event
symposium: crystal bridges museum of art
Environment, Identity, and Memory
link to video documentation: YouTube
This thought-provoking symposium examines the intersection of art, political discourse, and social practice. Artists, art historians, curators, students, and art enthusiasts will come together to explore issues of identity, race, class, gender, and the environment through the lens of artworks in the Crystal Bridges collection. The program includes an opening lecture on the evening of Friday, April 7, and a full day of interchange on Saturday, April 8. For Saturday attendees, we will contact registrants prior to the event with options to purchase lunch.
Bios
Alice L. Walton
John Wilmerding
Sandy Edwards
Saturday, April 8
10:00 am
Welcome with Anne Kraybill, Director of Education and Research in Learning, Crystal Bridges
Opening Conversation with Nari Ward: We the People
Hosted by Lauren Haynes, Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges
The recent Crystal Bridges acquisition We the People (black version) poses a fundamental question: How does a work of art serve as a call to action to challenge societal power structures? Artist Nari Ward will discuss this with Crystal Bridges Curator Lauren Haynes in an exploration of the relationships between art, American history, and issues of race, identity, and politics that remain relevant in this country today. The conversation will pose questions that will be pursued more in the following panels.
Bios
Anne Kraybill
Nari Ward
Lauren Haynes
10:30 am to Noon
Session One: One Planet, One Experiment
With Opening Spoken Word Performance
Opening Spoken Word Performance by Suzi Q., poet-in-residence
Moderated by Chad Alligood, Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges
Panelists:
Laura Turner Igoe, art historian
Pam Longobardi, artist
Nathalie Miebach, artist
Through the centuries, American artists have responded to nature’s transcendental qualities, the rapid cultivation of the wilderness, and now, issues around global climate change. Art historian Laura Turner Igoe will present new scholarship toward understanding how artists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries presented environmental issues of the time. Igoe’s presentation will be followed by a conversation with artists Nathalie Miebach and Pam Longobardi, who address environmental issues in their work.
Bios
Suzi Q.
Chad Alligood
Laura Turner Igoe
Pam Longobardi
Nathalie Miebach
Noon to 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 to 3:00 pm
Session Two: The Myth of the Melting Pot
With Opening Spoken Word Performance
Moderated by Lauren Haynes, Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges
Panelists:
Claudia Mesch, art historian
Ghada Amer, artist
Jeffrey Gibson, artist
In popular culture, American identity has been idealized as a homogenous “melting pot” of cultures, rather than as a rich system of cultural exchange. While this exchange can result in a diversity of new traditions and artistic forms, it can also lead to an unfortunate appropriation of cultural elements by those who are naïve or insensitive to their significance. Art historian Claudia Mesch will present new scholarship exploring how cultural exchange has informed artmaking in the Americas through history. A discussion with artists Jeffrey Gibson and Ghada Amer, each of whose work explores issues of cultural identity and re-appropriation, will follow.
Bios
Lauren Haynes
Claudia Mesch
Ghada Amer
Jeffrey Gibson
Break
3:00 to 3:30 pm
3:30 to 5:00 pm
Session Three: The Unreality of Memory
With Opening Spoken Word Performance
Moderated by Mindy Besaw, Curator, American Art, Pre-WWII
Panelists:
Erika Doss, art historian
Sandow Birk, artist
Michael Waugh, artist
Collective memory is preserved and perpetuated through texts, visual culture, oral histories, monuments, and more. It shapes our views of the past and of everyday contemporary life, but memory is selective and often biased. Deeper exploration requires us to pause and ask who and what is missing. Art historian Erika Doss will present new scholarship about artists’ use of memory throughout history, which will spark a larger conversation with artists Sandow Birk and Michael Waugh about the role memory plays in art and how it is often at odds with social reality.
Bios
Mindy Besaw
Erika Doss
Sandow Birk
Michael Waugh
5:00 pm
Concluding Thoughts
Following the symposium, join fellow guests and symposium participants in a cocktail reception and informal conversation.
opening April 7, 2017 and continuing on April 8
above: Michael Waugh, Decline and Fall (selected readings from volumes 1, 2, and 3). triptych at 69" x 42" each panel.