2024

Gallery Spotlight: Transformation with Yolanda Toussieng

Join the Academy Museum in conversation with two-time Academy Award-winning hairstylist Yolanda Toussieng as we explore the innovation and technique of designing characters through hairstyling.