Monday, 9 November 2015, 6.30–8pm
The New School
12th Street Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
New York City
Naomi Beckwith delivers the ninth annual AICA/USA Distinguished Critic Lecture, presented in a partnership between AICA/USA and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.
Titled “Curating the Errant Form,” Beckwith’s talk explores her approach to curating as a problem-solving activity, a way to work through art-historical challenges posed by certain art and artists, as well as her particular investment in using exhibitions to comprehend and apprehend work by artists of African descent and make useful linkages with the broader narrative of Western art history.
Naomi Beckwith is the Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, following appointments as curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Her numerous exhibitions include 30 Seconds off an Inch at The Studio Museum, focusing on 42 artists of color or inspired by black culture. She has been an early champion of such rising artists as Rashid Johnson, Xaviera Simmons, Sanford Biggers, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. She served on the jury of the 56th Venice Biennale 2015, currently on view.
The AICA/USA Distinguished Critic Lectures at The New School address current issues in the world of art criticism and are presented in partnership with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics. Previous AICA/USA Distinguished Critic Lectures have been delivered by Michael Brenson, Linda Nochlin, Roberta Smith, Holland Cotter, Peter Schjeldahl, Michelle Kuo, Lucy Lippard, and Carolyn Christoph-Bakargiev.
AICA was founded in the wake of World War II to protect the openness of global discourse in the arts. There are now chapters in 64 countries currently promoting art criticism and its insights into contemporary culture. AICA/USA, with a nationwide membership, contributes significantly to the current dialogue.
Founded in 1992 and named in honor of the late philanthropist, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School is dedicated to serving as a catalyst for discourse surrounding the role of the arts in society and their relationship to the sociopolitical climate in which they are created. It seeks to achieve this goal by organizing public programs that respond to the pressing social and political issues of our time as they are articulated by the academic community and by visual and performing artists. The center strives to further the university’s educational mission by bringing together scholars and students, the people of New York, and national and international audiences in an exploration of new possibilities for civic engagement.
