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New in caa.reviews

posted by September 29, 2017

 

Megan Driscoll discusses SoulStirrers: Black Art and the Neo-Ancestral Impulse by H. Ike Okafor-Newsum (Horace Newsum). Read the full review on caa.reviews.

Andrew James Hamilton reviews Design for Eternity: Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas by Joanne Pillsbury, Patricia Joan Sarro, James Doyle, and Juliet Wiersema. Read the full review at caa.reviews.

Andy Campbell visits Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, on view at the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin from February 21–May 15, 2016. Read the full review on caa.reviews.

Victoria Reed reviews Irrational Judgments: Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, and 1960s New York by Kirsten Swenson. Read the full review at caa.reviews.

Matthijs Ilsink reads Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life by Joseph Leo Koerner. Read the full review on caa.reviews.

Filed under: caa.reviews

News from the Art and Academic Worlds

posted by September 27, 2017

Scott Winterrowd
Greetings from Marfa, 2015
Ro2 Art

Each week CAA News summarizes articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

Corrective curatorial practice? Sensationalizing sexuality to boost attendance figures? Can the most transgressive feminist art practices really be exhibited for reasons founded on the intrinsic value of the work alone?

Featuring feminist content previously held to be too graphic may raise more questions than anticipated. “Frieze Frame: Graphic Sex and Female Sexuality under Spotlight at Art Fair.” (Read more from The Guardian).

The New Age self-help movement meets art.

Proving again that our culture regards creativity as a path to the authentic self and a means to counteract the lack of inspiration provided by our daily life. Scott Indrisek, “Find Your Inner Donald Judd at Marfa’s New Art Camp for Adults.” (Read more from Artsy).

Civil Identity and Art

The exercise of cultural policy on a massive urban scale is being implemented and explored in cities besides Los Angeles with its mega-multi-exhibition Pacific Standard Time program. Consider the interviews conducted by Sophia Olivia Sanan in “A Tale of Cultural Policy in Four African Cities.” (Read more from This Is Africa).

Making art accessible to as many publics as possible.

The seeds of social practice and cultural policy in art education, related to the legacy of Jane Addams’s Hull House, are discussed by Lisa Lee, Director of the School of Art and Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with the hosts of the Bad at Sports podcast. Episode 600: Lisa Lee. (Read more from Bad at Sports).

The world’s first painted feature film.

Receiving standing ovations at film festivals and with assistance from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Loving Vincent incorporates almost 1,000 separate canvases to consider the artist’s last days. Eileen Kinsella, “How Two Directors, 125 Artists, and Some ‘Crazy-Rich’ Van Gogh Fans Made ‘Loving Vincent’ the World’s First Painted Feature Film.” (Read more from Artnet).

Pacific Standard Time Sampler.

The latest edition of Southern California’s multivenue exhibition project has debuted with plenty of press coverage. Here is an assessment of just one of the exhibitions comprising Pacific Standard Time LA/LA. Julian Kreimer, “Drastic Times.” (Read more from Art in America).

Why does art make you feel so much?

The answer resides in your brain as much as what is unfolding before your senses. The inquiry is increasingly a focus of neuroaestheticians now discovering answers about the fundamental attractions of creativity. Sarah L. Kaufman et al., “This Is Your Brain On Art.” (Read more from The Washington Post).

The birth of the art market. 

An exhibition tracing the origins of the art market details how artists, dealers, and the buying public established the mechanisms that still characterize the contemporary system. “Exhibition Devoted to the Birth of the Art Market in the Dutch Golden Age Opens.”  (Read more from artdaily).

Filed under: CAA News

Affiliated Society News for September 2017

posted by September 27, 2017

Association for Art History

Leading subject association for art history in the UK announces new identity

Since July 2017, the leading subject association for art history in the United Kingdom, the Association of Art Historians, has been known as the Association for Art History. The change of name and new identity mark the beginning of a new era for the Association, following a review of its role in shaping the future for art history.

The Association’s mission since its foundation in 1974 has been to champion art history for all. Working in partnership with London-based agency Spencer du Bois to build upon this original ethos, the new identity restates their role as advocates for art history.

The new graphic identity feeds into their wider campaigning and audience development work to increase awareness, understanding, and engagement with art history, particularly in education. Highlights from their education campaign and 2018 program will be announced this autumn. Their ambition is to encourage people across the UK to recognize the ways in which learning about art history offers a unique insight into the world: to encourage people to think differently; to see differently.

Pontus Rosén, CEO of the Association for Art History, states, “Our strength as the national subject association for art history relies on how we express ourselves to new and existing audiences. The name change and rebrand demonstrates our commitment to be more visible and vocal for the subject.”

Christine Riding, Chair of the Association, said, “In 1974 we were radical in our approach. We wanted to change the way people perceived art history, we dared to do things differently. For over 40 years we have championed a broad and inclusive art history for the many not the few. Our ethos has always been one of inclusivity and our new identity reinforces that inclusivity.”

More details can be found on the new website.

 

Alliance for Arts in Research Universities (A2ru)

The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) is pleased to announce the 2017 a2ru National Conference, hosted by Northeastern University with additional conference events throughout hosted by Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tufts University, November 1-4, 2017.

Arts in the Public Sphere: Civility, Advocacy, and Engagement will use the city of Boston as a starting point for discussion and engagement. As a 21st century global city, Boston embodies many of the issues that drive diverse contemporary cultural contexts. It supports a rich and continually evolving sense of civic realms, and is home to leading arts, educational, medical, industrial and corporate entities invested in innovative modes of research, practice and civic participation. There is also clear recognition that the ‘public sphere’ is not confined to large metropolitan regions. Creating dynamic communities that engage and extend beyond traditional boundaries—in both virtual and material ways—remains a growing challenge and the work before us.

The 2017 conference will include working groups, panels, and presentations from representatives from over 50 institutions across the world. Keynotes and conversations will feature thought leaders including Jamie Bennett (ArtPlace America), Jeremy Liu (PolicyLink), Peter Galison (Harvard University), Rick Lowe (Project Row Houses and the University of Houston), and Maria Rosario Jackson (The Kresge Foundation). Plenary panels addressing issues related to funding, higher education, and arts as research will include Kent Devereaux (New Hampshire Institute of Art), Jason Schupbach (Arizona State University), Steven Tepper (Arizona State University), Elizabeth Hudson (Northeastern University), and Julia Smith (Association of American Universities), and E. San San Wong (Barr Foundation).

Registration is open now through October 25. To register and for more information, please visit the conference website.

 

Society for Photographic Education

Society for Photographic Education’s 55th Annual Conference, Uncertain Times: Borders, Refuge, Community, Nationhood, will take place March 1­4, 2018, in Philadelphia, PA. Connect with 1,600 artists, educators, and photographers from around the world for programming that will fuel your creativity – four days of presentations, industry seminars, and critiques to engage you! Explore an exhibits fair featuring the latest equipment, processes, publications, and photography/media schools. Participate in one-on-one portfolio critiques, and informal portfolio sharing. Other highlights include a print raffle, silent auction, mentoring sessions,

film screenings, exhibitions, receptions, a dance party, and more!

Registration will open on November 1, 2017.

 

SECAC

The most recent number of SECAC’s annual journal, Art Inquiries (formerly the SECAC Review), has been published. The current issue includes book and exhibition reviews, feature articles on Gustave Caillebotte, Andy Warhol, Robert Irwin, and Greek vase painting, and an interview with sculptor Duane Paxson whose work is featured on the cover.

The 73rd Annual SECAC Conference, hosted by the Columbus College of Art & Design, will be held in Columbus, Ohio, October 25 through 28, 2017. Keynote speakers are Heidelberg Project founder Tyree Guyton and the project’s Executive Director Jenenne Whitfield. Off-site events during the conference will include a Thursday evening Open House at CCAD featuring the SECAC 2017 Juried Exhibition, a Friday evening reception at the Pizzuti Collection, and extended hours at the newly renovated Columbus Museum of Art.

 

TIAMSA – The International Art Market Studies Association

After a fantastic response to our call for papers, TIAMSA’s first international conference on ‘Art Fairs’ united 28 speakers from countries worldwide who explored this year’s theme in six sessions. Held at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London on July 13-15, 2017, the conference featured two keynotes, one by Sophie Raux (Université Lumière – Lyon 2), who provided fascinating insights into the early history of art fairs in the 16th and 17th centuries, the other by Noah Horowitz (Director Americas / Member of the Executive Committee, Art Basel), who responded to questions from Olav Velthuis and the audience. The conference featured six sessions addressing subjects such as “Standards of Quality and Vetting,“ “Historical and Geographic Contexts” or “Biennales and Nascent Fairs.” Carried by many excellent papers, the event not only showed that the subject of the art fair still offers many facets that deserves further exploration; the conference was also marked by enthusiasm, lively debate, and intensive networking!

The conference was preceded by three memorable events open to TIAMSA members, namely an exploration of the Agnew’s Archive at the National Gallery, London with Alan Crookham (Head of NG Research Centre); a guided tour with Highlights of the National Gallery’s Collection History with Susanna Avery-Quash (Curator at the NG); and an inside tour of Thaddaeus Ropac’s new London gallery, with Polly Gaer, Gallery Director.

We were also happy that many of our members attended our second Annual General Meeting, held just before our conference. We looked back on our first year, fine-tuned our ‘modus operandi’, and elected and cordially welcomed four new board members: Kim Oosterlinck (University of Bruxelles), Iain Robertson (Sotheby’s Institute), Olav Velthuis (University of Amsterdam) and Filip Vermeylen (University of Rotterdam), and also made plans for next year’s conference.

 

The American Society for Aesthetics

The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to announce several ASA meetings and co-sponsored conferences in 2018:

ASA MEETINGS:

ASA Pacific Meeting, Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA, April 4-6, 2018

DEADLINE: November 1, 2017

Travel support: The Division will have $1000 from the Irene H. Chayes Travel Fund to support persons with no other access to travel funds.

ASA Eastern Meeting, Philadelphia, April 20-21, 2018

DEADLINE: January 15, 2018

Travel support: The Division will have $1000 from the Irene H. Chayes Travel Fund to support persons with no other access to travel funds.

ASA Rocky Mountain Division Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, July 6-8, 2018

DEADLINE: March 1, 2018

Travel support: The Division will have $1000 from the Irene H. Chayes Travel Fund to support persons with no other access to travel funds.

ASA 76th Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, Canada, October 10-13, 2018

DEADLINE: January 15, 2018

Travel support:

  • All full-time students with papers or panel presentations accepted for the program receive a travel grant to attend the meeting.
  • Three (3) Irene H. Chayes Travel Grants will be available for this meeting for presenters with no other access to travel funds.

ASA CO-SPONSORED CONFERENCES:

The Philosophy of Portraits, University of Maryland, April13-14, 2018

DEADLINE: November 30, 2017

Travel support: Two awards of $500 each for ASA student members with accepted papers

Summer Seminar: Beauty and Why It Matters, University of British Columbia, July 9-27, 2018

DEADLINE: January 2018 – CFP TBA

Travel support: $2700 stipend

For the most up-to-date information on all ASA meetings and co-sponsored conferences, look at the bottom of any page on our website and look for “Meetings.” Click “more” to see the complete list. There you will find schedules, CFPs, on-line registration, and other information.

 

Public Art Dialogue (PAD)

PAD invites submissions for the Fall 2018 issue of the journal, Public Art Dialogue. The issue’s theme will be “Public Art as Political Action,” and the deadline for submissions is March 1, 2018. Though a resurgence in political art and protest brings contemporary art to the forefront, this issue also hopes to look at historic precedents for contemporary public protest art by revisiting the ephemera, public actions, and protest art of the past. Public Art Dialogue welcomes submissions from art historians, critics, artists, architects, landscape architects, curators, administrators, and other public art scholars and professionals, including those who are emerging as well as already established in the field. See the call for papers.

Public Art Dialogue hopes to see many CAA members at the Annual Conference in February. PAD’s sponsored session will be on the topic of “Teachable Monuments,” chaired by Sierra Rooney and Harriet Senie.

 

Association of Art Museum Curators & AAMC Foundation

AAMC & AAMC Foundation is pleased to announce new programming.

The Networked Curator workshop, held February 7 – 9, 2018 at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, is open for applications. Organized by the AAMC Foundation and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) at George Mason University, this three-day workshop provides participants with an expanded digital vocabulary, and assists in cultivating resources available for organizing, sharing, and publishing research.

Applications are now open for the AAMC Foundation Engagement Program for International Curators for the 2017-2019 class. The Program awards three non-US based curators for a two-year period, paired with three US Liaisons for the first year, in an effort to foster international relationships among curators. Both International Awardees and US Liaisons are offered numerous benefits throughout the Program.

The Samuel H. Kress Foundation and AAMC Foundation Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome is now open for 2018-2019 applications. The Fellowship provides one curator with essential funding to further develop projects requiring research in Italy. The Awardee will receive travel funding for a four-week stay at the American Academy in Rome during the one-year Fellowship.

Save the Date: AAMC & AAMC Foundation Annual Conference & Meeting, May 5 – 8, 2018 in Montréal, Canada.

 

Society of Architectural Historians (SAH)

The Society of Architectural Historians will present the SAH Awards for Architectural Excellence at its 8th Annual Awards Gala on Friday, November 17, at The Racquet Club of Chicago. SAH will honor architect Ralph Johnson, FAIA, Perkins + Will, with the Award for Design, Planning and Sustainability, architects Sharon Johnston, FAIA and Mark Lee, Johnston Marklee, with the Award for Public Engagement with the Built Environment, and Col. Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Ret), TAWANI Foundation, with the Award for Architectural Stewardship. Purchase tickets.

SAH seeks partners to organize tours of the built environment for our youth-oriented American Architecture and Landscape Field Trip Program. Created to provide opportunities for underserved students from the third grade through high school, SAH offers grants to not-for-profits to organize tours for young people on the history of architecture, parks, gardens, and town/city planning.

SAH is accepting applications for the H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship. This award will allow a recent graduate or emerging scholar to study by travel for one year. The fellowship is not for the purpose of doing research for an advanced academic degree, but instead is intended for study by travel and contemplation while observing, reading, writing, or sketching. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2017.

Applications for the SAH Membership Grant for Emerging Professionals are open. This award provides emerging scholars with a one-year SAH membership and is intended for entry-level college and university professors and other new professionals engaged in the study of the built environment. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2017.

The Society is accepting applications from junior and senior scholars for the Edilia and François-Auguste de Montêquin Fellowship. This award provides support for travel related to research on Spanish, Portuguese, or Ibero-American architecture. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2017.

 

Association of Historians of American Art (AHAA)

AHAA invites you to save the date for its biennial symposium, October 4-6, 2018, to be held in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, and sponsored by the University of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Sessions and collaborations will be announced soon. To learn more about past symposia, please see the Symposia Archive under the Programs tab at ahaaonline.org.

Amidst the ongoing and very robust conversation on the American Art listserv (AmArt-L) regarding the public controversy surrounding monument and memorial culture, AHAA seeks to clarify its relationship to the listserv and its archives, given their shared constituencies. AHAA is not affiliated with the AmArt-L, which is moderated by Karen Bearor and the Florida State University (FSU) and is archived and searchable to subscribers. Please note that the AHAA refrains from making public statements on behalf of its membership, just as the viewpoints expressed on AmArt-L pertain to the individuals posting to the list.

 

Midwest Art History Society

The Midwest Art History Society is pleased to announce its new officers: President Heidi Hornik, Baylor University; Secretary Paula Wisotzki, Loyola University Chicago; Treasurer Valerie Hedquist, University of Montana; and Past President Henry Luttikhuizen, Calvin College.

The Society reports its 2017 Graduate Student Presentation Award went to Katherine Brunk Harnish, Ph.D. candidate, Washington University, St Louis, for her paper “Painting Ephemera in the Age of Mass-Production: American Trompe l’Oeil Painting and Visual Culture in the Late Nineteenth Century.”

And Rory O’Dea, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design, The New School University, received MAHS’s 2017 Emerging Scholar Distinguished Presentation Award for her paper, “Documentary Fictions: Robert Smithson and Pierre Huyghe’s Voyages into the Unknown.”

The MAHS 2018 Annual Conference will take place April 5-7, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana, hosted by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.​

 

Art Historians of Southern California

Teaching and Writing the Art Histories of Latin American Los Angeles, October 6, 2017 at the Getty Center 10:00AM-3:00PM.

Inspired by the Getty’s region-wide art initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, this symposium considers the abundance of new knowledge generated by the PST LA/LA exhibitions, and how it will impact curricula, pedagogy, and future scholarship

Charlene Villaseñor Black, UCLA, Keynote Speaker

“Decolonizing Art History: Institutional Challenges and the Histories of Latinx and Latin American Art”

Erin Aldana,  University of San Diego

Using the exhibition “Xerografia: Copyart in Brazil, 1970-1990” as a case study

Elizabeth Cerejido, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Félix González-Torres as a (Post)Latino Artist

Karen Mary Davalos, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Chicana/o Remix: Rethinking Art Histories and Endgames

Carolyn J. Schutten, University of California Riverside

“Voids of the Aggregate: Materializing Ethnic Mexicans in Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival Architecture in Southern California”

Catherine Spencer, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Networked Histories: Systems Art in ‘Latin America’Teaching and Writing the Art Histories of Latin American Los Angeles

Gina McDaniel Tarver, School of Art & Design, Texas State University

Recollecting and Connecting Overlooked Art of Cali/Cali: Alicia Barney and Women Environmental Artists of California

 

International Association for Word and Image Studies/Association Internationale Pour L’etude des Rapports Entre Texte et Image (IAWIS/IAERTI)

Report on the 11th International IAWIS/IAERTI Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland (UNIL), 10-14 July 2017

After Amsterdam, Zurich, Ottawa, Dublin, Claremont, Hambourg, Philadelphia Paris, Montréal and Dundee, the Eleventh Triennial Conference on Word and Image Studies took place by the Leman Lake at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland in early July. Three hundred delegates convened to Lausanne for a very successful week devoted to the theme of Reproductions/reproducibility in Word and Image studies and in the humanities at large.

The conference was beautifully organized by Executive Board Member Philippe Kaenel and his local team and met with great success. Aside from parallel sessions and stimulating plenary lectures (by Bernard Vouilloux and Véronique Plesch), three exhibitions and one film showing (with an introductory speech by Alain Boillat) were coordinated by the host university. Following the IAWIS conference tradition, various excursions were proposed to the delegates half-way through the week allowing the delegates a full day’s rest and cultural exchanges.

IAWIS/IAERTI 30th Birthday

The conference in Lausanne was also the opportunity to celebrate the Association’s thirty years of existence and pay homage to its founding members as well as to its former and current presidents and vice-presidents. The general Assembly meeting and Banquet dinner were an opportunity to pay tribute to the achievement of eminent Word and Image scholars, Véronique Plesch (President), Professor of Art History at Colby College (Waterville, Maine, USA), and Catriona Macleod (vice-president), Professor in Germanic Studies, (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) as they were both stepping down from their post after having dutifully and successfully served the association for nine years. Their commitment to the advancement of word and image studies and the development of the Association was highly praised by everyone present. No doubt their leadership will be sorely missed but they will remain actively involved in the association as members of the advisory board.

Announcement of new Board Members

The general Assembly Meeting in Lausanne allowed the attending members to elect a new president and a new vice-president/secretary for IAWIS, Liliane Louvel, Professor Emerita at the University of Poitiers (France) and Laurence Rousssillon-Constanty, Professor at the University of Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (France).

Professor Liliane Louvel is an outstanding scholar in Word and Image Studies and has widely contributed to the development of the field of Word and Image studies in France. Her most popular book, L’Oeil du Texte, published in 1998 (Toulouse, PUM) has for many years become standard reading for Word and Image scholars in France and the book has recently been published in English. She has extensively published on modern Literature and painting and edited many books. She has also served in several associations for the development of English Studies in France (SAES) and Europe (ESSE).

Professor Laurence Roussillon-Constanty works on the relation between text and image in the Victorian period and has published a monograph on Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting and poetry (2008). She has been a IAWIS enthusiast for many years and has chaired several sessions in previous IAWIS conferences. Her interest is interdisciplinary and her latest research focuses on science and art relations in John Ruskin’s writing.

Forthcoming Publication:

Riddles of Form: Exploration and Discovery in Word and Image, edited by Keith Williams, Sophies Aymes-Stokes, Jan Baetens, and Chris Murray (forthcoming at Brill, 2017)

This publication celebrates actual mutually enriching dialogues between science, literature, and art. The essays in this volume are based on papers presented at the Tenth Triennial Conference on Word and Image Studies, “Riddles of Form: Exploration and Discovery in Word and Image”, which was held from 11-15 August 2014 at the University of Dundee, Scotland, hosted by the Scottish Word and Image Group (SWIG).

Call for Proposals for Hosting the next triennial Conference

The IAWIS/AIERTI Executive Board is soliciting proposals from potential hosts for the 2020 and the 2023 versions of our international triennial conference.

Please submit a 1-page description of the conference theme, along with a few paragraphs providing information on the venue and its facilities for hosting ~250 participants, your organizing team, your strategy for maintaining English-French bilingualism, possible excursions, and possible sources of funding. Deadline: December 1 2017.

Email: Liliane Louvel liliane.louvel@wanadoo.fr and Laurence Roussillon-Constanty laurence.roussillon-constanty@univ-pau.fr

 

FATE (Foundations in Art: Theory and Education)

Episode 13 and 14 of Positive Space, FATE’s monthly podcast are now available.

[7.12.17] Victoria Hoyt, Instructor at Metropolitan Community College & FATE Shout Out Award Winner, discusses practical take aways from the FATE conference, strategies for encouraging the habit of observation, self reflection, the value of mid-term evaluations & responding to a wide range of diverse backgrounds in the community college classroom.

[8.09.17] Amy Reidel, faculty member at both St. Louis Community College and Saint Louis University & FATE Shout Out Award Winner, discusses happiness, community engagement, privilege & practical tips for projects that encourage critical thinking.

Upcoming for CAA 2018: An Inclusion and Empathy Roundtable discussion and podcasting session will be hosted during FATE’s Business Meeting at the conference: Feb 22, 12:30 – 1:30pRm 402A, LA Convention Center. 

FATE’s CAA Affiliate representative, Naomi J. Falk, along with Richard Moninski, will co-chair FATE’s Affiliated Society session, entitled, “Let’s Dance, But Don’t Call Me Baby: Dialogue, Empathy, and Inclusion in the Classroom and Beyond. Feeling welcome, acknowledged, and heard encourages learning. Fostering inclusiveness and empathy on behalf of minority students legitimizes perspectives. How do we build trust and empathy between faculty, students, peers, and others in our classrooms and communities? How do we create a welcoming and inclusive environment? What has worked? What has gone terribly wrong? Where do we go from here? Examples of readings, projects, tools, and exercises for building inclusive, encouraging, and productive dialogues are all of interest. More info? Please contact: Naomi J. Falk, naomijfalk@gmail.com

 

Society of Historians of Eastern European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture (SHERA)

SHERA is sponsoring a panel at the upcoming 49th Annual ASEEES Convention that will take place at Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile on 9-12 November 2017. SHERA Membership meeting is scheduled for November 11, 12-1:30 pm, 4th, Armitage Room, followed by Membership dinner at 8 pm. SHERA is pleased to announce a call for submissions for the newly-established SHERA Emerging Scholar Prize. The award, to be bestowed at the SHERA meeting during ASEEES Convention, aims to recognize and encourage original and innovative scholarship in the field. For the 2017 prize, articles published between September 30, 2016 and September 30, 2017 would be eligible. Applicants must have published an article in a scholarly print or online journal or museum print or online publication within the preceding twelve-month period.

For the 2017 prize, articles published between September 30, 2016 and September 30, 2017 would be eligible. Additionally, applicants are required to have received his or her PhD within the last 5 years (2012 or thereafter for the 2017 prize) and be a member of SHERA in good standing at the time that the application is submitted. The winner will be awarded $500 and republication (where copyright allows) or citation of the article on H-SHERA. Applications should include a CV including contact information (email, mailing address, and telephone) and a copy of the English-language article with header/colophon of the journal or catalogue together with a brief abstract. Applications should be sent to shera.prizes@gmail.com no later than October 15, 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Affiliated Societies

Since 2015, CAA’s International Committee has put out a call for papers on international topics in the visual arts to be published by CAA. Brian Curtain, an art historian and curator based in Bangkok, submitted the following article to Pearlie Rose S. Baluyut, a member of the International Committee. www.briancurtinbangkok.com

 

Piyatat Hemmatat, from the series 3rd Eye Trilogy: The New Dawn, 2013, C-print, artist proof, dimensions variable (artwork © Piyatat Hemmatat; photograph provided by the artist)

The Department of Communication Design (CommDe) of the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, will inaugurate a new MA program (CommMa) in 2018, to be led by Dr. Juthamas Tangsantikul, the current Deputy Director of CommDe. CommMa will be a practice-based research program with a focus on Southeast Asia. An introductory seminar and hands-on workshop, The Ghost in the Machine, was held on July 13, 2017, to present the program’s core methods and interests: the study of regional visual and material cultures as a means to explore questions of indigeneity and the critical potential of comparisons with other contexts. The seminar title evokes the relationship of animism and modernity—indeed, a colonial distinction. Participants conjured the local legacies of this relationship and also considered the metanarratives of politics, representation, and the fictive.

Participants’ works from Ghost in the Machine workshop (photograph by M. A. Trusler)

The featured speakers at the seminar, Dr. Clare Veal, MA Asian Art Histories lecturer at LaSalle College of the Arts in Singapore, and Thai photographer Piyatat Hemmatat share an interest in Walter Benjamin’s understanding of photography as an “optical unconscious,” which can capture and shape what can be thought but is normally beyond perception. Veal’s research on photographic histories and Hemmatat’s ethereal visions quite literally slow down our consumption of photography, the former by tracing varieties of meaning in what can be framed and the latter by providing expanses of detail.

Veal’s lecture moved beyond the paradigmatic examples of the infamous “Cottingley Fairies” photographs—early twentieth-century works displaying images of fairies that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle contended proved the existence of the supernatural—to an account of how desires and ideologies haunt colonial-era photography, including both landscape and figural representations. The context of Siam/Thailand allows for particular consideration of the performative aspects of photography. Photography was introduced in Siam by King Mongkut Rama IV (1851–1868), who thereby broke a longstanding taboo on visual representation of royalty outside idealized and conventionalized mural types. Veal deftly noted an exchange between the indexical and iconic with this introduction: in a word, a representation of something comes to stand for something. Here, the locating of a “Thai” tradition of cultural beliefs proves less compelling than the noting of shifting regulations of representation, ones that have become exceptionally aggressive in the recent years of military rule.

Participants’ works from Ghost in the Machine workshop (photograph by M. A. Trusler)

Participants’ works from Ghost in the Machine workshop (photograph by M. A. Trusler)

Hemmatat’s alchemical understanding of photography was complementary to Veal’s insights. His practice explores the deceptively illusionistic image in abstraction and representation as well as the suggestion that systems are at work within nature. While allowing for the captivating, seductive qualities of photography, his images are rooted in both the artist’s eye and experimental photographic techniques. The diversity of Hemmatat’s oeuvre suggests a restless inquisitiveness. He is currently making sculptures inspired by Hindu and Christian icons, dovetailing three-dimensional works with his longstanding engagement with photographs-as-objects.

Hemmatat presented objects for a mysterious cabinet of curiosities without telling the participants what they were: such things as volcanic Mayan glass, a camera lucida, and washi paper, a Japanese paper purported to last thousands of years. Inspired by the seemingly esoteric implications of these objects and Veal’s sharp critical guidance, participants then set out to take photographs in the immediate vicinity of the seminar. Images of graffiti, air vents, and architectural details were shaped with enigmatic auras, and subsequent group discussion debated the vagaries of perception and the relationship between the recognizable and the illegible as well as the concrete and the abstract.

 

 

Filed under: International

Last week, I had a chance to participate in a conference call with Jon Parrish Peede, the new acting chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). He assumes the role after the resignation of William D. Adams in May of 2017, who stepped down concurrent with the release of the White House FY2018 budget that called for eliminating the NEH. The call with Peede was organized by the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), and included leaders of other humanities organizations.

Peede, who was appointed by President Trump in late July, is the brother of a senior member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff.

During the call, Peede talked about his closeness to Dana Gioia, the George W. Bush-appointed head of the NEA, and proudly referred to himself “a product of rural America,” stressing the need for having people from all 50 states on NEH panels.

When asked about his vision for the NEH, he mentioned that humanities could be funded and supported by other organizations, such as colleges, foundations, and individuals. He offered support for grant selection being “grounded in rigor” and wanted grantees to talk about “outcomes and not activities.”

Peede was asked why the public should care about the NEH and stated that the agency’s role is to preserve records and to place them in context, an important position for a federal agency, but one which does not necessarily address the larger idea of the impact of humanities in society. He did state, “a life in the humanities is a life well lived.” In response to a question about what he would do if the NEH received an increase in funds, Peede was not sure, but opined that he might not offer more grants as it may “dilute the value” of other grants.

Unfortunately, he was not asked how he felt about the President’s desire to zero out funding for the NEH or NEA, and what he was planning to do about it. For many in the arts and humanities, this is the pressing issue. Currently, the NEH is approved by the House Appropriations Committee for $145 million in funding for FY 2018, a $4.8 million drop from FY 2017. But the funding is not secure and certain. Hopefully on our next call, Peede will be able to address this important question.

Hunter O’Hanian
Executive Director

Filed under: CAA News

New in caa.reviews

posted by September 22, 2017

  

Arden Decker visits Si tiene dudas . . . pregunte: Una exposición retrocolectiva de Mónica Mayer / When in Doubt . . . Ask: A Retrocollective of Mónica Mayer, which was on view at Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, from February 6, 2015—July 31, 2016. Read the full review at caa.reviews.

Maggie Taft discusses Danish Modern: Between Art and Design by Mark Mussari. Read the full review at caa.reviews.

Michael D. Carrasco reads Reconsidering Olmec Visual Culture: The Unborn, Women, and Creation by Carolyn E. Tate. Read the full review at caa.reviews.

Mark Alan Hewitt reviews Mind in Architecture: Neuroscience, Embodiment, and the Future of Design, edited by Sarah Robinson and Juhani Pallasmaa. Read the full review at caa.reviews.

Filed under: caa.reviews

Call for CAA 2018 Los Angeles MFA Exhibition “Sustainability and Public Good

Exhibition Dates: January 25 – February 24, 2018

The CAA’s Regional MFA Exhibition in Los Angeles invites artists from MFA programs in California. Participating artists must be current MFA students with current CAA memberships. Student work will be selected by a committee comprised by a number of eminent Los Angeles gallery directors. This exhibit is concurrent with the 106th CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles, CA.

While exhibitions may feature artwork in any medium, 2-D, 3-D or wall-mounted artwork; the works should be suitable for a gallery display. Please be informed that all exhibiting work will be insured. However, participants are responsible for shipping and transportation costs, both to and from the Cal State LA Fine Arts Gallery.

A closing reception for the artists, their professors, and the CAA’s conference attendees will take place on Friday evening, February 23, 4:00–8:00 PM. The exhibit is Free and open to the public.

Submission Guidelines

All Electronic Exhibition Proposals should include the artist’s statement, vitae, and a maximum of three high-resolution .jpg images (one work per artist or one work per group of collaborated productions will be selected for display. Please send your electronic exhibition proposals no later than 5pm on October 10th of 2017 via Email (mcho@calstatela.edu). Please indicate your name and CAA membership number on the subject line, example: “John Doe, CAA Membership Number”. If you may include all information in one PDF file, which best facilitates the reviewers. Please note that all images must include caption, title when applicable, medium/media, year made, and insurance value.

Dr. Mika Cho, Professor of Art, Director of Cal State LA Fine Arts Gallery
California State University, Los Angeles
Email: mcho@calstatela.edu
Tel: 323-343-4022/4040

Timeline: Exhibitions will occur between January 25, 2018 and February 24, 2018.
Submission Due: October 10, 2017
Please submit as per instructions above NOT to the College Art Association, New York office.
Notification: Artists will be notified via email by October 25, 2017
Work delivery: January 15 to January 19, 2018, Work will not be accepted after 5pm on the 19th of January
Installation: January 22 to January 24, 2018
De-installation: February 25 to February 27, 2018

 

***The Cal State LA Fine Arts Gallery is located in the Fine Arts Building at California State University, Los Angeles (5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles CA 90032), a few miles east of Downtown LA. The regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday 12:00-5:00 PM. The Fine Arts Gallery at Cal State LA is to serve the needs of an urban and diverse university community and to provide a forum for the investigation of a wide range of visual cultures. The Fine Arts Gallery presents cultural exhibits, professional artists, Cal State LA faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students year around under the
supervision of the Director, Dr. Mika Cho.

Filed under: Artists, Exhibitions

News from the Art and Academic Worlds

posted by September 20, 2017

Anna Halprin, detail of installation, documenta Halle, Kassel, documenta 14. Photo: Mathias Völzke

Each week CAA News summarizes articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

University of California Sues Trump over DACA

Has your college taken a stand on DACA?
(Read more from The Chronicle of Higher Education.)

A New Museum Opens Every Year in LA

This February the CAA conference will be in LA.  There are so many great museums that it seems that one in opening virtually every year.

(Read more from Hyperallergic.)

Teaching Ph.D.s How to Teach

There are so many options in training the next generation in of talented faculty.
(Read more from The Chronicle of Higher Education.)

Do You Withhold Your Opinions?

Some say that art historians and critics withheld their opinions because it can earn them enemies.  Do you agree?

(Read more from e-flux.)

Plenty to See Here

The NYTimes offers its amazing showcase of exhibitions to watch this fall.

(Read more from The New York Times.)

NH Institute Sets Up Fellowship and Expands Photo Collection

Amazing gift of more than 500 prints by significant 20th Century artists: Harry Callahan, Paul Caponigro, Imogen Cunningham, Lee Friedlander, Kenneth Josephson, Andre Kertesz, Sally Mann, Elliot Porter, Man Ray, Edward Steichen, Jock Sturges, Brett Weston, Edward Weston, and Minor White.
(Read more from The Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design.)

Filed under: CAA News

Back in 2014, CAA set aside our old income-based membership system, replacing it with a new system based on the amount of benefits members wanted.

The program was a success, but we discovered that some of the language caused confusion. Starting this fall, we are launching the final refinement of the membership program that will eliminate confusion about the membership levels.

In addition, we will begin rolling out new membership benefits for our 10,000 individual and institutional members.

Understanding that many members face shrinking departmental budgets, for the fourth consecutive year, membership rates will not increase (in fact, we are reducing the student rate). We do this while at the same time planning for one of the largest Annual Conferences ever.

In February 2018 in Los Angeles (February 21-24), we have already scheduled more than 300 sessions and meetings, involving over 1,400 CAA members who will serve as discussants, presenters, and chairs. Additionally, we have secured a seemingly endless schedule of events for CAA members at LA-based cultural and educational institutions, including The Getty Center, The Broad, LACMA, The Skirball Cultural Center, Norton Simon Museum, The Huntington, UCLA, USC, Otis College of Art and Design, Santa Monica College, 18th Street Arts Center, and many, many others.

Registration for the 2018 CAA Annual Conference will open in early October.

 

New Membership Levels

Starting on October 1, 2017 you will see three individual membership levels on the CAA website membership page and in our membership materials. You can choose a membership level based on where you are in your career and whether you expect to go to the Annual Conference.

Tier One Membership
$195 annually/$380 two years (formerly Premium Membership)

This level is designed for working professionals in the myriad visual arts fields that support the association and expect to attend CAA’s Annual Conference. You will receive a 55% discount on your early Annual Conference registration. You will still receive one of the two flagship CAA publications (Art Journal or The Art Bulletin), along with all other benefits.

Tier Two Membership
$125 annually/$245 two years (formerly Basic Membership)

This level is designed for professionals for whom the Annual Conference is not a priority. Tier Two members get a 20% discount to the Annual Conference and receive one of the two flagship CAA publications (Art Journal or The Art Bulletin), along with all other benefits.

Tier Three Membership
$80 annually/$155 two years (formerly part-time, independent, retired)

Tier Three Student
$50 students annually/$95 students two years

Both Tier Three levels are designed for independent artists, student, designers, scholars, art historians, part time faculty, retired and others working independently, without full-time employment. It has all the same benefits of Tier One Membership, including the 55% early Annual Conference discount. Students will be charged only $50.

You don’t need to do anything right now! Upon joining or renewing you will be asked to choose one of the new levels. All of the Donor Circle membership levels (Sustaining, Patron, and Life) will remain the same.

 

New Benefits

In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve tried every way we can to discover what you need from your professional association. We know you want to advance your career, access to exceptional scholarship, networking opportunities and advocacy. Without a doubt, finances remain an issue for many members.

We are happy to announce that starting October 1, 2017 we are able to offer CAA members the following new benefits. Sign into your CAA member account after October 1 to make purchases or view discount codes.

  • Lynda.com – The largest online learning network with more than 3,000 courses in design, photography, web development, marketing, and business is now available to CAA members at a significant discount. Members will have access to the full online premium program for $99 annually (regularly $360 annually).
  • Legal Services – We have secured the services of a major Maryland/DC law firm, Whiteford, Taylor, and Preston, which works with other Learned Societies, to assist CAA members at a reduced rate ($275/hour). Whether you need help reviewing a book contract, employment agreement, gallery agreement, or fair use legal opinion, as a CAA member, you can now call on a law firm that knows the field.
  • Making Fair Use Real – CAA is a leader in the field of fair use of visual images in education and visual arts publishing. We have worked to educate the field and publishers about the permissions that may not be needed for copy written images to support your academic writing. Teaming up with the Whiteford, Taylor, and Preston law firm, we have secured a New York-based insurance agency, C & S Int’l Insurance Brokers Inc., to issue Errors and Omissions insurance policies to protect you and your publisher. It can save you thousands of dollars in permissions for your academic publications.
  • Humanities Commons – More than a year ago, we partnered with the MLA (Modern Language Association) to create web-based discussion and resource hubs known as Humanities Commons (public) and CAA Commons (CAA members only). The platforms offer our members the chance to easily share research and resources with scholars in their field and in other fields.
  • More Publisher Discounts –It seems we just can’t get away from owning books. We have heard from members that they would like more book discounts. Several publishers/distributers have come forward to offer discounts to CAA members. University of Chicago Press is now offering 20%, Artbook|D.A.P. is offering 25% off online sales, and MIT Press will offer 25% off to members. Sign into your CAA member account on October 1 to view discount codes. More publishers will be announced soon.
  • CAA’s Cultural and Academic Network – We know that you rely on the Annual Conference to promote your programs, network in the field, and attract new faculty and program participants. Starting this year at the Los Angeles Annual Conference (February 21–24, 2018), we will completely revamp CAA’s Candidate Center and offer your college or university a better opportunity to promote programs, connect with alumni and colleagues, and to interview prospective faculty members, all at a very affordable price. Say goodbye to the “hotel room” interview!
  • An Office in New York City – Many members have told us that when they travel to NYC on business, either to see exhibitions or to conduct interviews, they would like a place to conduct an interview, catch up on email or make a few phones calls. We now have an office for out-of-town members to use at the CAA offices at 50 Broadway.

We are also presently working to secure affordable dental, vision, and health care for our members who presently do not have coverage. We see how difficult the healthcare market is for employees, for employers, and for just about anyone, and we want to do our share to help our members with this challenge. In addition, we are talking to other professional organizations about joint memberships at reduced prices. We hope to have more information to announce later this fall.

All of the other CAA membership benefits remain intact. You will continue to have access to our insightful scholarly publications, such as The Art Bulletin, Art Journal, Art Journal Open, and caareviews. You will still get access to JSTOR, CAA’s online jobs portal, and additional Taylor & Francis publications. Your discounts to art fairs and art magazines and your corporate discounts (car rental, convention hotels, and airfare) will all continue without change. In a new agreement, the International Fine Print Dealers Association will offer our members half-off admission tickets to their Fine Art Print Fair every year. Shortly, newsletter subscribers will also find a new Monday newsletter dropping into their inbox that focuses more on advocacy, jobs, and opportunities. CAA Conversations, our video interview series, will soon grow to include podcasts focusing on issues in the field of visual arts and teaching. Outside of member benefits, the CAA/Getty International Program thrives, as do our Distinguished Awards, publishing grants, and the Professional-Development Fellowship Program. We are, as is often the case, grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the continued support of RAAMP – the program to provide resources to academic art museums. Additionally, we continue to bring the Code of Fair Use in the Visual Arts to academic communities throughout the US and abroad.

We will continue to advocate for the field on the local, national, and international level, never afraid to take a stand on tough issues. We see the budget battle for federal funding for the NEA, NEH, IMLS, and all agencies that support the arts and humanities as a critical to our members. The content in the Annual Conference and in our publications remains exceptionally high. We are at the beginning stages of a rebranding process, which we plan to unveil at the 2018 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. We are working on new standards and guidelines which aid art historians, artists, and designers. We have been doing all of this while we have worked to streamline the administrative staff and keep the association as nimble as possible to meet the needs of the members.

It goes without saying:  Your input is important—Keep it coming!

Sincerely,

Hunter O’Hanian,
Executive Director

Filed under: Membership

Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art, & Technology 1968-1985

October 8-December 8, 2017

Exhibition:

Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts
333 S Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA

Screening:

Lightbox Film Center at International House Philadelphia
September 28th, October 5th, and October 12th at 7pm
3701 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, PA

Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art, & Technology 1968-1985, is a multi-venue survey focusing on a generation of pioneering female new media artists, reconsidering their role as technology innovators.

Curated by Kelsey Halliday Johnson and initially supported by a $60,000 grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, the exhibition engages with early computer art, painting, video art, experimental photography, copy machine art, electronic music, and publication projects, among other disciplines.

The exhibition will include visual artists such as Jennifer Bartlett and Lynda Benglis, and video and media art pioneers Sonia Landy Sheridan, Joan Jonas, Lynda Benglis, Shigeko Kubota, and Dara Birnbaum. To accompany the exhibition, Johnson will create a reading library that will place these artists into direct dialogue with a broader history of women in technology, with the aim to “further the scholarship of technology and art surveys in which women are under-represented or not contextualized in the field of their peers,” Johnson says. Featured technologists include Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer; Katherine Johnson, NASA’s “human computer;” Mary Allen Wilkes, inventor of the operating system; and Rebecca Allen, the first Emmy Award-winning computer animation artist; among others.

The core of the exhibition will be held at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, with auxiliary screenings at Lightbox Film Center and Vox Populi. The opening reception is October 8, 2017, from 4–7pm at Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery.

 

Tom Thomson & Joyce Wieland : Passion Over Reason

July 1–November 19, 2017

McMichael Canadian Art Collection
10365 Islington Ave
Kleinburg, Ontario

In Passion Over Reason, curator Sarah Stanners brings together work by Tom Thomson and Joyce Weiland and takes a critical approach to Canada’s fascination with Thomson, his status as a cult figure of masculine mystique, and the mystery and mythology of his life story that has cast a virile, woodsy painter as the embodiment of quiet, Canadian resilience.

Interwoven with the work by Thomson, Wieland, whose playful use of sex and humour addresses issues of ecology, patriotism and the pitfalls of nationalism, celebrates a feminist perspective on Canada through her films, collage, and embroidery.

“Wieland’s deep fascination and love for Thomson and for Canada is revealed through the bookwork published alongside her 1971 True Patriot Love exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada (its first solo exhibition for a living Canadian woman artist). In it, Wieland effectively subsumed a government-issued compendium of arctic flora by infiltrating it with needlework, annotations, and photos taken by Tom Thomson.”

With a focus on a play with nationality, gender and sexuality, Passion Over Reason will present a new perspective on two iconic, trailblazing Canadian artists.

 

Lisa and Janelle Iglesias: Re:Sisters

July 8–October 21, 2017

Arizona State University Art Museum
51 E. 10th St.
Tempe, Arizona

Lisa and Janelle Iglesias, known as Las Hermanas Iglesias, present the fruits of their artist residency at the ASU Art Museum through a new collaborative body of work, Re:Sisters.

Using sculpture, prints and site-specific interventions the sisters focus on both collaboration and resistance and “create artworks that disrupt borders, engage absurdity and promote the benefits of working together. As the title suggests, the works in the exhibition engage the artists’ own familial relationship, resist categorization and speak to processes and gestures of disobedience.

The ASU Art Museum Artist Residency, established in 2011, encourages emerging and established artists to develop and experiment with new bodies of work. Artists selected for the residency have a multi-disciplinary practice with a strong record of process-based, community and collaborative projects in order to explore forms of engagement and to develop socially-based, laboratory-type art projects.

 

Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985

September 15–December 15, 2017

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

Boasting a roster of over one hundred artists from fourteen Latin American countries (including the United States), Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985 demonstrates the rich artistic practices located in, and in dialogue, with Latin America. Radical Women’s co-curators, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and Andrea Giunta, have put together a path-breaking exhibition, one which promiscuously pursues . Of course, well-known figures are represented here (Marisol, Marta Minujín, Ana Mendieta, etc.), but many artists will be new to a U.S. viewing public. Importantly, the curators decided to include Chicana and Latina artists in their roster, making an important argument regarding the (in)visibility of these artists within U.S.-based art histories as well.

In the catalog, which is an indispensible volume for both scholars of Latin America and neophytes, the co-curators list hundreds of interlocutors and collaborators—each entrenched in the visual and political histories of their respective regions. The exhibition’s strength is predicated on this highly inclusive, collaborative ethos, and will also be a model in terms of how it troubles curatorial authorship and expertise.

Throughout the three-month run of the exhibition local artists, art historians, and curators will be giving walk-through tours of the show, illuminating threads and lines of thought that might otherwise go unnoticed. October 7th brings a concert of contemporary musicians reimagining the music of Peruvian American singer Yma Sumac (née Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo). The exhibition travels to the Brooklyn Museum of Art after it closes in Los Angeles.

 

Cassils: Monumental
September 16–October 28, 2017

Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
31 Mercer Street
New York, NY

The centerpiece of this exhibition is likely to become the focal point of a flurry of think-pieces come mid-September. That’s because Cassils, who is well-known for their work highlighting and extending the themes of bodily endurance in performance, has been collecting nearly 200 gallons of their own urine since Donald Trump rescinded an Obama-era executive order allowing transgender students to use whichever restroom matches their chosen gender identity. Part protest, part quantifying gesture, Cassil’s pee will be gathered in a new cubic sculpture entitled PISSED—think Hans Haacke’s Condensation Cube (1963-65) but filled with slowly circulating urine. Accompanying this sculpture will be other works that focus on embodied breath, the trans body, and the conditions of duress and memory. Together, these works have much to say to the current administration whose callous disregard of the poor, of people of color, and of queer people (LGBTQIA). If we are living through another culture war—and indeed it seems we are—Cassils has drawn sharp and useful battle lines.

Cassils will present a live performance, Fountain, at the opening reception on September 16, 6-8pm, wherein they will be cathetered to PISSED, evincing the ways in which the trans body is almost always a medicalized body—ammended and abutted by systems of care, treatment, and pathology.

 

Melike Kara: Köpek
September 7–November 3, 2017

Peres Projects
Karl-Marx-Allee 82
Berlin, Germany

Melike Kara’s paintings represent the latest permutation of the figural group painting genre. Her cast of characters, rendered abstractly and with ambiguous gender and racial characteristics, play, eat, sleep, and have sex. Oftentimes large tongues loll out of their mask-like faces, looking more like diminutive speech balloons than anything else. Throughout these works you can see that Kara is attempting a re-visioning of Modernist painting, a bastardization of Matisse’s arabesque line and color with the more contemporary figural groupings by painters such as Sue Williams, Leon Golub, and Chris Ofili. Recently Kara has begun to play with spatializing her paintings, putting them on glass and using them as room dividers. What this show will bring is a mystery, but given Kara’s bombastic, if short, track record, it will no doubt provide grist for the art historical mill.

Filed under: CWA Picks