MA Curatorial Practice fall 2023 public events

The master’s degree program in Curatorial Practice (MACP) at the School of Visual Arts is pleased to announce its special public events for fall 2023. All events are online and free to the public. Please visit each event’s registration link to receive information and Zoom link for the event, sent by email shortly before the event.

The Curatorial Roundtable, hosted by Steven Henry Madoff, Chair of MACP, is a forum for curators and institutional leaders from around the world to discuss exhibitions and other curatorial projects that have been transformative in their careers, along with current and future projects. These one-hour sessions take place on Zoom on Wednesdays at 9 AM EDT.

September 20: Stefanie Hessler
Director, Swiss Institute, New York. Register for the event here.

September 27: Kit Hammonds
Chief Curator, Museo Jumex, Mexico City. Register for the event here.

October 4: Meskerem Assegued
Co-founder, Zoma Museum, Addis Ababa. Register for the event here.

October 11: Hajra Haider Karrar
Curator, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin. Register for the event here.

October 18: Anselm Franke
Curator and Head of Curatorial Studies, University of the Arts, Zurich. Register for the event here. 

The Algorithmic State
We continue our series of special talks from last spring, originated by Noam Segal and Steven Henry Madoff, concerning the rise of artificial intelligence and its cultural and social impact. This year’s talks are hosted by Isin Önol, Director of Curatorial Research, MACP, with leading artists, theorists, and technical experts.

The Algorithmic State: Artificial Politics 3.0
October 5, 2023, 12pm EDT
Joscha Bach, Ari Melenciano, and Gerfried Stocker

How do artificial intelligence and the emerging concept of artificial consciousness shape our understanding of truth and autonomy in today’s world? This panel brings together distinguished AI researcher and cognitive scientist, Joscha Bach; artist and creative technologist Ari Melenciano, founder of Afrotectopia; and Gerfried Stocker, the Artistic Director of the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria. Focusing on computational anthropology and the latest applications of generative AI, they will assess the idea of truth, its ownership, and its implications for artistic practices now and in the future. Register for the event here.

The Algorithmic State: AI as Metaphor
November 2, 2023, 12pm EDT
Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Steven Henry Madoff, and Noam Segal

If AI is a simulation of human thinking, then can we understand the way it mimics us as a metaphor for the human and what do such metaphorical mirrors suggest? In this panel, Noam Segal, LG Electronics Associate Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, renowned Italian philosopher Franco “Bifo” Berardi, and Steven Henry Madoff discuss what the ramifications of AI as metaphor are for the future of culture and society. Register for the event here.

The Algorithmic State: The Power and Peril of Artificial Memory
December 14, 2023, 12pm EDT
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Kathleen Forde

Internationally celebrated artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer uses digital technologies and machine learning to develop works of art that powerfully engage viewers in new ways to engage memories as individuals and collectively. His works point to the promise of intelligent machines while questioning what artificial memory production may also portend. In this talk, Lozano-Hemmer and curator Kathleen Forde will discuss the artist’s machine-mediated practice with a focus on his most recent immersive art environment, Atmospheric Memory, and its implications for surveillance, collective memory, and border politics. Register for the event here.

The Artists Roundtable, hosted by David A. Ross, faculty member, MACP, brings distinguished artists into discussion about their work in these one-hour talks for the public on Zoom.  All talks (unless noted otherwise) take place on Tuesdays at 5pm EDT.

September 19: Josh Kline, register for the event here.
September 26: Mithu Sen, register for the event here.
October 3: Beatrice Glow, register for the event here.
October 10: Andres Serrano, register for the event here.
October 17: Richard Barnes, register for the event here.
October 24: Sheila Pepe, register for the event here.
October 31, 2pm EDT: Nery Lemus, register for the event here.
November 7: Dawn DeDeaux, register for the event here.
November 14, 1pm EDT: Ahmet Ögüt, register for the event here.
November 21, 6pm EDT: Chie Fueki, register for the event here.
November 28: Marilyn Minter, register for the event here.
December 5: Tony Oursler, register for the event here.
December 12: Ragnar Kjartansson, register for the event here.