RISD to Host Queer Series January 29-30
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Pride is not the only time of year that's right for examining LGBTQI civil rights issues, and RISD hosts a two-day event next week that explorea Queer politics and identity, particularly with regards to the arts.
Queer Representation and Resistance as Acts of Justice, a collaboration between RISD's Office of Public Engagement and AS220, will feature a series of events exploring and reflecting upon the cultural context of queer art and censorship, kicking off on Saturday, January 29, with a keynote address by Nayland Blake at 3pm at AS220.
Keynote speaker Nayland Blake
Blake, a graduate of California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, has explored ideas about machoism, pansexuality, and the implications of being of biracial heritage. Over the past twenty four years he has exhibited widely throughout the world. His works are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and many others. In 1995 he was the co-curator, with Larry Rinder, of In A Different Light, the first museum exhibition to examine the impact of Lesbian, Gay and Queer artists on contemporary art.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTTwo panels on Sunday
On Sunday, two panels take on related topics. Identity, Place, and Practice, at 12:30pm, features local artists Matthew Lawrence, Laurencia Strauss, Gil Cozzens, and Mickey Zacchilli as they share insight as to how their experiences as LGBTQI people interacts with artistic practice.
At 2pm, a second panel, Institutional Silenc(es), will feature Deborah Bright, Rob Brinkerhoff, Liz Collins, and Michael Kurt, and will focus on how artists, educators, and those involved in cultural institutions can help foster free expression and social justice in the face of efforts in the modern culture to keep LGBTQI invisible and in the closet.
All these events are free and open to the public, and take place at AS220, 115 Empire St, Providence. For more information, visit www.risdpublicengagement.net.
