September 5–October 18
Opening reception: 5–7pm, September 5
The James Gallery
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue between 34th and 35th Streets
New York, NY 10016
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday 12–7pm, Friday–Saturday 12–6pm
centerforthehumanities.org/james-gallery
Curator: Katherine Carl
What do the visual principles of modernism look like today in the hands of contemporary artists? Observed Ratios presents three contemporary New York artists: Shoshana Dentz, Caitlin Masley, and Seher Shah, whose practices are grounded in drawing but extend to diverse media of painting, drawing, installation, sculpture, and photography. Their engagement with modernist forms and visual vocabulary, inflected with their own individual histories and interests, produce invigorated and updated responses to modern inquiries. In the exhibition Observed Ratios, whether positioned inside or outside at eye level, hovering above something much larger or smaller than oneself, or enveloped in relation to an indeterminate perspective, the artists’ and the viewers’ attention becomes focused on the act of looking in real space.
Special thanks to Lu Magnus.
Related Fall Events
All programs are free and open to the public.
All events will take place in the James Gallery unless otherwise noted.
Thursday, September 5, 5–7pm
Exhibition reception
Artists Shoshana Dentz, Caitlin Masely, and Seher Shah with curator Katherine Carl
Thursday, September 5, 7pm
Lecture
Curator’s Perspective
Aneta Szylak, Wyspa Institute
Co-sponsored by Independent Curators International
Tuesday, September 24, 6:30pm
Conversation
Observed Ratios artist dialogue
Artists Shoshana Dentz, Caitlin Masely, and Seher Shah with curator Katherine Carl
Friday, September 27, 3:30pm
Symposium
“What Translation Means”
Esther Allen, Modern Languages, Baruch College, CUNY; Susan Bernofsky, PEN Translation Committee; Peter Cole, writer and translator; Jason Grunebaum, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago; Christi A. Merrill, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan; Richard Sieburth, Comparative Literature, New York University; Rosanna Warren, Social Thought, University of Chicago; and Eliot Weinberger, writer and translator
Co-sponsored by the Walls and Bridges Festival, the New York Institute for the Humanities, and amazon.com
Wednesday, October 2, 6:30pm
Conversation
“Free Cities”
John Mollenkopf, Political Science and Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY; and Stephen Zacks, Flint Public Art Project
Co-sponsored by the Flint Public Art Project, the Center for Urban Research, and the Graduate Center, CUNY
Monday, October 7, 3pm
Screening and conversation
Reality + Fiction, Berlin’s Rimini Protokoll
Claire Bishop, Art History, Graduate Center, CUNY; Frank Hentschker, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; and Rimini Protokoll, artists
Screening at 3pm, followed by conversation at 6:30pm
Martin E. Segal Theatre
Co-sponsored by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center
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 will remain on view for extended contemplation, other activities, such as performances, workshops, reading groups, roundtable discussions, salons, and screenings will 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, was founded in 1993 as a forum for people who take ideas seriously inside and outside the academy.
For more information, contact Jennifer Wilkinson
T 212 817 2020 | [email protected]
