CAA News

Each month, CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts produces a curated list, called CWA Picks, of recommended exhibitions and events related to feminist art and scholarship in North America and around the world.

The CWA Picks for June 2011 include a nationwide list of screenings for !Women Art Revolution, Lynn Hershman Leeson’s documentary film on the feminist art movement, and a retrospective of the work of the mask-clad Guerrilla Girls, opening at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. In addition, two events—a three-day conference in Lisbon and a survey of the infamous Young British Artist, Tracey Emin, in London—give an international flavor to the picks.

Check the archive of CWA Picks at the bottom of the page, as several museum and gallery shows listed in previous months may still be on view or touring.

Audio of the 2011 CAA Centennial Session on “Feminism,” chaired by Norma Broude of American University and Griselda Pollock of the University of Leeds, has been uploaded to the website of Documenta, the major international art exhibition that takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The next one, Documenta 13, is scheduled for June 9–September 16, 2012, and its website has become a repository for news on preliminary events and happenings as well as a forum for discussing timely issues in the art world. Its artistic director, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, a panelist in the “Feminism” session, arranged to have the 2½-hour audio recording posted to the Documenta website, where it will be permanently archived and available to promote discussion among a worldwide array of visitors to that site.

The CAA session was organized as two panels: the first on “Attaining Full Equality: Women, Artists, Museums, and Markets,” moderated by Broude, and the second on “New Directions and International Perspectives in Feminist Art History,” led by Pollock. After four decades of feminist scholarship and political activism in the art world, and on the occasion of CAA’s centenary, the session brought together a cross-generational and international group of museum-affiliated curators, international art-fair and exhibition organizers, art-market experts, and art historians to share their perspectives on present accomplishments, institutional impediments, productive strategies, and future frontiers for feminism’s creative enterprise.

Each month, CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts produces a curated list, called CWA Picks, of recommended exhibitions and events related to feminist art and scholarship in North America and around the world.

The CWA Picks for May 2011 include an exhibition of new work by Uta Barth at the Art Institute of Chicago, a career-spanning survey for Loïs Mailou Jones at the Women’s Museum in Dallas, and a show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, called Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power.

In addition, two events—a graduate-student symposium and a lecture by Gail Levin—will take place next weekend (May 14–15) at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

Check the archive of CWA Picks at the bottom of the page, as several museum and gallery shows listed in previous months may still be on view or touring.

Image: Chrissie Hynde’s jacket for the cover of the Pretenders’ self-titled debut album from 1980 (photograph provided by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum)

Svetlana Mintcheva, director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship, reports on a recent meeting about the Hide/Seek controversy that was held at Rutgers University earlier this month. The first two paragraphs are below; you may also read the full article.

Hide/Seek: Museums, Ethics, and the Press

Hide/Seek may be remembered as the censorship controversy that launched a hundred discussion panels. There were public statements and street protests, of course, letters to the Smithsonian Board of Regents and articles in the press, but most of all, there were the conferences. Starting with a gathering at the Jewish Community Center in Washington, DC, spreading to the West Coast, and featuring major public events at the Corcoran and the New Museum, these discussions responded to an apparently endless desire to analyze and assign blame, to blow off steam and extract lessons, and to place what happened within the history of Culture Wars in America.

An April 9 symposium, “Hide/Seek: Museum, Ethics, and the Press,” organized by the Institute of Museum Ethics at Seton Hall University and the Institute for Ethical Leadership at Rutgers Business School, had the goal of framing the issues surrounding the Hide/Seek controversy as ethical ones. Daniel Okrent, former chairman of the National Portrait Gallery, opened the event by posing several key questions: Is choosing to do a controversial show an ethical decision? Should a show ever be changed after opening? What happens after a controversy in terms of institutional definition and future planning? A diverse group of participants from such disciplines as art history, law, political science, and philosophy, as well as Smithsonian representatives and one journalist, attempted to grapple with these issues and more.

Read the full article in the Features section.

Each month, CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts produces a curated list, called CWA Picks, of recommended exhibitions and events related to feminist art and scholarship in North America and around the world.

The CWA Picks for April 2011 include three exhibitions: Sheila Hicks: 50 Years in Philadelphia, Lynda Benglis in New York, and Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster 1964–1966 in Los Angeles. The committee also selected a conversation between the artist Diane Burko and the geographer Åsa Rennermalm, who will discuss climate issues and activism.

Check the archive of CWA Picks at the bottom of the page, as several museum and gallery shows listed in previous months may still be on view or touring.

Each month, CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts produces a curated list, called CWA Picks, of recommended exhibitions and events related to feminist art and scholarship in North America and around the world.

One CWA Pick for March 2011 is a conversation between the artists Yoko Ono and Kara Walker at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, taking place on Tuesday evening, March 8. Another selection is an exhibition at the University of California, Riverside, called Margarita Cabrera: Pulso y Martillo (Pulse and Hammer). On Saturday, March 5, the artist will present Florezca Board of Directors: Performance with Riverside students and faculty. The March picks also include two exhibitions in New York: Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) at the Jewish Museum and Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Check the archive of CWA Picks at the bottom of the page, as several museum and gallery shows listed in previous months may still be on view or touring.

Image: Margarita Cabrera, Black Toaster, 2003, vinyl, thread, and appliance parts, 10 x 7 x 10 in. (artwork © Margarita Cabrera; photograph provided by the artist, Walter Maciel Gallery, and the Sweeney Art Gallery)

Hosted by the New York Center for Art and Media Studies (NYCAMS) in Manhattan, the College Art Association Regional BFA Exhibition celebrates current perspectives from seventeen undergraduate student artists enrolled in seven area BFA programs. Curated by John Silvis and Brent Everett Dickinson, both professors of art at NYCAMS, the exhibition demonstrates the distinctiveness of each artist’s work and cultivates an engaging conversation among the participating programs. It will be on view for three weeks: February 7–25, 2011.

The seven schools in the College Art Association Regional BFA Exhibition are: Brooklyn College, City University of New York; the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York; Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus; Pratt Institute, School of Art and Design; Purchase College, State University of New York; the School of Visual Arts; and St. John’s University.

The seventeen exhibiting artists are: Marcel Bornstein (FIT), Christina Carlsson (Brooklyn), Matthew Chavez (FIT), Theresa Daddezio (Purchase), Alexander Derwick (Purchase), Alex Gavryushenko (Pratt), Su Yeon Ihm (SVA), Saskia Kahn (Brooklyn), Elizabeth Maroney (LIU), Katherine Mias (St. John’s), Anna Niedermeyer (Pratt), Zoey B. Scheler (Pratt), Olivia Taylor (FIT), Matthew Uebbing (Pratt), Allison M. Walters (St. John’s), Samantha Wolf (SVA), and Phillip Wong (Purchase).

The opening reception for the artists, their professors, and CAA conference attendees is Friday, February 11, 6:00–9:00 PM. NYCAMS is located twenty-five blocks south of the Hilton New York, at 44 West 28th Street, 7th Floor, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. (Take the F or M train to the 34th or 23rd Street stops.) The NYCAMS gallery is open Monday–Friday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM or by appointment. For more information, please call Janna Dyk at 212-213-8052. CAA is also sponsoring the College Art Association New York Area MFA Exhibition, which opens on the same evening at the Hunter College/Times Square Gallery.

RSVP to the exhibition on Facebook.

About NYCAMS

Affiliated with Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, NYCAMS offers a semester-long, sixteen-credit residency in art and writing for its undergraduate students. The program provides a concentrated educational experience to prepare students for an effective career in the arts. The core of its mission is to pursue excellence in all academic and artistic endeavors, and to provide a stimulating and nurturing environment that encourages the creative process. NYCAMS is committed to exploring issues in contemporary culture in a rigorous academic environment, enabling students to become astute contributors to the current cultural discourse.

Image: Alexander Derwick, Temporary Tattoos, 2011, etching, 17½ x 24 in. (artwork © Alexander Derwick)

Graduate students currently enrolled in MFA programs at twenty schools within one hundred miles of New York will participate in the College Art Association New York Area MFA Exhibition, on view February 9–April 9, 2011, at the spacious Hunter College/Times Square Gallery. Held concurrently with the 99th Annual Conference and Centennial Kickoff in New York, the exhibition marks the seventh time that Hunter College will host this expansive survey exhibition.

An opening reception for the artists, their professors, and CAA conference attendees will take place on Friday evening, February 11, 6:00–9:00 PM. Free and open to the public, the Hunter College/Times Square Gallery is located at 450 West 41st Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues—a short walk or cab ride from the Hilton New York. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 1:00–6:00 PM. CAA is also sponsoring the College Art Association Regional BFA Exhibition, which opens on the same evening at the New York Center for Art and Media Studies (NYCAMS).

RSVP to the exhibition on Facebook.

Participating Schools

Participating institutions are: Bard College, Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts; Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus; Montclair State University; New Jersey City University; New York Academy of Art; Parsons the New School for Design; Pratt Institute; Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts; School of Visual Arts; Temple University, Tyler School of Art; University of Connecticut, Storrs; and Yale University, Yale School of Art.

In addition, five art departments in the City University of New York system are participating: Brooklyn College; City College of New York; Hunter College; Herbert H. Lehman College; and Queens College.

Two art departments and one school in the State University of New York system are also sending artists: Purchase College, School of Art and Design; State University of New York, New Paltz; and Stony Brook University.

Hunter College Art Galleries

The Hunter MFA CAA Curatorial Committee comprises three MA students in the art-history program—Sophia Marisa Lucas, Valentina Spalten, and Annie Wischmeyer—and three MFA alumni who are adjunct faculty in the Department of Art: Selena Kimball, Eric Lee, and Nicole Tschampel.

On view at Hunter’s second space, the Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, is Objects of Devotion and Desire: Medieval Relic to Contemporary Art, organized by Cynthia Hahn, professor of art history at Hunter, with the assistance of MA and MFA students from Hunter and PhD students from the Graduate Center. The exhibition sets up a dialogue between five medieval reliquaries from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and works by postwar artists such as Christian Boltanski, Hannah Wilke, and Joseph Beuys, and by contemporary practitioners Gayil Nalls, Nate Larson, and Jeffrey Mongrain, among others. Hahn also includes examples of early photography in the mix.

The Leubsdorf Gallery is located in the West Lobby at Hunter College, on the southwest corner of East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue; no admission fee is required. The exhibition dates are January 27–April 30, 2011.

The Executive Committee of the CAA Board of Directors adopted the following statement on December 7, 2010. At the bottom of the page is information about a special session at the upcoming CAA Annual Conference, chaired by Jonathan Katz, a scholar and the cocurator of Hide/Seek.

CAA Statement

The College Art Association regrets the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly (1987) from the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, on display at the National Portrait Gallery. It was taken out on November 30 by G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in response to outside pressure. CAA further expresses profound disappointment that the House speaker–designate, John A. Boehner of Ohio, and the incoming majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, have used their positions to question future funding for the Smithsonian Institution.

CAA applauds the National Portrait Gallery for its groundbreaking exhibition, which presents the long-suppressed subject of same-sex orientation. Furthermore, CAA commends the thorough, pioneering scholarship and the challenging curatorial judgment made by the organizers of Hide/Seek—David C. Ward, a historian at the museum, and Jonathan Katz, director of the Visual Studies Doctoral Program at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. That the work of everyone involved has been heedlessly compromised is deeply troubling. The pressure brought to bear on the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian sounds a familiar note from 1989, when direct federal funding to artists was ended due to political pressure. Then as now, CAA strongly protests such tactics.

Government has a long tradition of supporting universities, museums, and libraries—institutions that have produced research that expresses a variety of positions on all subjects. Freedom of expression is one of the great strengths of American democracy and one that our country holds up as a model for emerging democracies elsewhere. Americans understand that ideas expressed in books and artworks are those of their makers, not of the institutions that house them, and certainly do not represent public policy.

CAA urges all members to let your senators and representatives know of your support for the exhibition, its curators, and the National Portrait Gallery. You may also use advocacy tools provided by the National Humanities Alliance or Americans for the Arts.

Special Conference Session

This week CAA invited Jonathan Katz, cocurator of Hide/Seek, to chair a special Centennial session at the 2011 Annual Conference in New York. He will present “Against Acknowledgement: Sexuality and the Instrumentalization of Knowledge” on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 9:30 AM–NOON in the Rendezvous Trianon Room at the Hilton New York. Please check the conference website soon for a list of panelists, their institutional affiliations, and topics of discussion.

In the past week, numerous art and museum associations, advocacy groups, nonprofit and commercial galleries, art critics, and newspapers have spoken out against the removal of an artwork by David Wojnarowicz that was on view in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. CAA is compiling a list of organizations, companies, and people who have published official statements, editorials, and letters to the editor.

Organizations

• College Art Association
• Association of Art Museum Directors (PDF)
• Transformer in Washington, DC, which is screening A Fire in My Belly
• Association of Art Museum Curators
• National Coalition Against Censorship (a joint statement with thirteen other groups, including the First Amendment Project, Catholics for Choice, the Association of American Publishers, and the International Association of Art Critics, United States Section)
• American Association of Museums
• American Civil Liberties Union
• Washington Project for the Arts
• Fluent~Collaborative
• Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Critics, Journalists, Scholars, and Curators

• Jonathan D. Katz, scholar and curator of Hide/Seek with David C. Ward
• Tyler Green, Modern Art Notes, who has an archive of events and commentary since November 30
• Lee Rosenbaum, CultureGrrl, who also has covered the story with news and editorials
• Blake Gopnik, the Washington Post
• Christopher Knight, the Los Angeles Times

Museums and Galleries

• PPOW Gallery in New York, which represents the Estate of David Wojnarowicz
• Arlington Arts Center in Virginia

Press and Publishing

• New York Times

Social Networking and Web Resources

• Hide/Seek.org
• Support Hide/Seek on Facebook
• Hide/Seek.org on Twitter

The above list will be cumulative. If you would like to send CAA a link to an official or organizational statement, please write to Christopher Howard, CAA managing editor.