Panel discussion: “Insider Art: Recent Curatorial Approaches to Self-Taught Art”
Thursday, February 5, 2015, 7pm
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11238
On Thursday, February 5, at 7pm, Matthew Higgs, co-curator of Judith Scott—Bound and Unbound, will moderate “Insider Art: Recent Curatorial Approaches to Self-Taught Art,”a panel discussion that will explore recent curatorial approaches to the work of self-taught and so-called outsider artists, with a consideration of the complex relationships between creativity and disability. The program will take place in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium at the Brooklyn Museum. Admission is free with general admission.
The discussion will consider how—and why—the contemporary art world has sought to contextualize the work of self-taught artists within the larger framework of contemporary exhibition-making practices and what the consequences of such gestures might be. The program is inspired by Judith Scott—Bound and Unbound, now on view in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, as well as Massimiliano Gioni’s 2013 Venice Biennial The Encyclopedic Palace; Lynne Cooke’s 2012 touring exhibition Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos; and other exhibitions that have sought to expand and challenge how the work of artists outside the mainstream contemporary art world is understood.
Panelists include Lynne Cooke, Senior Curator, Special Projects in Modern Art, National Gallery of Art; Massimiliano Gioni, Artistic Director, New Museum; and Lawrence Rinder, Director, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The speakers will discuss aspects of their own recent curatorial projects while exploring questions of curatorial intentionality and curatorial responsibility that arise when contextualizing the works of artists without conventional or formal training.
“Insider Art: Recent Curatorial Approaches to Self-Taught Art,” made possible with support from the Brooklyn Museum Council for Feminist Art, is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Judith Scott—Bound and Unbound, on view through March 29 in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
About Judith Scott—Bound and Unbound
As the first comprehensive U.S. survey of the artist’s work, Judith Scott—Bound and Unbound focuses on Scott’s critically acclaimed fiber-wrapped, three-dimensional constructions and features more than 60 works, including a selection of works on paper.
Scott was in her mid-forties when she began making art at Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California. Born with Down syndrome, and largely deaf and mute, she was institutionalized in Ohio for 35 years before her twin sister introduced her to Creative Growth’s unique studio program for artists with developmental disabilities in 1987. For 18 years, until her death in 2005, Scott worked with a single-minded devotion on idiosyncratic and increasingly complex pieces assembled from found materials encased in thread, yarn, torn fabric, and other fibers.
Judith Scott—Bound and Unbound is organized by Catherine J. Morris, Sackler Family Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum, and Matthew Higgs, artist and Director/Chief Curator of White Columns, New York. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by the Brooklyn Museum and DelMonico Books – Prestel.
The exhibition is made possible by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation. Additional generous support has been provided by the Helene Zucker Seeman Memorial Exhibition Fund and Deedie Rose.
Press contacts:
Fatima Kafele, Media Relations Manager: T +1 718 638 6331 / fatima.kafele [at] brooklynmuseum.org
Sally Williams, Public Information Officer: T +1 718 501 6330 / sally.williams [at] brooklynmuseum.org
Emily Liebowitz, Public Information Associate: T +1 718 501 6354 / emily.liebowitz [at] brooklynmuseum.org
