WEED.
Curated by Marlene McCarty
During NYU’s Alumni Weekend October 23 – 25, 2020
Virtual Opening Reception, October 23rd, 4-5pm
Curator Talk, October 23rd, 4:30pm
RSVP
Though we are mired in the muck of the past, I am looking for the future, the path forward, sites of regrowth. Centuries of colonization, capitalism, industrialization and greed have brought us where? To the wasteland. Cultivation has depleted vital ecosystems and encouraged climate devastation. Ruminations on masculinity, whiteness and their inherent toxicities continually point to repeated sites of noxious ravages. Some things are ending.
In decay and obsolescence there can be new pathways forward. The future, unknown and probably not some nostalgic retooling of a make-believe-comfortable past, can be a source of liberation, burgeoning with growth, healing and vision. At this seemingly apocalyptical moment in time, artists can usher in empowerment and self-protection by giving voice to the voiceless, making the unimaginable manifest and nurturing germination. Some things are beginning. A weed.
To this end I am looking for artwork that does not shy away from this extraordinary moment, eclectic creative pursuits ranging radically from traditional to futurist, from individual to collaborative. Poems, essays, manifestos, websites, films, videos, photography, posters, spoken word, banners, audio tracks, performance (including instructions or documentation), clothing, architectural pursuits, and of course painting, sculpture and drawing will be considered.
Bring it on.
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Marlene McCarty studied at the Allgemeine Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel from 1978 to 1983. After moving to New York in 1983, she worked as the interim director of MoMA’s graphic design department and later with Tibor Kalman at the well-known design firm M&Co. In 1998, she founded Bureau with Donald Moffett, a transdisciplinary design studio that produced art, film titles, political and commercial works. She was an early member of the AIDS activist collective Gran Fury, which gained international recognition through public interventions and was included in the 1990 Venice Biennale. Since the 1980s, McCarty’s artwork has consistently traversed a variety of mediums, including drawing with everyday materials such as graphite or a ballpoint pen. A gesture central to her work.
She has been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant, an honorary doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Art, and is also a professor at NYU Steinhardt. Her works can be found in major public and private collections such as MoMA, New York; MoCa, Los Angeles; CAMH, Houston; and the Brooklyn Museum. Her work has been exhibited at Kunsthaus Baselland; New Museum; MoCA; ICA London; Secession, Vienna; Reina Sofía, Madrid; Kunsthalle St. Gallen; ZKM Karlsruhe; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; and the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin among others. A two person exhibition of Marlene McCarty and Rasmus Myrup is presently on view at Last Tango in Zürich, Switzerland.
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Art Alumni Shows are annual exhibitions to showcase the work of artists who graduated from NYU Department of Art and Art Professions’ undergraduate and graduate programs. The 2019 exhibition was curated by Martha Wilson, pioneering feminist artist and founder of Franklin Funance. The 2018 exhibition was curated by Chrissie Illes, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Through this exhibition we would like to celebrate, recognize and bring together our alumni community.