Why Art Matters

Delving deep into the human condition by way of art, OCMA and Heidi Zuckerman’s new publication, Why Art Matters: The Bearable Lightness of Being, takes readers on a thought-provoking journey into what it means to connect not only to the world around us but also, more specifically, to different works of art.

To celebrate the launch of this incredible book, join acclaimed OCMA CEO and Director Heidi Zuckerman in conversation with Curator Jordan Poorman Cocker as they talk about how a life with art offers a way to think through and with the essential and meaningful ideas of the human condition.

Free, no tickets required.

About The Speakers

Heidi Zuckerman is a globally recognized leader in contemporary art. As CEO and Director of Orange County Museum of Art, she has envisioned a twenty-first-century museum and built a new, ground-up project with Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Thom Mayne. Zuckerman has curated more than two hundred exhibitions during her extensive career, including early, important, and often first museum shows of artists who have now come to define our time. She also hosts the podcast About Art and is the author of numerous books, including the Conversations with Artists book series.

Jordan Poorman Cocker is a curator, artist, and an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. Cocker’s artistic and intellectual kinship is rooted in her Toyebo and Dohausan family legacies of Kiowa beadwork. Her curatorial practice centers on Indigenous research methodologies prioritizing reciprocity, sustained collaboration, and tribal sovereignty. She holds a Master of Museum and Heritage Practice from Victoria University of Wellington and a Bachelor of Design from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. She currently serves as the Curator of Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges Museum.