Residencies Insights: Art, Capital and the City talk by Mechtild Widrich, Writer-in-Residence

Residencies Insights: Art, Capital and the City talk by Mechtild Widrich, Writer-in-Residence

Following the rise of the global gallery and biennale circuit, Mechtild Widrich will investigate the way contemporary art hubs, museums and artists engage with local and visiting audiences while navigating the tensions between national interests, local communities, and global art discourses.

Concurrently, Widrich will address the way current worldwide image circulation and rapid urban development affect site-specificity and performative interventions, using Hong Kong, Singapore, and Chicago as case studies to revise our concepts related to urban agency, imperial pasts, and uncertain futures.

BIOGRAPHY

Mechtild Widrich is Assistant Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SIAC), United States. Her work focuses on performance art, aesthetic theory, and global art geographies. Her book Performative Monuments: The Rematerialisation of Public Art was published with Manchester University Press, 2014. She has written for Grey Room, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Art Journal, The Drama Review (TDR), Performance Art Journal (PAJ), and Texte zur Kunst. She has edited books on Ugliness (London, 2013), Participation in Art and Architecture (London, 2015), and Presence (Berlin 2016), among others.

Image credit: Courtesy Mechtild Widrich.

2016-11-23

Mechtild Widrich will investigate the way contemporary art hubs, museums and artists engage with local and visiting audiences while navigating the tensions between national interests, local communities, and global art discourses.