This Space: Art and Nationhood

Floor Three, Susan and John Hess Family Theater

Patron, Circle, Fellow, and Sponsor members

What are the structures that hold us? How do we experience belonging? While these are questions many of us have asked ourselves in relation to personal life (our families, friendships, and communities), they take on new urgency at the level of national discourse. In this talk, teaching fellow Aliza Shvarts invites audiences to consider how artists use material and spatial interventions to explore, critique, and expand concepts of nationality and nationhood. The lecture will bring together works from Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium and the 2017 Whitney Biennial, focusing on how the innovative practice of Brazilian-born artist Hélio Oiticica (1937–1980) can be read in dialogue with a younger generation of politically engaged artists. These participatory and social artworks activate not only concepts of democracy and civic engagement, but also the art historical legacy of Institutional Critique. In this sense, they invite us to question both the institution of the nation and the institution of art. A wine reception will be available throughout the talk.

4–5 pm: Talk
5–5:30 pm: Reception

Patron, Circle, Fellow, and Sponsor members are invited to this event. The invitation is for two individuals per membership household. Registration instructions will be provided by email.

To join or upgrade, call (212) 570-3641.