10/9/2004
16 Beaver
Mass MoCA, North Adams
The symposium will consist of two parts. The 4 P.M. section, 'No Profit – Infrastructures of Resonance', will be hosted by artist collective 16 Beaver. As is the practice of this collective, whose body of work is made up of discussions, this forum is 16 Beaver's work in The Interventionists exhibition.
symposium
Saturday, September 11
MASS MoCA Hosts Interventionists’ Symposium with 16 Beaver
(North Adams, Massachusetts) The artists and curators behind MASS MoCA’s latest exhibit, The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere, on display through the Spring of 2005, will host a symposium on art for social change on Saturday, September 11. Inspired by the exhibit itself, the symposium will consist of two parts. The 4 P.M. section, “No Profit – Infrastructures of Resonanceâ€, will be hosted by artist collective 16 Beaver. As is the practice of this collective, whose body of work is made up of discussions, this forum is 16 Beaver’s work in The Interventionists exhibition. The discussion on September 11 will revolve around artist collectives that don’t make art. The 7 P.M. section of the symposium titled “Tactics and Strategies for Interventionists†is a panel discussion moderated by Interventionists curator Nato Thompson. Panelists for “Tactics and Strategies†will include art critics Rosalyn Deutsche and Gregory Sholette and artists Emily Forman and Alex Villar. These experts will investigate the historical antecedents as well as critique the effectiveness of current political art practice.
16 Beaver Street is a network of artists, curators, writers, thinkers, and activists who regularly convene on lower Manhattan to discuss issues, exchange ideas, and raise questions. Some members are “regulars†involved on a day-to-day basis, while others participate more sporadically. The organization is flexible and open to anyone. In addition to artist presentations, political discussions, organized happenings, lunches, walks, parties, and film screenings, participants regularly share and discuss readings. A more ambitious manifestation of the familiar book group, 16 Beaver has become a form of social sculpture that German artist Joseph Beuys referred to as an “ongoing conference.â€
Nato Thompson’s critical writings can be found in the journals Parkett, tema celeste, CAA Art Journal, In These Times, and The New Art Examiner. He was a founding member of the Department of Space and Land Reclamation (2001), a radical collective based in Chicago. He recently curated the exhibition Fantastic at MASS MoCA which featured the work of artists Gregory Crewdson, Temporary Services with Angelo, Nils Norman, Alicia Framis and Miguel Calderón.
In contrast to the sometimes heavy-handed political art of the 1980s, interventionists of the new century have begun to carve out compelling new paths for artistic practice, coupling hard-headed politics with a light-handed approach, embracing the anarchist Emma Goldman’s dictum that revolutions and dancing belong together. The projects in The Interventionists – whether they are discussions of urban geography, tents for homeless people, or explorations of current labor practices – are seasoned with honey rather than vinegar.
The Interventionists’ Symposium is supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. The Interventionists exhibition, outreach programs, and educational activities and materials have been funded in part by a MetLife Foundation Museum Connections Program grant, along with generous support from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Porches Inn, Evelyn Stefansson Nef; Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam; Nimoy Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, LEF New England, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Artists’ Resource Trust (a Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation), Holly Angell Hardman and the Peter Norton Foundation.
Tickets for The Interventionists’ Symposium are free with museum admission, but advance reservations are required and can be made through the MASS MoCA Box Office.
MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located on Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.
In the image: Garden of Earthly Delights by Rubén Ortiz-Torres for The Interventionist.
Lenora Farrington
Marketing Coordinator
MASS MoCA
413.664.4481 x8111
North Adams
MassMoCA
87 Marshall Street