Thursday, Jul 16, 2020
4:00 pm PST
View archived lecture here, available for the duration of the Virtual Lecture Series.
A talk on diverse curating from the ground up and the push to make cultural institutions anti-racist.
As a country, we are grappling with how inequalities like the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd were committed with such complete disdain and disregard for black life, and with such confidence in complete impunity. But for many, these events were not surprising in the least, but a continuation of a system that values American lives very differently.
Particularly in gallery and museums spaces, and even more so in academic areas, we are obligated to address, and work to dismantle, systems of privilege that allow inequality to proliferate. In this regard, art is uniquely positioned to address structural disparities, and make that work accessible. Join us as we speak to artists about our current political climate– how it affects the arts and how the arts shape it.
Demecina Beehn is a Las Vegas-based cultural producer and arts administrator. Her interest and scholarship focuses on elevating art of underrepresented communities and creating intersectional safe spaces for dialogue and expression. She holds a M.A. in Museum and Exhibition Studies from the University of Illinois – Chicago and a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in metal sculpture and artist books. She is currently Curator Special Projects and Programs for MGM Resorts Art & Culture.
Currently an Associate Professor of Printmaking at the University of North Florida, Brazilian artist Sheila Goloborotko has exhibited installations, works on paper, sculpture, videos, and interactive projects in more than 200 exhibitions in museums and galleries on four continents, and yet has remained firmly committed to community. Her artistic and curatorial practice focuses on printmedia as the graphic science of democracy—a tool that fosters community building and information sharing to create new socio-political ecologies. She investigates ways that feasibility, sustainability, and venture creation are the natural outgrowths of an ethical printmaking, grassroots-run, people-powered society.
