1938 – 2016

Hampton, N.Y. — Burt Barr passed away on Monday, Nov. 7, at his summer house in the Hamptons following a long illness.

He is survived by his wife, Trisha Brown; step son, Adam Brown; and four grandchildren.

Burt was born in Lewiston on Nov. 12, 1938. He was the youngest son of Arthur and Frieda Barr; brother to Lois and Benjamin Barr, Richard Barr, Elaine Sandler and the late Sumner Barr and Michael Sandler; and an uncle to many. Burt attended local schools in Auburn and later graduated from Boston University.

Growing up in Auburn, Burt developed a strong interest in photography. He quickly moved to New York City and became a photographer and time based media artist. Burt exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. He has had solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y.; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey; and MoMA PS1, Long island, N.Y. Other installations have taken place at The Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany; The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pa., and the USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, Fla.

Burt Barr was the recipient of numerous awards, including grants from the national Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the American Film Institute, the Andrea Frank Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts & Humanities. Burt served as an Instructor of Film and Video Projects at the Pratt Institute, an Instructor of Creative Projects at New York University, and was a visiting artist at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He has lectured at Cornell University, Ohio University, Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, Rhode Island School of Design, Parsons School of Design, the Museum of Modern Art, Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv, CAPC Musee in Bordeaux, Anthology Film Archives and Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis.

Burt was an avid fisherman who enjoyed Montauk and Old Orchard Beach, and rarely wore anything but black. He will be missed.