Four Panel Discussions Address Contemporary Curatorial Practices

Downtown the Public Programming Press Release as a PDF.

Virginia Overton, Untitled(Black Diamond), 2018. Installation view at University Hospital, FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. July 14-September 30, 2018. Courtesy of the artist and Bortolami, New York. Photography by Field Studio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (August 22, 2018) – FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art announces four panel discussions on Curatorial Practices as part of public programming during the run of the Triennial. These programs are designed to continue the research and dialog launched by FRONT International: An American City, enhancing and complementing the projects created for the inaugural edition of the Triennial. Public programming is open to all and designed as a forum for public discussion that will give agency to artists in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.

Artist Residencies Today
Friday, August 31, 2018 from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
The FRONT Porch
1470 East 105 Street
Cleveland, OH

As FRONT completes its first cycle of artist residencies at the Madison, the Triennial will convene a panel to hear from artists and residency program leaders. Artist Residency programs offer exciting and culturally rich opportunities for visiting artists and local audiences. While residency program models vary by institution and location, many share the core mission to offer new experiences and the opportunity to create during a moment of pause and reflection. In the lead-up to An American City, FRONT International’s temporary residency space, The Madison, hosted many visiting artists and programs. The panel will raise questions about whether or not it is sustainable and important for FRONT to continue this residency based work between Triennials and, if so, how does FRONT do so inclusively?

Panelists:
Chris Cook, Executive Director, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE
Alexandra Grant, Artist, Los Angeles, CA
Mimi Kato, Artist, Cleveland, OH
Sharon Maidenberg, Executive Director, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Marisa Williamson, Artist, New York, NY

Moderator: A. Will Brown, Assistant Curator, MOCA Cleveland, OH

Ben Schonberger, “Hammer,” April 2016. Muted Horn Gallery, Cleveland. Courtesy of the Gallery

Artist Run Spaces/Galleries
Friday September 7, 2018, from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
The FRONT Porch
1470 East 105 Street
Cleveland, OH

The artist-run exhibition space has emerged as a site to support research-based, socially conscious artistic practices and to promote exhibitions as opportunities for discourse and collaboration. The artists and directors of several spaces in the region will present their programs, each focused on their diverse, individualized platforms. Of particular interest is how these spaces can support a collaborative and far-reaching conversation within the local artist community by supporting artists of interest both locally and further afield.

Panelists:
Kelley O’Brien, The Muted Horn, Cleveland, OH
Tim Mann and Jack Schneider, Prairie, Chicago, IL
Alivia Zivich and Daniel Sperry, What Pipeline, Detroit, MI
Michelle Grabner, FRONT and The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI
Eli Walker and Kelly Kroener, Basketshop, Cincinnati, OH

Moderator: Lisa Kurzner, Curator, FRONT International, An American City

Public Art in the City  
Friday September 14th, 2018 from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm    
Thwing Center, Case Western Reserve University
11111 Euclid Ave
Cleveland, OH

A panel on Public Art will bring scholars, artists, and curators together to discuss what public art can do, or should do, in the urban environment. Cleveland is a city with a spacious environment that has recently seen great renovation to public areas along the lakefront and city center. How does the biennial model fit into this? What is the role of the temporary or permanent? Must public art be monumental to be effective? Panelists will include curators of nationally recognized city public art programs, each with specific models and goals.

Public art curators Ken Lum and Melanie Kress will discuss their dual curatorial approaches. At the Highline, art and programming is tied to a specific tract of land while Monument Lab operates throughout the city of Philadelphia, thus creating projects with rotating teams of artists, students and curators. In addition, Michelle Grabner, FRONT Artistic Director, and FRONT artists Virginia Overton and John Riepenhoff will join the panel to represent diverse approaches to the topic of making art in and for the public sphere.

Panelists:
Ken Lum, Chief Curatorial Advisor, Monument Lab, Philadelphia, PA
Paul Farber, Artistic Director, Monument Lab, Philadelphia, PA
Melanie Kress, Associate Curator, The Highline, New York, NY
Michelle Grabner, Artistic Director, FRONT International, Cleveland, OH
Virginia Overton, Artist, Brooklyn, NY
John Riepenhoff, Artist, Milwaukee, WI

Moderator: Lisa Kurzner, Curator, FRONT International, An American City

This program is presented jointly with the Department of Art History and Art, and the Putnam Collection, at Case Western Reserve University. A reception will follow the event.

A Discussion on Regionalism in the Arts: Michelle Grabner and Jennifer Kabat
Friday, September 28, 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
Peter B. Lewis Theater
The Cleveland Institute of Art
11610 Euclid Ave
Cleveland, OH

In connection with the Great Lakes Research exhibition currently on view in the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Reinberger Gallery, the CIA will host a dynamic conversation between the artistic director of FRONT International, Michelle Grabner, and writer and critic Jennifer Kabat. In an article for Frieze, Kabat asks, “As more artists and writers move outside the ‘centre’, how can that open up art and increase its relevance as artists confront new communities and contexts?” This question and others regarding the contemporary discourses that shape the distinctions between the localism, regionalism, and globalism will be discussed.

This event is free and open to the public. Pizza and beverages will be provided on a first-come, first served basis.

PRESS INQUIRIES

Katherine Wisniewski

SUTTON

katherine@suttonpr.com

+1 215 840 9768

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