Nelson-Atkins Photography Exhibition Pushes Boundaries Beyond the Frame

More Is More Prioritizes Larger Concepts over Single Form

Photographs, in their most basic state, are flat objects that represent a single moment in time. But some artists see the simple photograph as a building block or a piece of a larger puzzle, something they can deconstruct, reconstruct, and multiply. More Is More: Reinventing Photography Beyond the Frame opens Aug. 2 at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and features 43 photographs by artists on the hunt for something more. Set in the experimental time of the mid-1960s to 1980s, More Is More presents singular works of art created from multiple photographs, bringing together artists who built a new, hybrid visual language that playfully pushed photography’s physical boundaries and conceptual limits.

“In an era when TV and mass image culture was reaching new heights in America, artists embraced photography’s unique potential to merge these diverse, ephemeral influences,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. “Photography found itself at the vanguard of creativity as a new generation of conceptual and performance artists began integrating multiple images into their practice.”

By the 1970s, photography had clawed its way from the margins of the art world, gaining greater acceptance in museums, galleries, academia, and the market.

“Whether in long arches or decisive moments, photography has always been a medium of time,” said Marijana Rayl, assistant curator, Photography.

“Many photographers included in More Is More explore this defining characteristic, using multiple photographs to create sequential narratives that move the viewer across time and space.”

Much of the experimentation found in this exhibition is tinged with humor, narrative, and performance. In Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line (Best of Thirty-Six Attempts), John Baldassari repeatedly threw three balls into the air at the same time and took a photograph, attempting to capture a moment they appeared in a straight line during the throw. In Eleanor Antin’s 100 Boots, produced between 1971 and 1973, the artist staged 100 rubber boots in various settings (riding a roller coaster, visiting MoMA) and then created postcards of the images that she mailed around the world.

Visitors will also experience photographs that have been montaged, manipulated, arranged and rearranged. Purchased by the museum last year, David Hockney’s Prehistoric Museum near Palm Springs, Sept. 1982, is composed of nearly 70 individual prints, measuring 85 x 57 inches. To make the collage, Hockney expansively photographed his subject and then assembled the prints to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. Also featured will be two of Barbara Blondeau’s Time/Motion Panoramas made by keeping her camera shutter open to produce a seamless streak across an entire roll of film. The film is then printed, cut into thin strips, and reassembled into a long strip of dizzying movement.

Many of the photographs in this exhibition have never been on view at the Nelson-Atkins. More Is More: Reinventing Photography Beyond the Frame runs through Jan. 18, 2026.

The following programs are offered in conjunction with this exhibition:

Photobook Program: More is More and more
Saturday, Aug. 2 | 10:30–11:30 am
Spencer Art Reference Library Reading Room
Members: $5 | Public: $8 | Students: Free

Join Marijana Rayl, Assistant Curator of Photography, along with Amelia Nelson and Stephanie Lawrence from the Spencer Art Reference Library, as they share and discuss special collection photobooks highlighting influential artists featured in the new photography exhibition, More Is More. Come discover More is More and more!

Night/Shift
Thursday, October 9, 5-9 pm

Night/Shift is a free and free-form evening of creative encounters featuring live art and live acts by local artists and fresh ways to engage with 5,000 years of creative culture. This edition of Night/Shift channels the vibes of the 1960s-1980s and ideas of experimentation, improvisation, and spontaneous creation.

Using the format of large-canvas sci-fi horror, Oscar-winner Jordan Peele has made perhaps his most provocative film yet, a wildly expansive, primally frightening movie that quickly became one of the year’s most puzzled-over, debated, and admired studio productions. Nope is set on the Haywood ranch, where grown siblings OJ and Emerald (Kaluuya and Palmer) continue their father’s legacy, training and handling horses for Hollywood productions, a family business that extends back to the very beginnings of motion pictures. After they discover a dangerous (and bloodthirsty) UFO near the ranch, brother and sister set out to identify the flying object by capturing it on film, which proves to be more difficult than it would appear. Crucial—and truly unforgettable—is the story of neighbor Jupe (Yeun), a huckster entertainer harboring a shocking childhood trauma. As usual, Peele has created a plausible yet utterly surreal world that goes down multiple avenues of inquiry—marginalized histories, racial representation, industry exploitation—while remaining a satisfying and scary entertainment.

Join Assistant Curator of Photography Marijana Rayl for a (mostly) spoiler-free introduction, diving into Nope’s approach to the history of photography and cinema.

For the latest program information, visit nelson-atkins.org.

Organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Generous support provided by the Hall Family Foundation.

Image credits: Andy Warhol, American (1928–1987). Lana Turner, 1976–1986. Gelatin silver prints with thread, 27 5/16 × 21 1/2 inches. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc., 2005.27.301. © Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Vito Acconci, American (1940–2017). Stills from Blindfolded Catching Piece, 1970. Gelatin silver print, 5 11/16 × 9 3/16 inches. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of the Hall Family Foundation, 2015.67.2. © Estate of Vito Acconci

Jared Bark, American (born 1944). Isla Vista, California, February 27, 1974. Gelatin silver prints, 7 3/4 × 28 1/2 inches. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of the Hall Family Foundation, 2018.20.1. © Jared Bark