It’s Finally Here, and the Sky is Falling!
We at Code Z had to prevent ourselves from pulling out our red, black and green liberation jumpsuits that we had been saving for such an event after hearing about The Revolution Will Not Be Curated: Twenty-First Century Perspectives on Art and Politics, The Museum of Modern Art’s Third Annual Graduate Symposium. But since Roy Wilkins and Amiri Baraka are not scheduled presenters, we can save our jumpsuits for another time.
The symposium, held at MoMA April 13 through 14, explores the evolving relationship between art, media, and politics highlighting the attempts of artists past and present to imbibe politics within their work to promote awareness and create a context for societal ills. Six graduates, selected from an international applicant pool, will present their papers on a range of topics including: architecture, drawing, film, mixed media painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture. While in the past, artists grappled with avant-garde versus mass appeal, emerging artists, as well as institutions, are lending a voice or lens to the growing distaste for the global economic, political, and social environment.
Although the concept of fusing art with politics is a far cry from being fresh, we have noticed several recent subversive exhibits such as Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making, Just Kick it Till it Breaks, and Free Chocolate to name just a few.
The symposium is open to the public.