CAA News Today
Keren Moscovitch
posted Dec 11, 2025
As an artist-philosopher and educator, I create knowledge and experiences that poeticize world systems, engaging the public—including those early in their educational journey—in critical, intimate, and creative discourse. My studio practice centers on the radicality of intimacy and ecological attunement, while my philosophical research draws from antiquity to contemporary thought, envisioning future consciousness. I view art practice, art history, and philosophy as inherently connected, and reintegrating them offers urgently needed pathways for expanded discourse. My work aligns with CAA’s commitment to diverse practices and scholarship and the evolving nature of the field.
My engagement with CAA has reshaped how I view institutions and their potential. As a member of the Committee for Women in the Arts and chair of the Feminist Interview Project, I gained insight into CAA’s structure and the possibilities for broader outreach to individuals and institutions on the margins of art and academia. In both research and teaching, I elevate marginalized voices and forgotten histories, contributing to a necessary shift in power structures.
With 25 years of experience as a higher education administrator, I bring a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing academia today. I believe higher education is in urgent need of renewal and forward-thinking leadership.
Serving on the CAA Board would allow me to step more fully into such a leadership role, representing a broad range of perspectives, not only those within institutions. I am excited by the opportunity to help shape the future of art, education, and scholarly engagement.
Wendy DesChene
posted Dec 11, 2025
Thank you for considering my nomination to the College Art Association’s Board of Directors. As an artist, educator, and activist, I have long been inspired by CAA’s commitment to supporting visual arts professionals through dialogue, advocacy, and innovation. Since my first job interview as a graduate student at the conference, I have seen the organization as an essential nexus connecting artists, educators, and scholars. The association’s support, including resources, conference panel presentations, networking, and exhibitions, helped craft my successful application to become a Full Professor of Art at Auburn University, a Carnegie-classified Research-1 institution. That success extends to my artwork, which has earned me over 26 residencies and exhibitions at the Drawing Center, NY, The Soap Factory, MN, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Japan, and the Fuller Craft Museum, MA.
Canadian-born and of Indigenous Métis heritage, I earned my MFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and have since built an interdisciplinary practice that challenges institutional boundaries while emphasizing collaboration and ecological awareness. My projects often transform public spaces into creative exchange and environmental education sites. Through PlantBot Genetics, my ongoing collaboration with artist JeU Schmuki, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pulitzer Foundation, I have developed a model for using art for critical dialogue about sustainability and community resilience. This practice includes the creation of murals both inside and outside the classroom, and several street-based projects from an 18-foot oU-grid trailer that can bring a sophisticated multidisciplinary experience anywhere.
I have spent much of my career facilitating partnerships between students, communities, and organizations. For example, I was elected to represent the State of Alabama on the Board of the SECAC conference for the maximum of two, three-year terms. Although trained in the northeast, this experience allows me to bring an expansive perspective on how best to champion the arts, artists, and scholars in all parts of this country. In addition, past collaborations through SECAC and my research practice consistently foster shared authorship, civic responsibility, and a sense of belonging, reflecting CAA’s dedication to advancing knowledge across disciplines and creating inclusive professional networks. This advancement must include the people and initiatives in the deep south and other more unexpected nexuses for art to nurture the greatest impact creativity can impart in North America.
I always aim to add more colored crayons to the box from which the ‘arts’ draws. If elected, I would bring a pragmatic and cooperative approach to the Board, grounded in academic experience and community-based practice. My leadership style is direct and includes shared decision-making, all of which are essential to ensuring that CAA continues to reflect the evolving and constantly expanding landscape of contemporary art and education radiating across this land. It would be an honor to serve and help shape the future of this dynamic and vital organization.
Lara Corona
posted Dec 11, 2025
I am honored to submit my candidacy for the CAA Board of Directors. With a background in museum studies and cultural policy, I bring a global perspective and deep commitment to advancing the visual arts through strategic leadership, ethical stewardship, and inclusive engagement.
My experience spans curatorial practice, academic research, and international project leadership. Holding a PhD in museum studies, I have led interdisciplinary initiatives across Europe focused on digital transformation, collection accessibility, and sustainable development in the arts. These roles have sharpened my skills in governance, budget oversight, and long-term planning—core responsibilities of CAA board service.
In designing and coordinating conferences, I brought together diverse voices to explore decolonization, minority representation, and ethical curatorial frameworks—demonstrating my ability to build dialogue across sectors, regions, and disciplines. I am equally committed to public-facing impact, having led workshops, contributed to international conferences, and published on critical issues in museum communication and access.
I view CAA as a vital force in shaping the future of art, scholarship, and practice. If elected, I would work to advance its mission at large, support emerging professionals, and help ensure its financial resilience and relevance in a rapidly evolving cultural landscape. With a balance of strategic thinking, collaborative leadership, and dedication to equity, I am eager to contribute to the CAA Board’s work in shaping a vibrant and inclusive future for the arts.
Notice of the CAA 114th Annual Business Meeting
posted Dec 10, 2025
CAA Annual Business Meeting
Friday, February 20, 2026
1 p.m. CT
The 114th Annual Business Meeting of the members of the College Art Association will be called to order at 1 p.m. CT on Friday, February 20, 2026, at the Hilton Chicago. Access to this meeting is included in paid registration and no-cost registration. Once registered, please log into the online conference schedule to view more details about this meeting. CAA President, Dr. Denise Baxter, will preside.
AGENDA
- Welcome + Call to Order – Denise Baxter, CAA President
- Executive Director Report – Meme Omogbai, CAA Executive Director + CEO
- Approval of 113th Annual Business Meeting Minutes [ACTION ITEM]
- Old/New Business
- Board Member Election Results – Denise Baxter, CAA President
- Adjourn
BOARD VOTING
The Board of Directors slate has been announced as of December 11, 2025, along with an online voting form. Please submit your voting form for the 2026 election no later than 5 p.m. CT on Thursday, February 19th, 2026.
Next Meeting – 2027
The 115th Annual Business Meeting of the College Art Association will be held on February 5, 2027, at the New York Hilton Midtown.
CAA113 Annual Business Meeting Minutes
posted Dec 10, 2025
CAA113 Annual Business Meeting
February 14, 2025 | 12:00 p.m. ET
New York Hilton Midtown
- Welcome + Call to Order – Denise Baxter, CAA Board President
- Denise Baxter called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m. ET.
- The agenda was introduced, with emphasis on brevity to allow time for a special guest presentation on the state of the field following the Annual Business Meeting.
- Executive Director Report – Meme Omogbai, CAA Executive Director + CEO
- Financial Report
- CAA’s annual audit was conducted by the firm EisnerAmper for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.
- Net assets increased by over $80,000 compared to the prior year.
- Operating revenue was $3.4 million, and expenses were approximately the same amount.
- An unrealized investment loss was due to market conditions.
- CAA continues to operate within budget and maintains fiscal prudence.
- Audit reports are publicly available via Guidestar and NYS Charities Bureau.
- Membership Update
- CAA Individual members totaled approximately 4000 in the year ending June 30, 2024, and 268 Institutional members.
- There were 437 institutional journal subscribers.
- CAA’s co-publisher of our field-leading journals The Art Bulletin and Art Journal remains Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
- Strategic Repositioning Progress
- We have continued implementation of the strategic plan to modernize and future-proof CAA.
- CAA is prioritizing investment in technological infrastructure to support global presence and responsiveness.
- We have expanded our hybrid offerings and piloted professional development webinars.
- CAA received the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency, a designation which supports CAA’s ongoing fundraising efforts and affirms organizational accountability.
- Conference Update
- The CAA113 attendance target was 2500 and this was exceeded by 1000 with just over 3500 attendees.
- Staff, especially the very small conference team, was recognized for exceptional effort in achieving this milestone.
- All staff members present were asked to stand to be acknowledged.
- Financial Report
- Approval of 112th Annual Business Meeting Minutes [ACTION ITEM]
- Jennifer Rissler moved to approve minutes from the CAA 112th Annual Business meeting; Greg Gilbert seconded the motion.
- The minutes were approved unanimously by those present.
- Old/New Business
- Laura Anderson Barbata (noted for forging a climate crisis partnership), Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz (noted for service on the Annual Conference Committee), Kelly Walters (noted for tote bag design), and Roland Betancourt (noted for contributions to discipline-specific initiatives) were thanked for their service and contributions as Board members and encouraged after they rotate off the Board in May to remain engaged with CAA.
- Past CAA President James Hopfensperger honored Morgan T. Payne for nearly 50 years of continuous membership and engaged participation at CAA, especially attendance at Annual Business Meetings. His contributions have also included committee service, authorship of standards and guidelines for the field, and advocacy.
- Board Election Results – Denise Baxter, CAA Board President
- The 2025 Board of Directors slate was announced on December 11, 2024, along with an online voting form. Voting closed on Thursday, February 13, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. ET.
- The following individuals will join the Board of Directors in May 2025 (4-year term): Jelena Bogdanović, Jennifer Field, Leslie D. Joynes, Carolyn Jean Martin, and Emily Pugh.
- Congratulations to Aaron Samuel Mulenga who will also join the Board as a CAA Emerging Professional Director (2-year term).
- All who were not elected were encouraged to run again next year. Some of the most productive Board members in CAA history ran several times before they were elected, including some past CAA presidents.
- The CAA Nominating Committee was thanked for their contributions to this election cycle.
- Adjourn
- The CAA 114th Annual Conference will be held February 18–21, 2026 at the Hilton Chicago. The date of the Annual Business Meeting will be February 20, 2026.
- The CAA 113th Annual Business Meeting adjourned at 12:24 p.m. ET.
Announcing the CAA-Getty International Program 2026 Participants!
posted Nov 20, 2025
The CAA-Getty International Program will welcome ten new scholars and four program alumni to the CAA 114th Annual Conference! CAA114 will mark the fifteenth year of this invaluable program, which brings a cohort of art historians, museum curators, visual arts professionals, and select program alumni from around the globe to the CAA Annual Conference each year. Grantees participate in a preconference colloquium and alumni session, examining pressing topics in the field, ranging from historiography, interdisciplinary/transnational methodology, and the decolonization of our arts institutions. Read “A Global Vision: The CAA-Getty International Program” to learn more, and register now for CAA114!
2026 CAA-GETTY PARTICIPANTS
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Hesham A. Abdel Kader is an Egyptian archaeologist and Roman archaeology specialist at the Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. He recently earned his PhD from Ain Shams University with a dissertation titled “Public Baths and Water Management in Hermopolis Magna during the Roman Period.” His fieldwork experience spans over a decade and includes key roles in excavations at Hermopolis, Amarna, Tuna el-Gebel, and Deir el-Barsha, in collaboration with national and international missions. He is also a co-founder of the Egyptian Heritage Network and is actively engaged in public outreach and training initiatives in Middle Egypt. His work has been recognized with awards such as the Prof. Dr. Zahi Hawass Prize for Best Archaeologist (2023), and he has published extensively on Roman-era urbanism and infrastructure. He is passionate about integrating the field of archaeology with community heritage awareness and international collaboration. |
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Ornela Barisone holds a PhD in humanities and arts and currently works as a Research Assistant at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), based at the Centro de Investigaciones en Arte y Patrimonio (CIAP, EAyP, UNSAM-CONICET). As part of this position, she is developing a research project on transnational networks, artistic participation, and mid-twentieth-century avant-gardes in Argentina, Brazil, and France (1949–69). She is also a professor and researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos (Argentina), where she serves as adjunct professor in History of Art and Associate Professor in Comparative Literatures. She directs the institutional research project “Avant-garde Archives and Magazines as Transnational Platforms,” focused on Edgardo Antonio Vigo and Latin American–European exchanges in the 1960s. Barisone has been awarded, among others, fellowships from CONICET, a UNL–CEAL–UAM–Banco Santander mobility scholarship, a Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant (UCLA), and a postdoctoral research fellowship at EHESS–Paris. She is the author of Experimentos poéticos opacos. Biopsias malditas: del invencionismo argentino a la poesía visual (1944–1969) (Ed. Corregidor, 2017). |
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Tuuda Haitula is a heritage professional and curator from Namibia, who is the curator of the Oranjemund Shipwreck under the National Museum of Namibia. His work centers on postcolonial restitution, ethical museum practices, and capacity-building in African museums. Tuuda has contributed to grant management, heritage assessments, and national exhibition development. He is passionate about using museums as tools for healing, knowledge recovery, and social transformation |
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Mu He is a contemporary expressionist artist and cross-cultural art researcher. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in painting from the Rome Academy of Fine Arts, Italy, and is currently pursuing her PhD at the De Institute of Creative Arts and Design, UCSI University, Malaysia. Her doctoral research, “East–West Fusion: A Comparative Study of Gustav Klimt and Pang Xunqin’s Decorative Language in 20th-Century Figure Painting,” examines the transcultural negotiation of decorative vocabularies in modern painting, with a particular focus on the dialogue between Eastern and Western traditions. From 2018 to 2023, she served as a lecturer in oil painting at Hebei Minzu Normal University, China. In 2024, she received the Ernst Mach Grant to conduct research at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Dedicated to bridging theory and practice and fostering intercultural dialogue, her works have been exhibited in China, Italy, and Malaysia. She continues to publish scholarly articles and is currently preparing a monograph on the comparative study of decorative language in East–West fusion painting. |
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Omar ID Tnaine is a scholar and curator based in Agadir, Morocco, dedicated to preserving and promoting cultural heritage. As a curator at prominent Moroccan museums, he designs educational programs and exhibitions that connect diverse audiences with the richness of national and global heritage. Omar has contributed to significant research programs, including the 2025 Open Restitution Africa (ORA) Cohort, where he conducts case studies on North African restitution, focusing on Morocco, to document and share data on cultural heritage repatriation. He also participated in the Museum Lab, refining innovative museum practices, and the SAWA Museum Studies Program, enhancing his expertise in cultural heritage management. These experiences strengthen his commitment to cross-cultural dialogue and education. |
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Eve Loh-Kazuhara is an art historian specializing in Japanese art, focusing on the history and historiography of nihonga (Japanese-style painting) from the postwar to contemporary period. Her scholarship also explores the transnational narratives and connections of nihonga across Asia. Eve’s current book manuscript is on post-war Japanese painting through the examination of nihonga artist, Tanaka Isson’s landscapes of Amami Ōshima, an island in Southern Japan. She is the 2025–26 Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow at the Sainsbury Institute for the study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in East Anglia, England. Previously, Eve taught at the National University of Singapore and the University of the Arts, Singapore, and has worked in museum interpretation. |
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Éva Lovra is an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Debrecen. She is an urban planner and civil engineer, her work is distinguished by its interdisciplinary focus on the protection of built heritage. Her scholarship examines architectural and urban history, with a specialization in urban morphology and the art history of the urban. She is the author of five monographs and has presented her research at numerous international venues, including New York University. Her contributions to the field were recognized with a Fulbright Visiting Professorship at the University of Pittsburgh in 2023. In addition to her academic roles, she is a curator of architectural exhibitions, with a forthcoming on the art and architecture of 1930s Miskolc. She is an active member of leading professional and academic bodies, including the Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. |
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Martina Munivrana is a curator and art historian based at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (MSU), where she currently serves as head of collections. Her curatorial and research focus centers on contemporary women artists, feminist and postcolonial theory, identity construction, and new media. She is particularly dedicated to increasing the visibility of women artists and developing new interpretations of their practices within institutional and exhibition contexts. She holds an MA in art history and philosophy and completed her PhD in 2023 at the University of Zagreb with a dissertation on the work of artist Breda Beban. At MSU, she has curated numerous research-based projects that challenge established narratives and highlight overlooked or marginalized artistic voices, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and inter-institutional exchange. Munivrana has participated in international conferences and programs, including the Getty Foundation’s Museum Studies Summer Institute (NYU), and has served on national expert councils focused on contemporary and innovative artistic practices. |
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Irmuun Unubaatar (Yiri Muen) is a Mongolian artist and PhD candidate in art studies at the National University of Mongolia, specializing in fourteenth-century portraits of Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) emperors and empresses. Her research integrates the study of historical painting techniques with contemporary artistic practice, reflecting her dual role as scholar and practitioner. She has presented her work at international conferences in the United States, Austria, Italy, and Estonia, including the European Conference of Mongolian Studies (Venice, 2024) and the Second International Mongolian Studies Symposium (Vienna, 2024). As an artist, Irmuun focuses on Mongolian traditional scripts and cultural symbols, reinterpreted through modern visual language. She has held solo exhibitions at the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts (2023), the National Art Gallery of Mongolia (2016), and participated in international exhibitions such as the Krakow Centrum Sztuki Solvay Biennale in Poland (2025). |
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Rodolfo Ward de Oliveira is a Brazilian transdisciplinary artist, cultural producer, and researcher with a PhD in visual arts from the University of Brasília (UnB), including a funded research residency at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance (2022–23). He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), focusing on the Tukano people and their epistemologies. Ward is the founder of HORI and CerrAmazon, hybrid platforms exploring decolonial aesthetics, anthropophagic theory, and cultural innovation. His practice bridges Indigenous art—especially among the Xerente and Tukano peoples—with immersive media, digital humanities, and social theory. From a Latin American perspective, he challenges binary oppositions and connects academic, artistic, and ancestral knowledge to forge a visionary cartography of Brazilian identity through ritual, resistance, and intercultural pedagogy. |
ALUMNI PARTICIPANTS
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Savita Kumari is associate professor and head in the Department of History of Art, Indian Institute of Heritage. With over fifteen years of academic and curatorial experience, she specializes in South and Southeast Asian art. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked with renowned cultural institutions such as the National Gallery of Modern Art and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. She has curated significant exhibitions and coordinated numerous national and international seminars, workshops, and collaborative initiatives. Deeply committed to outreach, Dr. Kumari leads art history enrichment programs for educators and students in rural areas. She has been involved in several prominent research and heritage documentation projects of national and international importance. She is a regular speaker at leading institutions in India and abroad. Her scholarly work includes books, articles, and exhibition catalogs, and she has received multiple prestigious fellowships and international travel grants. |
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Pavlína Morganová is an art historian and curator, based in Prague, Czech Republic. She currently works as a director of the VVP AVU Research Center at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. She specializes on the Central and Eastern European art history, performance art and exhibition histories, lectures on Czech Art after 1945. She has participated in several international conferences and takes active part in the representative bodies of Czech art education and research. She recently conducted research concentrated on the medium of exhibition and she is the co-author of the book Exhibition as a Medium. Czech Art 1957−1999 (2020). She is also the author of the books A Walk Through Prague: Actions, Performances, Happenings 1949−1989 (2017) and Czech Action Art / Happenings, Actions, Events, Land Art, Body Art and Performance Art Behind the Iron Curtain (2015). She is a 2019 CAA-Getty International Program alumna. |
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Tatiana Muñoz-Brenes is an art historian, curator, museologist, and activist. She holds a BS in psychology and a BA in art history from the University of Costa Rica, and an MA in museum studies from New York University, where she was a Fulbright scholar. Her work critically examines the intersections of gender, sexuality, class struggle, race, coloniality, and institutional power within the fields of art and museums. Grounded in feminist and queer theory, her research exposes the systemic oppression of marginalized subjects within canonical art history and museum practices. She has curated exhibitions and conducted research in Latin America and the United States that closely examines the unequal dynamics between center and periphery. Her practice seeks to challenge white, male-dominated epistemologies and to promote more caring, affective, and community-based approaches to cultural production and display. |
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Viviana Usubiaga is a researcher at the Research Center in Art and Heritage (CIAP), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina. She is currently director of the master’s program in Latin American art history at the School of Interdisciplinary Advanced Social Studies, UNSAM, where she is also a professor of contemporary art. She is assistant lecturer in modern and contemporary art at the University of Buenos Aires. From 2019 to 2023, she served as director of the National Division of Heritage Management at the Ministry of Culture of Argentina, and she has worked as a curator and editor. She holds a PhD in art theory and history from the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Her publications explore how art contributes to shaping systems of value and how culture and museums participate in the social construction of historical memory during the post-dictatorship period in South America. She is a 2019 CAA-Getty International Program alumna. |
This program is made possible with support from Getty through its Connecting Art Histories initiative.
Announcing the 2026 Morey Book Award and Barr Awards Shortlists
posted Nov 13, 2025
Finalists for the Charles Rufus Morey Book Award and the Alfred H. Barr Jr. Awards have been selected. The winners, alongside recipients of other Awards for Distinction, will be presented on Wednesday, February 18, during Convocation at the CAA 114th Annual Conference in Chicago. Congratulations to all of the finalists!
Charles Rufus Morey Book Award Shortlist
Named in honor of one of the founding members of CAA and first teachers of art history in the United States, the Charles Rufus Morey Book Award was established in 1953 to recognize an especially distinguished English-language book in the history of art.
Time Machines: Telegraphic Images in Nineteenth-Century France by Richard Taws (MIT Press, 2025)
The Empire’s New Cloth: Cross-Cultural Textiles at the Qing Court by Mei Mei Rado (Yale University Press, 2025)
Relics of War: The History of a Photograph by Jennifer Raab (Princeton University Press, 2024)
The Monument of Tomorrow: Creative Conservation and the Spanish War by Miguel Caballero (Penn State University Press, 2025)
The Agency of Access: Contemporary Disability Art & Institutional Critique by Amanda Cachia (Temple University Press, 2024)
Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award Shortlist
Named for the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art and a scholar of early-twentieth-century painting, the Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award is presented to the author or authors of an especially distinguished catalogue in the history of art, published in English by a museum, library, or collection.
Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies, edited by Dalila Scruggs (National Gallery of Art and The Brooklyn Museum/The University of Chicago Press, 2024)
Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World, edited by Alexandra Libby, Brooks Rich, and Stacey Sell The (National Gallery of Art/ Princeton University Press, 2025)
Ruth Asawa: Retrospective, edited by Janet Bishop and Cara Manes (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art/Yale University Press, 2025)
Sonia Delaunay: Living Art, edited by Waleria Dorogova and Laura Microulis (Bard Graduate Center/Yale University Press, 2024)
The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture, edited by Karen Lemmey, Tobias Wofford, and Grace Yasumura (Smithsonian American Art Museum/Princeton University Press, 2024)
Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for Smaller Museums, Libraries, Collections, and Exhibitions Shortlist
Established in 2009, the Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for Smaller Museums, Libraries, Collections, and Exhibitions is presented to the author(s) of catalogues produced by an institution with an operating budget of less than $10 million.
Art and Artifact: Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising, edited by Leesa Kelly and Howard Oransky (Katherine E. Nash Gallery in association with Memorialize the Movement, Minneapolis/The University of Minnesota Press, 2024)
Constructed Geographies: Paulo Mendes da Rocha, edited by Jean-Louis Cohen and Vanessa Grossman (Casa da Arquitectura–Portuguese Centre for Architecture/Yale University Press, 2024)
Crossing Over: Art and Science at Caltech, 1920–2020, edited by Peter Sachs Collopy and Claudia Bohn-Spector (Caltech Library/Getty Publications, 2024)
Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, edited by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz (Inventory Press/Williams College Museum of Art/Vincent Price Art Museum/Independent Curators International, 2024)
Eddie Chambers Named CAA114 Distinguished Scholar
posted Nov 13, 2025
Photograph by Hakeem Adewumi
The Distinguished Scholar Session at the 114th CAA Annual Conference will recognize the career of Eddie Chambers, including his professional experience as an artist and curator, and celebrate his ongoing legacy of critical engagement, mentorship, and advocacy for Black British and African diaspora artists within the global field of art history.
Chambers is Goldabelle McComb Finn Distinguished Professor in Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Previously, he held the David Bruton, Jr. Centennial Professorship in Art History at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a Visiting Professor at Emory University, Atlanta. In addition to his notable academic career, he has been professionally involved in the visual arts for four decades as an artist, art critic, and curator. He earned his PhD at Goldsmiths College University of London.
His broad areas of scholarship are the art and art history of the African diaspora. Chambers has written several books, including Run Through the Jungle: Selected Writings by Eddie Chambers (Institute of International Visual Arts, 1999); Things Done Change: The Cultural Politics of Recent Black Artists in Britain (Rodopi Editions, 2012); Black Artists in British Art: A History Since the 1950s (I. B. Tauris, 2014); Roots & Culture: Cultural Politics in the Making of Black Britain (I. B. Tauris, 2017); World is Africa: Writings on Diaspora Art (Bloomsbury, 2021). His other writing has been published widely in Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, Panorama, and elsewhere.
Chambers has worked with many artists over the course of several decades, including Eugene Palmer, Cybil Charlier, Frank Bowling, Denzil Forrester, Barbara Walker, and Alberta Whittle.
Following two terms as a field editor for caa.reviews, he was Editor-in-Chief of CAA’s Art Journal until July 2024. Chambers is the editor of the just-published Routledge Companion to African Diaspora Art History.
Chambers’s career and his impact on the field will be celebrated with presentations and a dialogue with scholars and colleagues:
Session Panelists:
Cherise Smith, University of Texas at Austin
John Tyson, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Katherine Gregory, Wake Forest University
Richard Hylton, Tyler School, Temple University and Reviews Editor, Art Journal
Register now for the CAA 114th Annual Conference, February 18–21, 2026 in Chicago!
The CAA114 Distinguished Scholar Session will be held on Thursday, February 19, 4:30–6:30 p.m. CT at the Hilton Chicago. This event will also be livestreamed via YouTube.
Call for Submissions: Services to Artists Committee Exhibition During CAA114
posted Oct 30, 2025
Resistance and change often begin in art.
—Ursula Le Guin
The CAA Services to Artists Committee (SAC) is now accepting submissions for Parallel Worlds, an exhibition during the CAA 114th Annual Conference in Chicago.
Since the nineteenth century, science fiction has provided conceptual spaces for questioning and criticizing our world and imagining alternative futures. As notable futurist Stuart Candy states in The Futures of Everyday Life, what is “central to the present future studies is not an effort to ‘predict’ the future . . . but the effort to sketch ‘alternative futures.’” In other words, creativity and imagination are needed to better prepare for the unknown.
With this exhibition, SAC aims to draw attention to parallel worlds, temporal shifts, and alternative futures. Addressing a legacy of different communities and building on critical movements such as Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurism, Queer Futurisms, Post-Humanist Futurism, Crip Futurism, Eco-Solar Punk Futurism, Speculative Futurism, and AI Futurism, we hope to collectively imagine beyond our current reality.
Art can serve as a mode of critique, resistance, and speculation to address and disrupt our deeply rooted colonial history. SAC invites submissions that challenge dominant narratives and provide a critical repositioning of identity, environment, technology, and time. SAC is especially interested in work that responds to the current social and cultural climates while offering new, creative, revolutionary visions for all futures.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Please combine into one pdf:
- Artist statement (up to 200 words)
- Biography (up to 150 words)
- CV
- Website (if applicable)
- Corresponding image list (image number, title, medium, dimensions, date)
- Handling, framing, and hanging descriptions
- Technology/equipment requirements
- Accessibility requirements
Portfolio of 10–15 images:
- Each image must be sized to 1 MB
- Title format: 01_Last name_Title_Medium_Dimensions_Date
Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
Please Note:
- Entry is free, but all accepted artists must join CAA as an individual member to show their work.
- If selected, artists are responsible for arranging timely delivery (Wednesday, February 18) and pickup of artwork (Saturday, February 21) to the gallery in Chicago at their own expense during conference week.
- All work must be ready to be presented or hung equipped with D-rings or picture wire. Framing of the work and presentation details needs to be agreed upon in consultation with the curator.
- Any technology related to the work may need to be provided by the artist.
- Each artist is required to gallery sit for at least one shift during the exhibition and is strongly encouraged to attend the Thursday night reception.
Submit now via email to SAC!
Deadline: December 5
Elyse Longair, Cryopreservation Birth Chamber, 2020; Elyse Longair, Man in Capsule, 2022 (images provided by the artist)
CAA and the National Coalition Against Censorship Release Joint Letter to the President of Pepperdine University
posted Oct 27, 2025
CAA and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) have released a joint letter to Pepperdine University’s president calling for the reinstallation of two censored art installations, removed from the Hold My Hand in Yours exhibition for “overly political content.” The University argued that the works—until recently on view at the university’s Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art—placed their nonprofit status at risk. The exhibition has since been shut down by the university, and Andrea Gyorody, the museum’s director, has resigned.
CAA and NCAC stand firm in the belief that “. . . virtually every artwork on a topical subject can be interpreted as expressing a political position. Crucially, the exhibition of an object in a University museum does not mean that the University endorses the ideas it expresses any more than teaching a text in a classroom means that this text expresses the position of the University.”
CAA and NCAC call for reopening of the exhibition, a statement affirming the value of freedom of expression, and the development of guidelines for the exhibition of art on campus. Read the full joint letter here on NCAC’s website.