TORONTO, April 16, 2012 − Leading guest curators, artists and cultural theorists explore The Real and the Political in York University’s fourth annual Joan & Martin Goldfarb Summer Institute in Visual Arts, running April 24 to May 4. Art-making and contemporary art theory at the nexus of culture and politics are the focus of this year’s event, produced by the graduate programs in Visual Arts, Art History and Visual Culture in York’s Faculty of Fine Arts.

The Summer Institute culminates in a free public lecture by Israeli cultural theorist, curator and writer Ariella Azoulay. Her talk, titled “Potential History”, is presented in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and takes place at MOCCA on May 3.  

The Institute also features public presentations on campus by Canadian conceptual artist Ken Lum, independent Vienna-based curator Ruth Noack, and Amelia Jones, Grierson Chair in Visual Culture at McGill University.

In “Potential History”, Dr. Ariella Azoulay will address the possibilities that motivate and direct civic actions that critique or supplant without being exhausted by state order. She will discuss these issues in relation to two photographic archives she has assembled that deal with Israel’s representation of the state and its history.

Azoulay is director of the Photo-Lexic International Research Group at the Minerva Humanities Center at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Her research focuses on the theory and history of photography, cinema, museum studies, visual culture, and history of political regimes. Her work in visual culture is informed by her research in contemporary philosophy and political theory, and by questions of gender, citizenship, and disaster. Among her ground-breaking studies of photography and politics are Death’s Showcase (MIT Press, 2001), The Civil Contract of Photography (Zone Books, 2008) and the forthcoming Civil Imagination: A Political Ontology of Photography (Verso, 2012). 

Vancouver-based multi-disciplinary artist Ken Lum is known internationally for his large-scale public commissions that speak to issues of personal and cultural identity in a globalized world. He gives an illustrated talk on his work, titled “Art in the Public Sphere”, at York on April 24.

Curator Ruth Noack, whose exhibitions on the theme of “Die Regierung/The Government” have been shown in the United States and across Europe for the past decade, speaks on “Making Exhibitions in a Global Context” April 26.

Professor Amelia Jones has written widely on contemporary art and on feminist, queer and anti-racist approaches to visual culture. She discusses her research findings in her April 30 talk, “Queer Feminist Durationality: The Trace of the Subject in Contemporary Art”.

As part of their residency in the Goldfarb Summer Institute, all four presenters will meet with graduate students in visual arts and art history at York’s Keele campus for informal discussions, seminars, critiques and studio visits.

The  Joan & Martin Goldfarb Summer Institute in Visual Arts offers York University graduate students and the wider community the opportunity to engage with prominent international artists, curators, cultural theorists and critics through seminars, workshops, courses and public lectures.

The Summer Institute is named in recognition of Joan and Martin Goldfarb, longstanding supporters of York's Faculty of Fine Arts, whose generous gift has made this annual residency program possible.

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The 2012 Joan & Martin Goldfarb Summer Institute in Visual Arts: The Real and the Political
Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
www.yorku.ca/finearts/goldfarb-summer-institute2012

Ariella Azoulay:  “Potential History”
Presented in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art

When: Thurs. May 3, 7-9pm
Where: MOCCA, 952 Queen Street West, Toronto
Admission: Free

Ken Lum:  “Art in the Public Sphere”

When: Tues. April 24, 2:30-4pm
Where: Room 334 Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, York University, 4700 Keele St.
Admission: Free

Ruth Noack: “Making Exhibitions in a Global Context”

When: Thurs. April 26, 2:30-4pm
Where: Room 334 Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, York University, 4700 Keele St.
Admission: Free

Amelia Jones:  “Queer Feminist Durationality: The Trace of the Subject in Contemporary Art”

When: Mon. April 30, 2:30-4pm
Where: Room 338 Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, York University, 4700 Keele St.
Admission: Free

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Media Contact:
Amy Stewart, Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
416-650-8469  | amy.stewart@yorku.ca