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The School of the Arts at Purchase College, SUNY is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Director for the School of Art+Design, Mr. Steven Lam.
Mr. Lam is a curator, artist, and educator, and joins Purchase College from The Cooper Union, where he has served as the Associate Dean of The School of Art since 2008. He has taught performance art, sound theory, and critical theory at the School of Visual Arts and The Cooper Union.
Dean of the School of the Arts Ravi Rajan is pleased with Lam’s appointment: “His boldness and breadth of outlook are certain to enrich the interdisciplinary dialogue so vital to the past and future of the College.”
As a curator, Lam’s recent curatorial collaborations and exhibitions include: “…in a most dangerous manner” with Sarah Ross (2010), SPACES, Cleveland; Tainted Love with Virginia Solomon (2009), Visual AIDS, La MaMa Galleria, New York; For Reasons of State with Angelique Campens and Erica Cooke (2008), The Kitchen, New York; Spectral Evidence (2007-10) at Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn and 1A Space, Hong Kong; as well as co-curated projects with Saskia Bos at The Cooper Union: Free as Air and Water (2009), The Crude and the Rare (2010), and Ruptures: Forms of Public Address (2012). His more recent projects have focused on geo-zones outside Euro-America (such as China and Hong Kong) including his involvement with The Third Guangzhou Triennial (2008). Lam’s work has been published and reviewed in The New York Times, Brooklyn Rail, Third Text, and Flash Art, among other publications.
Lam believes that art education “actively examines some of the common assumptions about imagination, critical thinking, reflection, and participation. Artists address issues that are dormant, overlooked, or otherwise outside the purview of the public realm. Purchase College has long been a leader in studio art education and I look forward to contributing to the vibrancy of this institution.”
Lam received his B.A. from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas; his M.F.A. from the University of California, Irvine; and attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York. He has received numerous fellowships and awards and is a recent recipient of an Asian Cultural Council fellowship.
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The School of Art+Design, part of the School of the Arts at Purchase College, SUNY, offers premiere programs that prepare students for careers in the visual arts and design, as well as lives informed by aesthetic experience. The school honors tradition, encourages experimentation & collaboration, develops critical thinking, and embraces new concepts, materials, and technologies. A faculty of working artists is committed to creating a supportive climate in which students are passionate about learning to see, to think, to make, and to reflect. Our graduates are leaders in cultural production throughout the world.
