Curated by Katherine Carl
September 10–November 1, 2014
Opening: September 9, 6–8pm
The James Gallery
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue
(between 34th and 35th Streets)
New York, NY 10016
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday noon–7pm,
Friday–Saturday noon–6pm
www.centerforthehumanities.org/james-gallery
The world we inhabit is expanding. Global population growth, increased mobility, accelerated contacts, rising levels of production and consumption, and the expansion of natural resource extraction have had a significant impact in environmental, social and psychological terms. What forms of interaction with the material world acknowledge that there are limits to what we, as humans, might know and control?
Participants in World of Matter draw upon methodologies from the social and natural sciences, journalism, and also poetics and aesthetics, to scrutinize zones of geopolitical-ecological upheaval. The research conducted by the artists, journalists and theorists in World of Matter coheres around a sensitive reconsideration of the planet’s “resources.” Their projects adopt a variety of formats and strategies to delve into relations between humans and the world, in some cases by way of historical narratives, in others, through scientific laboratory research, community collaboration, visualization technologies, or activist organization. These experiments animate an emergent notion of artistic global citizenship, breaking up well-worn patterns of representation by embracing a plethora of aesthetic, conceptual and interventionist engagements with “matter.”
Cosponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum, The Center for Place Culture and Politics, PhD Program in English, Pro Helvetia, and Speculative Realism and Accelerationism Seminar in the Humanities.
Exhibition programming
All events are free, open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis, and are ADA accessible.
Tuesday, September 9, 6–8pm
Exhibition reception
The James Gallery
Artists: Mabe Bethônico, Ursula Biemann, Uwe H. Martin & Frauke Huber, Helge Mooshammer & Peter Mörtenböck, Emily Eliza Scott, Paulo Tavares, Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan.
Wednesday, September 10, all day
Symposium: “Radical Materialism: Making the World Matter”
The Skylight Room (9100)
Stacey Balkan, English, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Ursula Biemann, artist; Morgan Buck, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Omar Dahbour, Philosophy, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Ashley Dawson, English, The Graduate Center, CUNY; T.J. Demos, Art History, University College London; Elizabeth Ellsworth, Smudge Studio; David Joselit, Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Sean M. Kennedy, English, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Jamie Kruse, Smudge Studios; Uwe H. Martin & Frauke Huber, artists; Helge Mooshammer & Peter Mörtenböck, artists; Rafael Mutis, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Kate Orff, Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University; Micheal Rumore, English, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Emily Eliza Scott, ETH Zurich; Elizabeth Sibilia, Geography, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan, artists; Jennifer Wenzel, English, Columbia University.
Cosponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum, The Center for Place Culture and Politics, PhD Program in English, Pro Helvetia, and Speculative Realism and Accelerationism Seminar in the Humanities.
Wednesday–Friday, October 8–10, all day
Performance: Prelude: Resource Room
The James Gallery
Chloe Bass, artist
Cosponsored by the Martin E. Segal Theatre.
Thursday, October 16, 6:30pm
Screening and Conversation: Rare Earth
The James Gallery
Elizabeth Knafo, artist
Friday, October 17, 6:30pm
Workshop: Rare Earth Catalog Workshop
The James Gallery
Jesse Goldstein, Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University; Elizabeth Knafo, artist
Tuesday, October 28, 6:30pm
Panel: “The Infiltrators”
The Skylight Room (9100)
Anthony Alessandrini, English, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY; Chelsea Haines, Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Christopher Robbins, artist, Ghana Think Tank; Maayan Sheleff, curator
Thursday, October 30, 6:30pm
Lecture: “Malign Velocities”
The James Gallery
Benjamin Noys, English, University of Chichester
Respondent: David Joselit, PhD Program in Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Cosponsored by the Accelerationism and Speculative Realism Seminar in the Humanities.
The Amie and Tony James Gallery joins the Center for the Humanities’ mission to create dialogue across disciplines. Located in midtown Manhattan at the nexus of the academy, contemporary art, and the city, the James Gallery brings a range of pertinent discourses into the exhibition space through a number of innovative formats. While some exhibitions remain on view for extended contemplation, other activities, such as performances, workshops, reading groups, roundtable discussions, salons, and screenings, have a short duration. As a space for interdisciplinary artistic and discursive activities, the gallery works with scholars, students, artists and the public to explore working methods that may lie outside usual disciplinary practices.
The Center for Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY, encourages collaborative and creative work in the Humanities at CUNY and in the intellectual communities it serves through seminars, conferences, publications and exhibitions that inspire sustained and engaged conversation and change inside and outside the academy.
For more information
Jennifer Wilkinson: T +1 212 817 2020 / [email protected]