Tang Museum to offer symposium on abstract art
"The Jewel Thief" exhibition
Artists, art critics, and curators will gather at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 11-12, for a series of public discussions titled "Jewel Thieves: Abstract Art and Forms of Display."
The symposium, sponsored by the Tang's Alfred Z. Solomon residency, will explore the nature of abstract art, how various audiences perceive and experience it, and how it is presented to the public. All of the discussions are open to the public free of charge.
According to John Weber, Dayton Director of the Tang Museum, the timing for such an event is right. "Abstract art has been around as a cultural phenomenon for 100 years now. On one hand, people are used to it, and on the other, it is at times confounding and controversial," said Weber. "It's not that people don't accept abstract art; it's that they often just don't know what to do with it. Yet for artists and museum goers, abstract art is, if anything, too well-known, and perhaps taken for granted."
The Solomon symposium will take place in conjunction with "The Jewel Thief," a current Tang show that brings together abstract works by over 60 artists. The works include painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, textiles, wallpaper, furniture, and chandeliers.
The exhibition's layout presents artwork in unorthodox ways as a means of inspiring new perspectives.Said Ian Berry, the Susan Rabinowitz Malloy Curator at the Tang, "The exhibition demonstrates the Tang's unique ability to remain open during the process of organizing a show. Artists do that all the time in the studio by letting their work shift in different directions when new opportunities arise. Traditionally, museums operate in a less nimble fashion."
Added Berry, " 'The Jewel Thief' relied on the museum and the curators to embrace connections that presented themselves once we got everything in the space. It's a perfect case study to discuss in a symposium. I expect the critics and artists might have very different takes on the pros and cons of working this way."
The show was curated by Berry in collaboration withartist Jessica Stockholder, director of graduate studies in sculpture at Yale University. The two curators will lead a discussion in the exhibition gallery as part of the symposium.
The symposium kicks off on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with two keynote speakers?poet and art critic Steven Madoff, who has written extensively on contemporary art, and Barry Schwabsky, art critic for The Nation and co-editor of international reviews for Artforum. The two writers will also participate in panel discussions the following day.
On Friday, the discussions run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a special theater performance that evening. Among the panelists are a number of influential artists, including Cheryl Donegan, Jim Hodges, James Hyde, and Victoria Palmero, as well curator and writer Octavio Zaya.
In conjunction with the Solomon symposium, the Tang will present "Beckett Shorts," a series of short plays by absurdist Samuel Beckett, on Friday beginning at 8:30 p.m. The plays are performed by Skidmore students and directed by Professor of Theater Carolyn Anderson.
For a full symposium schedule please click here.
"Jewel Thieves: Abstract Art and Forms of Display" is supported by the Alfred Z. Solomon Residency Fund. Established by a bequest to Skidmore College in 2005, the fund supports short- and long-term residencies that bring noted scholars, artists, and critics to classrooms, studios, and the Tang Museum. The residencies address a wide range of issues in the visual arts and feature opportunities for both formal and informal interaction.
The symposium is part of a year-long 10 th anniversary celebration at the Tang Museum, which opened its doors in September 2000. The museum draws some 40,000 visitors annually, ranging from local students who visit through programs with area schools to museum-goers from around the globe.
