OPEN FORUM 2013: Curated by Anne Barlow, Executive Director of Art in General
OPEN FORUM 2013 was a special series of talks tbat was inspired by, and expanded upon Armory Focus: USA, a section of the fair which highlighted artistic practices across America, and the history and legacy of the groundbreaking International Exhibition of Modern Art 1913 (which became known as the Armory Show). On the 100th Anniversary of the seminal exhibition these panels considered debates The Armory of 1913 sparked, and the arguments that remain pertinent today such as the enduring topic of art commerce and collecting; current art practice that provides “shocks to the aesthetic sense" or that can be considered avant-garde; and how ideas about, and perceptions of, contemporary art in America continue to evolve. Other panels explored the sometimes contested topic of commissioning new work within an art fair context, and the various ways in which biennials can possess specific agency.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSUMERISM Participants: Alvin Hall, Liz Magic Laser, Eric Shiner Moderator: Felix Salmon According to some writers and historians, the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art had a significant impact on artists, collectors, and the art market, galvanizing the New York gallery scene. In 2013, as the psychology of art consumerism is explored head-on within the Armory itself by artist Liz Magic Laser, this conversation considers the conditions, preconceptions and desires that shape what we acquire. Within the context of an art fair, what messages are communicated to consumers, how do the various stakeholders respond, and in what ways can the predominant roles and behavior of gallerists, collectors, and audiences be challenged? Speaker Alvin Hall is a collector, financial educator, and president of Cooperhall Press Inc., a company specializing in financial training programs; Liz Magic Laser is the 2013 Armory Commissioned Artist; Eric Shiner is Director of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh and curator of Armory Focus: USA. Moderator Felix Salmon is the finance blogger at Reuters.
To Present and Collect Performance, Ephemeral and Interdisciplinary Art Participants: Heather Corcoran, Nancy Spector, Glenn Wharton Moderator: Tim Griffin In this panel, speakers address the subject of presenting and acquiring art that defies easy categorization or that is more ephemeral in nature, exploring questions of how it can be collected, or “housed" within museums, private collections, or different kinds of platforms, and how it is subsequently accessed or re-presented. With the ever-increasing presence and profile of performance, live art, and practices that span different media—as well as sites and forms of engagement—how can practices that are inherently collaborative in nature be “collected," particularly when collaborators work in different media that come together in a given work? To what degree and in what ways, does the interest in collecting such work, whether in whole or in part, affect how artists approach their own practice? Speaker Heather Corcoran is Executive Director of Rhizome at the New Museum, New York; Nancy Spector is Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator of the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Glenn Wharton is the Time-Based Media Conservator at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Moderator Tim Griffin is Director and Chief Curator at The Kitchen, New York.
THE ARMORY SHOW 1913: MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS Participants: Marilyn Kushner, Francis Naumann, Gail Stavitsky Moderator: Robert Storr In 2013, two new exhibitions re-examine the history and legacy of the Armory Show: The New Spirit: American Art in the Armory Show, 1913 (Montclair Art Museum, February 17, 2013–June 16, 2013) and The Armory Show at 100 (New-York Historical Society Museum and Library, October 11, 2013–February 23, 2014). This discussion reconsiders the 1913International Exhibition of Modern Art, bringing new facts and controversies to light and dispelling popular myths and misconceptions around the show’s reception by the public and critics alike. Reflecting this new research, the talk brings fresh perspectives on American art that was included in the exhibition, and its relationship to the European art that was perceived by many as the catalyst behind the Armory Show’s profound impact on the art scene in New York and beyond. Speaker Marilyn Kushner is Curator and Head, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections at the New-York Historical Society; Francis Naumann is an independent scholar, curator, and art dealer specializing in modern art; Gail Stavitsky is Chief Curator of the Montclair Art Museum. Moderator Robert Storr is an artist, critic, curator, and since 2006, Professor of Painting and Dean of the School of Art at Yale University. He is also Consulting Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
POSTERITY WILL HAVE A WORD TO SAY Participants: Carlos Basualdo, Daniel Birnbaum, Paul Chan, Molly Nesbit Moderator: Jan Åman Is Duchamp's oeuvre in fact one single work? And, if so, what does that tell us? Duchamp’s famous silence and his rejection of being part of the growing art market has, for many, made him the most important artist of his generation—and one of the most significant artists of all time. What does this mean in 2013, a hundred years after his success at the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art? Panelists debate Duchamp’s legacy in conjunction with the launch of the English translation of a book on Ulf Linde, who in 1961 produced the first authorized copy of Marcel Duchamp’s monumental piece, The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even. Linde subsequently spent almost sixty years on extensive studies on Duchamp and producing replicas of his works. Speaker Carlos Basualdo is the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Curator at Large at MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle artidel XXI secolo in Rome; Daniel Birnbaum is Director of the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Paul Chan is an artist living in New York, and in 2010 he founded the press Badlands Unlimited; Molly Nesbit is Chair and Professor in the Department of Art at Vassar College as well as a contributing editor of Artforum. Moderator Jan Åman is a curator, writer, and urban activist working at the intersection of contemporary art, urban development, food, and social phenomena.
THE BIENNIAL FACTOR Participants: Dan Cameron, Gunnar Kvaran, Tirdad Zolghadr Moderator: Jonathan T.D. Neil Following new critical examinations of biennials in The Biennial Reader (2010) and the first World Biennial Forum in Gwangju, South Korea, in 2012, this panel questions how biennials can embody ideas of “contemporaneity" and resonate within an art field saturated with biennials and triennials, museum exhibitions, art fairs, and a plethora of other exhibition and event-based formats. How can a biennial possess a particular kind of agency in terms of both concept and form, from the subjects and specificities it addresses, to its duration and infrastructure, to its use as a vehicle to explore various kinds of “resistance" in relation to prevalent modes of exhibition making, or to pressing cultural, political, and social concerns? Depending on a given context, what are the creative possibilities and challenges involved in such approaches? Speaker Dan Cameron is Chief Curator at Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach and the founder and director (until 2011) of Prospect New Orleans; Gunnar Kvaran is Director of The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo and curator of the 2013 Lyon Biennial; Tirdad Zolghadr is a curator and writer currently teaching at the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), Bard College, New York. Moderator Jonathan T.D. Neil is Executive Editor at The Drawing Center, New York, Associate Editor at ArtReview, and Editor of the Held Essays on Visual Art for the Brooklyn Rail.
COMMISSIONING WORK IN AN ART FAIR CONTEXT Participants: Gianni Jetzer, Sarah McCrory, Fatima Al Qadiri Moderator: Sarah Douglas Commissioning artists to create projects within the context of art fairs has become common practice. This discussion explores the motivations behind such commissions, as well as the different ways in which artists respond through installations, performances, and various forms of interventions in, or even subversions of, the commercial context in which they exist. This panel looks at the creative opportunities that art fairs provide, as well as the potential of new commissions to “radicalize" that very environment. What are some of the inherent challenges and creative opportunities for both commissioner and artist, and how does the commissioning process unfold and, at times, test this relationship? How do these commissions add to the experience of an art fair in terms of their visibility, presence, and forms of engagement with audiences? Speaker Gianni Jetzer is Director of Swiss Institute in New York and the curator of Art Unlimited at Art Basel; Sarah McCrory is Director of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts; Fatima Al Qadiri is a New York-based Kuwaiti visual artist and composer. Moderator Sarah Douglas is Culture Editor at the New York Observer, and founder of GalleristNY, the visual art site of the Observer. She is also a contributor to The Art Newspaper's daily art fair editions.
WHY COLLECT? PRESENTED BY CHUBB INSURANCE Moderator: Alexandra Peers
This panel looks at the passions and politics of art collecting – and the specific steps it takes to become a collector today. A top quintet of art-world players address the "how to" and "who to" and ask what’s next in art valuation, technology and globalization. Where are the surprising new Medicis? What impact can a collector make? What have been the collecting trends of the first decade of the 21st century? Sponsored by Chubb Insurance with veteran arts writer and editor Alexandra Peers (The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, New York Times) moderating.
Bonnie Clearwater is Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and an influential figure in the global art world; during her tenure the city has become one of the world’s headquarters for the collecting of contemporary art.
Mariangela Capuzzo is the Artistic Director of ICArt (London/Oslo/Miami); Ms. Capuzzo’s corporate commissions include Celebrity Cruise lines, which is amassing a $6 million+ collection of cutting-edge installation, video and art by prominent artists.
Sebastian Cwilich is President and Chief Operating Officer of Artsy, an art website whose “mission is to make all the world’s art accessible to anyone with an Internet connection;" Artsy’s advisors include art dealers Larry Gagosian and Marc Glimcher.
Erin Harkness McKinnon is President of Green Light Sustainability Advisors, the New York environmental consultancy; her personal collection of art includes works by Dali, Warhol, Ruscha and a room-sized installation by Robert Melee.
Mary Sheridan, our host, is the Assistant Fine Art Manager of Chubb Personal Insurance, a division of Chubb & Son, for decades one of the world’s leading insurers of fine arts and precious stones.
ARTIST TALK WITH CARY LEIBOWITZ (CANDYASS) In conjunction with INVISIBLE-EXPORTS and Hudson River Park Trust, the Armory Show 2013 presents I NEED TO START SEEING A THERAPIST, a site-specific installation by Cary Leibowitz on the Hudson River Park just north of Pier 94. At 275 feet long and 12.5 feet high, the wood and steel letters are visible from the West Side Highway, and highlight the humour of the self-effacing public declaration. Leibowitz will be holding an artist talk at the site of the sculpture in Hudson River Park. Leibowitz will talk about the work itself - his largest installation to date - as well as the arc of his twenty-plus year career, and whether or not he does need to start seeing a therapist.
THE QUESTION OF REGIONALISM Participants: Stuart Horodner, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Ruba Katrib, Dominic Molon Moderator: Isolde Brielmaier This panel debates ideas around the definitions, validity and perceptions of "regionalism," with specific reference to the United States and the diverse contexts that exist across the country in relation to contemporary artistic practice, presentation, and audience. Speakers discuss what constitutes definitions of place, the relationship between the regional and the global, ideas around “critical regionalism", and connections between the regional and the flows of creativity and capital. When various regions of the United States gain a particular kind of currency for contemporary art scenes, to what degree are these self-imposed or external perceptions, and how can an attention to the regional offer creative curatorial strategies? Speaker Stuart Horodner is Artistic Director of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center; Sandra Jackson-Dumont is Deputy Director of Education and Public Programs at the Seattle Art Museum; Ruba Katrib is the Curator at SculptureCenter in Long Island City; Dominic Molon is Chief Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. Moderator Isolde Brielmaier is Chief Curator of Exhibitions at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
THE “ALTERNATIVE" IN AMERICAN CULTURE? Participants: John Bowe, Lia Gangitano, Alec Soth Moderator: Eric Shiner What does the term “alternative" mean in relation to American culture today, and what does this say about its contemporary psyche? In a conversation that ranges from the critical to the tongue-in-cheek, Eric Shiner talks with panelists about current practice that profiles a range of perspectives from undercurrents that could be seen as subversive or resistant to so-called mainstream culture, to views on America from inside and out. Panelists also debate how—particularly with the increasing democratization of images—“high" art should be judged versus art that has mass appeal. Has art that is truly radical been subsumed by the existing art world, or does it linger at its edges, or even outside, and should such terms continue to hold significance? Speaker John Bowe contributes to the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Playboy, Public Radio International and others; Lia Gangitano founded PARTICIPANT INC, a not-for-profit art space in 2001; Alec Soth is a Minneapolis based photographer, whose works have been in numerous exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney and São Paulo Biennials. Moderator Eric Shiner is Director of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh and curator of Armory Focus: USA.
With special thanks to Victoria Ivanova for her assistance in organizing this program.