IDS public lecture series spring 2019

The IDS public lecture series, designed as an introduction to some of the most pressing questions driving contemporary thought and practice, consists of lectures by artists, theorists, scientists, activists, writers, and other practitioners involved in the arts from positions that embody an interdisciplinary approach or that imply new uses for disciplinary traditions. Each lecture is part of The Cooper Union’s Intra-Disciplinary Seminar (IDS). The seminar and series are organized by Leslie Hewitt and Omar Berrada.

The 2018-2019 IDS is organized along three general directions that include: “Movement and Stasis,” which studies the transformations of social space with a special emphasis on gentrification, displacement, and land rights; “Atmospheric Pressures,” which tackles environmental issues from scientific, aesthetic, and geopolitical angles; and “Futures,” which looks to move beyond current understanding to imagining potential futures.

We began exploring these questions in the fall of 2018, with lectures by Nana Oforiatta-Ayim, Dushko Petrovich, Laleh Khalili, Homa Zarghamee, Macarena Gómez-Barris, Saba Innab, Cecilia Vicuña, Laura Kurgan, Ashley Dawson, Andrea Graham, Binna Choi, Felwine Sarr, and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, on which the spring semester’s sessions will build.

Spring 2019 IDS public lectures

January 29: Nicholas Mirzoeff

February 5: Michel Feher

February 12: Siddhartha Deb

February 26: Nick Estes

March 5: Ruth Wilson Gilmore

March 26: Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

April 2: Françoise Vergès

April 9: School of Echoes Los Angeles (SOELA)

April 16: Chad Elias

April 23: Jill Fraley

April 30: Coco Fusco

May 4 (Saturday): Mika Rottenberg 

May 7: Emily Jacir

IDS lectures take place on Tuesdays at 7 pm unless otherwise specified.
They are free and open to the public.

The Cooper Union’s School of Art
Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture, and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences. The School of Art is firmly committed to a generalist curriculum that encompasses all the fundamental disciplines and resources of the visual arts. Each student is educated not only in specific disciplines, but also in the complex interrelationships of all the visual vocabularies. This philosophic premise relates to all the objectives of the School of Art and is the foundation upon which all teaching, creative work, service and research are based. The Studio curriculum along with the Art History and General Studies components of the BFA program all have as their goal the acquisition of communication skills, the development of critical perspective, and the mastery of the materials and intellectual premises of the study of societies and people. Throughout eight semesters, students become socially aware, historically grounded, creative practitioners. They are taught to be critical analysts of the world of contemporary visual communications, art, and the culture at large.

General support and funding
The IDS Public Lecture Series is part of the Robert Lehman Visiting Artist Program at The Cooper Union. We are grateful for major funding from the Robert Lehman Foundation. The IDS Public Lecture Series is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Michel Feher’s lecture is presented with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.