Category Archives: EDUCATION/ACTIVISM

FUTURE BODIES FROM A RECENT PAST

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Contemporary sculpture is populated by hybrid techno-bodies. But such connections between technology and the body reach far back into modernity. The symposium explores these lines of reference: How can sculpture be thought of and defined in relation to technological developments? How, in turn, does sculpture relate to changing concepts of the body and corporeality? What are the consequences for a theory of contemporary sculpture? These and other questions form the focus of the discussion with leading theorists from various disciplines.*

Museum Brandhorst presents the online symposium FUTURE BODIES FROM A RECENT PAST—SCULPTURE, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE BODY SINCE THE 1950S. Participants include Marta Dziewanska, Louis Chude-Sokei, N. Katherine Hayles, Namiko Kunimoto, Jeannine Tang, Ursula Ströbele, and many others.

See link below to register.

FUTURE BODIES FROM A RECENT PAST—SCULPTURE, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE BODY SINCE THE 1950S*

Museum Brandhorst

Thursday, January 21 through Saturday, January 23.

From top: Mark Leckey, UniAddDumThs, 2014–ongoing, detail from the section Man, installation view Mark Leckey: UniAddDumThs at Kunsthalle Basel, 2015, photograph by Philipp Hänger, image © Mark Leckey, courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Basel; Alina Szapocznikow, Untitled (Fetish VII), 1971, Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland, image © 2020 VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, courtesy of the Estate of Alina Szapocznikow, Piotr Stanislawski, Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris, and Hauser & Wirth; BINA48 (Breakthrough Intelligence via Neural Architecture 48), robotic face combined with chatbot functionalities, owned by Martine Rothblatt’s Terasem Movement, modeled after Rothblatt’s wife, image © 2010 Hanson Robotics; Albert Renger-Patzsch, Marmor an der Lahn (Metamorphit), 1963, plate 55, Gestein, 1966, image © 2020 Albert Renger-Patzsch and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; David Smith, Forging series of sculptures in progress, Bolton Landing Dock, Lake George, New York, circa 1956, image © 2020 Estate of David Smith and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; Tishan Hsu, Autopsy, 1988, installation view Tishan Hsu: Liquid Circuit at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2020, private collection, image © Tishan Hsu, courtesy of the artist and the Hammer Museum; Aleksandra Domanović, production photograph of The Future Was at Her Fingertips, 2013, image © Aleksandra Domanović, courtesy of the artist.

ANNIE SPRINKLE AND BETH STEPHENS — WATER MAKES US WET

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Some voices in the film use the lens of ecosexuality, whereas others use the lens of science. But all of them are trying to find ways to keep water clean and accessible. Because of this, almost all of the people in the film are concerned with justice. — Beth Stephens

Join filmmakers and partners Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens in conversation following a fundraising online screening of WATER MAKES US WET—AN ECOSEXUAL ADVENTURE, which will benefit future programming at Highways.

The event includes pre-show music by Jimi Cabeza de Vaca and Nora Keyes, an introduction by John Fleck, Highways director-curator Leo Garcia, and Film Maudit curator Patrick Kennelly, a conversation with Fleck about the documentary John Fleck is Who You Want Him to Be, and a proclamation by Kristina Wong. Performing participants following the film include Balitrónica and a presentation of Manifesto by Guillermo Gómez-Peña.

See link below for details.

LET’S GET WET—A HIGHWAYS FUNDRAISING EVENT

Available from Saturday, January 23.

6 pm on the West Coast; 9 pm East Coast.

From top: Beth Stephens (left) and Annie Sprinkle, courtesy and © the artists; Water Makes Us Wet (2019) poster courtesy and © Juno Films; John Fleck, photograph by Steve Gunther, courtesy and © the photographer and CalArts; Sprinkle and Stephens, courtesy and © the artists.

SAM POLLARD — TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’

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Not much has changed. That’s what was so bad what we saw about January 6 at the Capitol. On one level, I’m horrified and disgusted, but on the other level, I’m thinking, Damn, our country is still the same. You look at the run-up to the election and listen to the speeches about if you elect Democrats they will come destroy the suburbs and your community. This is insanity. Have we not learned any lessons in America? — Sam Pollard

On the occasion of the release of Pollard’s new film MLK/FBI, Film at Lincoln Center is presenting a retrospective of the filmmaker’s work—including TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’, where Freedom Summer meets the search for bluesmen Son House and Skip James.

The film is narrated by Common and features performances by—among others—Gary Clark Jr., Buddy Guy, Valerie June, Lucinda Williams, and the North Mississippi Allstars.

See link below for streaming information.

TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’

Directed by Sam Pollard.

Film at Lincoln Center

Now streaming.

Sam Pollard, Two Trains Runnin’ (2016), from top: Skip James (left) and Son House; scene from film; Two Trains Runnin’ poster; scene from film; Gary Clark, Jr.; scene from film. Images courtesy and © the filmmaker and Avalon Films.

PIONEERING WOMEN OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE

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In celebration of Beverly L. Greene (1915-57)—the first African American women architect licensed to practice in the United States—and Norma Merrick Sklarek (1926-2012)—the first African American woman to be made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects—join architect Roberta Washington, professors Mary McLeod and Patricia Morton, and Victoria Rosner (Dean of Academic Affairs, General Studies at Columbia University) for an online discussion.

McLeod and Rosner are the editors of the Pioneering Women of American Architecture website. See link below to register for the program.

BEVERLY L. GREENE and NORMA MERRICK SKLAREK—NEW RESEARCH IN BLACK WOMEN’S HISTORY IN ARCHITECTURE

Columbia University
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Friday, January 15.

10 am on the West Coast, 1 pm East Coast, 6 pm London, 7 pm Paris.

From top: Unknown photographer, Contact sheet of Norma Merrick Sklarek, circa mid-20th century, silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper, collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, image courtesy and © the Smithsonian; Sklarek in the meeting room at Gruen Associates, circa 1960, image courtesy and © Gruen Associates; Beverly L. Greene, photograph courtesy and © University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne; the Gruen Associates projects Sklarek managed included the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, image courtesy and © Gruen Associates; Greene worked with Marcel Breuer on the design of the UNESCO United Nations Headquarters in Paris, image courtesy and © UNESCO.

TANIA BRUGUERA PANEL

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On the 27th of November, 2020, more than 300 artists, intellectuals, and Cuban citizens presented themselves at the Ministry of Culture to demand the government follow through on their supposed commitment to freedom and civil rights. This protest came as a result of police violence exerted the previous day against members of the San Isidro Movement—an activist group who over the course of the past few years has been vocal in demanding greater freedom of expression in Cuba. Using social media as a tool to bring awareness to their cause, they have sparked renewed attention and urgency in calling for an end to government censorship and repression against all artists, intellectuals, and activists in Cuba. This community adopted the name 27N and together have staged peaceful protests asking for freedom of artistic expression in the face of government repression.*

This week, MOCA Los Angeles will host a virtual panel with artist and activist Tania Bruguera and other members of the 27N. See link below to register.

PANEL WITH TANIA BRUGUERA

MOCA x 27N

Thursday, January 7.

4 pm on the West Coast; 7 pm East Coast.

From top: Tania Bruguera poster image—with quote by José Martí—courtesy and © the artist; Bruguera, Poetic Justice, 2002–2003; Bruguera, The Francis Effect, 2014; Bruguera, Tatlin’s Whisper # 6, 2009; 27N in Havana, photograph by Reynier Leyva Novo, courtesy and © the photographer and 27N. Artwork images © Tania Bruguera, courtesy of the artist.