"As If" We Came Together to Care
A reading by Andrea Fraser, with Heather Hart and Nicholas Weist
Presented with Rethinking Residencies
October 16, 2018
International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP)
1040 Metropolitan Ave, New York, NY
For this event, artist Andrea Fraser will read from her text “As If” We Came Together to Care, which reflects on the psychological dimension of hospitality in art institutions. Following the readings, Heather Hart and Nicholas Weist will present short responses. This program is organized by Rethinking Residencies—a working group initiated in 2014 that cultivates critical thinking and discourse about residencies—and stems from their inquiries into hospitality as a vector of administrative praxis.
Art residencies produce complex host-guest relations. The institution as host and the artist as guest are assumed roles that can also shift in relation to social, political, economic, and ethical conditions. Considerations of hospitality are critical for residencies but also for presenting institutions like museums and galleries: as the affective parameter of resource exchange, hospitality is intrinsically linked to every level of cultural production.
“As If” We Came Together to Care by Andrea Fraser first appeared in Cultures of the Curatorial, published by Sternberg Press, 2016.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS AND PRESENTERS
Rethinking Residencies is comprised of thirteen New York-based artist residency programs that share knowledge and resources while cultivating critical thinking and discourse about residencies. Collaborating organizations represent a wide range of models, scales, and approaches and include: Eyebeam, Fire Island Artist Residency, Flux Factory, International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), Pioneer Works, Queens Museum, Recess, Spaceworks, Shandaken Projects, EFA Project Space’s SHIFT Residency, Triangle Arts Association, and Wave Hill.
Andrea Fraser is an artist whose work investigates the social, financial, and affective economies of cultural institutions, fields, and groups. She is Professor, Interdisciplinary Studio Area Head, and Chair of the UCLA Department of Art. Retrospectives of her work have been presented by the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 2013; the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, 2015; the Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona and MUAC UNAM, Mexico City, both 2016. Her most recent book, 2016 in Museums, Money, and Politics (2018)—co-published by the CCA Wattis Institute, Westreich/Wagner Publications, and MIT Press—documents the political contributions of the board members of over 125 major US art organizations in the 2016 election cycle and its aftermath, examining the intersection of cultural philanthropy and political finance in the age of plutocracy. Fraser serves on the boards of WAGE, the ICA LA, and Grex, the West Coast Affiliate of the AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems.
Heather Hart, based in New York, is an interdisciplinary artist exploring the power in thresholds, questioning dominant narratives and creating alternatives to them. She was awarded grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, NYFA, Harpo Foundation and Creative Capital. Hart’s work has been exhibited at Storm King Art Center, The Kohler Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University, ICA Philadelphia, Seattle Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, Socrates Sculpture Park, University of Toronto and a collaborative show at The Drawing Center. She studied at Cornish College of the Arts and Princeton University and received her MFA from Rutgers University.
Nicholas Weist is the founding director of Shandaken Projects, which has offered free artist services and public programs since 2012. A veteran arts administrator, he has also held senior positions at Creative Time and powerHouse Books, and has organized exhibitions internationally. He has written about art and visual culture for Frieze, Art in America, Whitewall, Interview, Document Journal, and several other publications. His work has been reflected on in The New York Times, The New York Observer, The Brooklyn Rail, T magazine, Bomb, Art News, and many more.
This program is supported, in part, by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Museum Highlights: A Gallery Talk, 1989, © Andrea Fraser, courtesy Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin