Continuous Signals: On the Work of Zoe Leonard

Beginning with her 1992 text I want a president…, Zoe Leonard’s (b. 1961) work continually asks us to read the past in dialogue with the conditions of the present. Her images, objects, and texts, including recent sculptures like Tipping Point (2016) and her new site-specific work, Homage (2018), interrogate the positions of historical authors and subjects, and prompt viewers to consider other unknown, unseen, or unread possibilities. This roundtable conversation with curator Lynne Cooke, art historians Darby English and Laura Guy, and Whitney Assistant Curator Elisabeth Sherman considers Leonard’s multiple approaches to framing history.