Mary Kelly’s Concentric Pedagogy

Floor 3, Theater and Online, via Zoom

This program celebrates the publication of Mary Kelly’s Concentric Pedagogy: Selected Writings with a conversation between Mary Kelly and editor Juli Carson, moderated by Carrie Lambert-Beatty. 

As an artist and a theorist, Kelly is known for her foundational contributions to feminist and conceptual art; she is also renowned for her innovative pedagogical method, which has influenced countless artists, writers, and teachers.

This discussion considers the importance of Kelly’s “concentric” method of critique that foregrounds the artwork rather than the artist, how a “feminist problematic” underscores the method’s use towards the establishment of an artist’s project, and how an art project goes on to be read (and debated) within an intergenerational and interdisciplinary field of reception.

Mary Kelly is known for addressing questions of identity in the form of large-scale narrative installations. Lacunae, her recent work, is included in the 2024 Whitney Biennial. In 1989 she joined the faculty of the Independent Study Program at the Whitney. From 1989-2017, she was Professor of Art and Critical Theory in the School of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles where she established an Interdisciplinary Studio area for graduate students engaged in project-based practices. Currently, she is the Judge Widney Professor of Art in the Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California.

Juli Carson is Professor of Art at the University of California, Irvine, where she directs the Critical and Curatorial Area in the Department of Art. 

Carrie Lambert-Beatty is a professor at Harvard University where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies.