February 28–March 2, 2022
The Savannah College of Art and Design presents SCAD deFINE ART 2022, honoring visionary artist Katharina Grosse. Taking place February 28–March 2 with in-person and streaming events in Savannah and Atlanta, the 13th edition of the university’s annual program of conversations, curated experiences, and exhibitions at the SCAD Museum of Art brings together an international roster of vital voices in art and design—from countries including Canada, Cameroon, Germany, Iraq, South Korea, and the US—to share thought-provoking work and ideas.
New exhibitions encourage deeper engagement with the histories we inherit, creating spaces in the present moment to envision a future full of opportunity, and include a site-specific installation by Elaine Cameron-Weir (b. 1985, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada); a solo presentation of recent works by Matthew Angelo Harrison (b. 1989, Detroit) in the museum’s Evans Center for African American Studies; exhibitions of new works by artist Norbert Bisky (b. 1970, Leipzig, Germany) and designer Sang Hoon Kim (b. 1979, South Korea); a presentation of recent paintings by Hayv Kahraman (b. 1981, Baghdad, Iraq); new large-scale commissions by Doreen Lynette Garner (b. 1986, Philadelphia); a survey of work by Barth l my Toguo (b. 1967, Mbalmayo, Cameroon); the first museum exhibition for SCAD alum Carter Flachbarth (b. 1996, Atlanta; BFA, painting, 2020); and an expansive site-related textile installation by Grosse (b. 1961, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) as well as large-scale works on canvas created between 2006 and the present. Exhibitions programming also includes the group photography shows Icons Only and Taking Shape.
“Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the opening of the SCAD Museum of Art, the world’s finest teaching museum, this year’s SCAD deFINE ART promises special magic,” says SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace. “From honoree Katharina Grosse’s extraordinary paintings of incendiary color to Matthew Angelo Harrison’s sculptures that explore diasporic identities, SCAD deFINE ART 2022 both interrogates the zeitgeist and begets boundless beauty.”
Many of the university’s top-ranked degree programs, including sculpture, painting, fibers, and furniture design, are represented in the signature event’s exhibitions and programming. SCAD students and community members can interact with the artists during the three-day event through gallery talks, conversations, master classes, collaborations, and public art.
Some of the top programming elements for SCAD deFINE ART 2022 include:
On Tuesday, March 1 at 3pm, esteemed photographer Duane Michals presents the SCAD deFINE ART 2022 Atlanta keynote lecture, which will also stream online. One of the great innovators of contemporary photography, Michals (b. 1932, McKeesport, Pennsylvania) is widely known for his work with series, multiple exposures, and text. Rising to acclaim in the 1960s, an era heavily influenced by photojournalism, Michals manipulated the medium to communicate narratives, appropriating cinema’s frame-by-frame format. The artist frequently incorporates handwritten text as a key component in his works, which, rather than serving a didactic or explanatory function, adds dimension to the works’ meaning by giving voice to Michals’ singular musings, at once poetic, tragic, and humorous.
On Tuesday, March 1 at 6pm, SCAD MOA hosts the SCAD deFINE ART 2022 opening reception with tours, interactive experiences, and a performance by experimental composer and vocalist L’Rain.
On Wednesday, March 2 at 11am, SCAD MOA presents the annual SCAD deFINE ART professional practices panel featuring gallerists Emanuel Aguilar, Dominique Clayton (SCAD MA, business design/arts leadership, 2018), and Jasmin Tsou, who are creating new spaces in the commercial art world by taking radical approaches to the business of art and challenging accepted notions of what it means to be a gallerist. They join Vanity Fair art columnist Nate Freeman to demystify a climate that can be intimidating for emerging artists and share their inclusive methodologies for incubating young talent.
On Wednesday, March 2, 5pm, Katharina Grosse joins New York-based curator Dan Cameron for the SCAD deFINE ART 2022 keynote conversation in SCAD’s historic Trustees Theater in Savannah. The event will also stream online. Frequent collaborators, Grosse and Cameron will discuss the artist’s life and career trajectory to become one of the most celebrated international figures in contemporary art.
For a complete list of programming and more information about SCAD deFINE ART 2022, visit here.
