Max Wasserman Forum on Contemporary Art

As the List Center celebrates its 30th anniversary this fall, we are proud to present this year’s Wasserman Forum: Public Art and the Commons. Public art has emerged as a crucial issue over the past decade. In response to conditions of intensifying economic and political precarity, artists have renewed a dialogue on those social and cultural resources held in common, including media, education, language, the environment, and housing. The 2015 Wasserman Forum will examine this development with a keynote address and three panels of practitioners from the visual arts, critical theory, and political activism. Speakers will consider contemporary public art from multiple perspectives: its role in recent revolutionary contexts, including Turkey and Egypt; its intersection with digital culture; and its purpose in an era of privatization.   

The Forum will take place at the List Center, Bartos Theatre, Lower Level. Free and open to the public. Registration required. To register please click here.

Forum schedule

Friday, November 13

12-1pm
Tour
Lawrence Weiner’s A TRANSLATION FROM ONE LANGUAGE TO ANOTHER (2015)
Location: Dewey Square Park, Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston

Keynote Address
Location: List Center, Bartos Theatre    

5pm
Welcome
Paul C. Ha (Director, List Center)
Julie Burros (Chief of Arts and Culture, City of Boston)
    
5:30–7pm
Keynote
Thomas Hirschhorn (artist, Paris) on the Gramsci Monument (2013)
Includes a discussion with: Erik Farmer (President, Forest Houses Resident Association, New York) and Yasmil Raymond (Associate Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA); moderated by Jordan Troeller (Wasserman Fellow, List Center)

Saturday, November 14

9:30–10:30am
Tour
Public Art Collection at MIT
Group meets in the List Center’s atrium-level lobby
Led by Courtney L. Klemens (Campus and Community Outreach, Coordinator, List Center)

Panel sessions
Location: List Center, Bartos Theatre

11am–12:30pm
The Square
Jasmina Metwaly (artist and filmmaker, Cairo)
Philip Rizk (filmmaker and writer, Cairo)
Hakan Topal (artist, New York and Ankara; Assistant Professor, Purchase College, SUNY)
Moderated by Henriette Huldisch (Curator, List Center)

12:30–2pm
Lunch

2-3:30pm
The Network
Jodi Dean (Professor, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY)
Daniel van der Velden (designer and Co-founder, Metahaven, Amsterdam)
Moderated by Gediminas Urbonas (Associate Professor and Director, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology)

3:30-4pm 
Coffee break
    
4-5:30pm
The Institution
Bill Arning (Director, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston)
Lina Viste Grønli (Artist, Cambridge, MA, and Oslo)
Lawrence Weiner (Artist, New York and Amsterdam)
Moderated by Alise Upitis (Assistant Curator, Public Art and Exhibitions, List Center)

5:30-7pm 
Reception

About the Max Wasserman Forum
The Max Wasserman Forum on Contemporary Art was established in memory of Max Wasserman (MIT Class of 1935), a founding member of the Council for the Arts at MIT. This public forum was endowed through the generosity of the late Jeanne Wasserman and addresses critical issues in contemporary art and culture through the participation of renowned scholars, artists, and arts professionals. The Forum is organized and presented by the MIT List Visual Arts Center.

About the MIT List Visual Arts Center
The List Center, the contemporary art museum at MIT, is a creative laboratory that provides artists with a space to experiment freely and push existing boundaries. The List Center presents a dynamic program of six to nine special exhibitions in its galleries annually.

For more information and to subscribe to our e-news, visit us at: listart.mit.edu