Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise

September 12, 2025 – December 13, 2025

The Museum of Modern Art

Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise is the first in-depth institutional survey of the artist, musician, and composer’s performances. Presented across multiple locations throughout the Museum, including MoMA’s Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium, Agnes Gund Garden Lobby, and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, the exhibition includes a slate of more than 15 live events this fall, featuring Prina and invited guests performing works spanning the artist’s five-decade career. Prina’s newest work, titled A Lick and a Promise, will be presented in its world premiere as part of the retrospective. A trio of Prina’s works from the Museum’s collection also will be installed in the galleries. While previous exhibitions of Prina’s work have highlighted his visual arts practice, MoMA’s presentation will be the first to focus on the artist’s long engagement with music and performance, bringing new perspectives to a central factor in Prina’s wider oeuvre: how cultural artifacts find new lives in different contexts.

Organized by Stuart Comer, The Lonti Ebers Chief Curator of Media and Performance, with Sibia Sarangan, Curatorial Assistant, May Makki, former Curatorial Assistant, and Gee Wesley, former Curatorial Associate, Department of Media and Performance. It is produced by Lizzie Gorfaine, Director, and Kate Scherer, Senior Manager and Producer, with Olivia Rousey, Jessie Gold, Aminah Ibrahim, Kayva Yang, and Monica Nyenkan, Assistant Performance Coordinators, and Nora Chellew, former Assistant Performance Coordinator, Performance and Live Art.

Media and performance at MoMA are presented through a partnership with Richard Mille.

Leadership support for the exhibition is provided by the Jill and Peter Kraus Endowed Fund for Contemporary Exhibitions, the Steven A. and Lisa Tananbaum Endowment for Contemporary Art Commissions, the Lonti Ebers Endowment for Performance, Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, and the Sarah Arison Endowment Fund for Performance.

Major funding is provided by The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Annual support for programming in The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio is generously provided by the Wallis Annenberg Director’s Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art and by the Sarah Arison Endowment Fund for Performance.

Pianos provided by Steinway & Sons.

Press Kit

Images

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Stephen Prina. Concerto for Modern, Movie, and Pop Music for 10 Instruments and Voice. 2010. Performed September 12, 2025 in conjunction with the exhibition Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Performers (left to right): Stephen Gosling, Stephen Prina, Lauren Cauley, Kal Sugatski, Nicolee Kuester, Christopher McIntyre, Jonathan Finlayson, Margaret Lancaster, Zander Theiss, Michelle Farah, Christa Van Alstine. Photo: Maria Baranova. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Mike Kelley, Anita Pace, Stephen Prina. Beat of the Traps. 1992. Performed September 18, 2025 in conjunction with the exhibition Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Performers: Abbott Alexander and Stephen Prina. Photo: Maria Baranova. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Mike Kelley, Anita Pace, Stephen Prina. Beat of the Traps. 1992. Performed September 18, 2025 in conjunction with the exhibition Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Performers: Jon Baldwin and Freeda Electra. Photo: Maria Baranova. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Mike Kelley, Anita Pace, Stephen Prina. Beat of the Traps. 1992. Performed September 18, 2025 in conjunction with the exhibition Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Performers: M.B. Gordy, Jonathan “Butch” Norton, Jon Baldwin, and Freeda Electra. Photo: Maria Baranova. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Stephen Prina. String Quartet for Six Players. 1976. Performed October 4, 2025 in conjunction with the exhibition Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Maria Baranova. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Stephen Prina. The Way He Always Wanted It XI. 2013. Performed October 4, 2025 in conjunction with the exhibition Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Maria Baranova. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Stephen Prina at the October 4, 2025, performance of String Quartet for Six Players (1976) and The Way He Always Wanted It XI (2013). Performed in conjunction with the exhibition Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Maria Baranova. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Stephen Prina. Vinyl II (Still). 2000. Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York

Mike Kelley, Anita Pace, Stephen Prina. Beat of the Traps. 1992. Performed in Expanded Art, Wiener Festwochen, The Remise, Vienna, Austria, 1992. Performers (from left): Jonathan “Butch” Norton, Carl Burkley, Alan Abelew, Stephen Prina, Anita Pace, M.B. Gordy. Photo: Karl Krauss. © Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. All Rights Reserved/VAGA at ARS, NY.⁠, Anita Pace, Stephen Prina

Stephen Prina. The Top Thirteen Singles from Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Chart for the Week Ending September 11, 1993. 1993, Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York

Stephen Prina. Untitled/”The history of modern painting, to label it with a phrase, has been the struggle against the catalogue”–Barnett Newman/(Monochrome Painting, 1988-1989). 1991. Ink wash on rag, barrier paper, and cardboard, 67 parts; dimensions vary upon installation. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Committee on Drawings Funds © Stephen Prina. Installation view of Gallery 414: Stephen Prina at The Museum of Modern Art. Photograph by Jonathan Dorado © The Museum of Modern Art

Stephen Prina. Exquisite Corpse: The Complete Paintings of Manet, 41 of 556, Nymphe Surprise (The Startled Nymph), 1861, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. 1988. Ink wash and offset lithograph. © Stephen Prina 2013

Stephen Prina. Photo: José Luis Blondet. Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York