A lecture by Janine Antoni
Thursday, October 13
7 p.m.
Freed Auditorium, Glassell School of Art

A lecture by artist Jonathan Monk
Friday, March 25th, 2011
6 p.m.
Freed Auditorium, Glassell School of Art

Jonathan Monk was born in Leicester in 1969. Monk received a BFA from Leicester Polytechnic in 1988 and an MFA from Glasgow School of Art in 1991. In his work, Monk adopts the esthetics and practices of 1960s Conceptualism, but infuses the tradition with humor, levity, and autobiographical elements. In 1992 Monk sold paintings of low-budget travel advertisements for the price of the vacation package itself. In 1994 he mocked the artist's gesture and persona by writing his name in urine on a beach in. And in 1995 and 1997 he took on the role of a driver awaiting various arriving passengers—Marcel Duchamp, Elizabeth Taylor, Jeff Koons, Kate Moss, Mom—in the Copenhagen airport terminal. While he was living in Los Angeles, Monk created None of the Buildings on Sunset Strip (1997–99) in reaction to Ed Ruscha's famed photographic artist book. Monk produced two highly personal slide projections; In Search of Gregory Peck (1997) shows found photographs of the artist's father as a tourist in Europe in the 1950s and The Gap Between My Mother and My Sister (1998) chronicles the trip between the homes of his mother and sister. Monk's ongoing series Meetings (begun in 1999) proposes future dates and locations as hypothetical invitations to congregate, playing off of the text-based work of Lawrence Weiner and On Kawara. In 2002 Monk passed time as 50 nearly-identical photographs of the artist were developed in 50 different one-hour labs. For the ongoing project Day & Night (begun in 2002), Monk sends postcards to institutions rather than friends or family. For Keep Still (2002–04) the artist places white block letters atop the head of each figure in found group photographs spelling words or phrases like “today,” “a cube,” and “buzz. The slide show Big Ben (2003) projects postcards showing the London monument at the same time of day as the gallery. Monk mocked the display stipulations that often accompany contemporary art as well as the curatorial process in works like This painting should ideally be kept in storage (2004), This painting should ideally be hung near a Sol Lewitt (2004), and This painting should ideally be hung slightly too close to a Douglas Huebler (2005). Monk has created several works in neon; perhaps the best known are several from 2005 which display the hours that the hosting gallery is open to the public, a work that is turned on during opening hours and switched off at closing time. Also in 2005 Monk translated several of the neon innovations of his artistic predecessors into opaque painted aluminum in Corner Piece (for Bruce Nauman) and Corner Piece (for Dan Flavin). In 2009 Monk exhibited five stainless-steel sculptures that offer deflated versions of Jeff Koon's signature balloon bunny.

Solo exhibitions of his work have been organized by Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow (1992 and 1994), Centre d'Art Contemporain in Neuchatel (1997), Museum Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf (2003), Institute of Contemporary Art in London (2005), Kunstverein Hannover (2006), Palais de Tokyo + Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris (2008), and Artpace in San Antonio (2009). His work has also been included in group exhibitions such as Taipei Biennial (2000), Berlin Biennale (2001), Venice Biennale (2003), Whitney Biennial (2006), Prague Biennale (2007), and Panama Bienniale (2008). Monk lives and works in Berlin.

A lecture by curator Hou Hanru
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
7 p.m.
Freed Auditorium, Glassell School of Art

Hou Hanru is Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and Chair of the Exhibitions and Museum Studies program. A prolific writer and curator, Hou received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Central Institute of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he was trained in art history, with additional work in painting, performance, installation, and architectural research. He is a consultant for several cultural institutions internationally including the Global Advisory Committee of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Contemporary Art Museum in Kumamoto, Japan. Described as a significant international voice on cultural difference, Hou is the French correspondent for Flash Art International and a regular contributor to several other journals on contemporary art including Frieze, Art Monthly, Third Text, Art and Asia Pacific, Domus, Atlantica, Texte Zur Kunst, and Tema Celeste. Most recently, Hou was appointed Curator of the 10th International Istanbul Biennial, which will take place from September to November 2007. Other recent curatorial projects include the second Guangzhou Triennale where he co-curated Beyond: An Extraordinary Space of Experimentation for Modernization; Go Inside, the 3rd Tirana Biennale (Tirana, Albania, 2005); Out of Sight, organized by the De Appel Foundation (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2005); Nuit Blanche 2004 (Paris, 2004); and A L'Ouest Du Sud De L'Est / A L'Est Du Sud De L'Ouest (Villa Arson, Nice, 2004). Hou is one of the first curators and thinkers to examine postmodern issues of nomadic identity, hybridity, globalized mobility, what he calls “in-betweeness,” and artists living in the diaspora.

2011 Core Exhibition
February 25–April 22, 2011
Opening Reception:
Friday, February 25, 2011
6–8 p.m.
Laura Lee Blanton Gallery, Glassell School of Art

The evening is free and open to the public, and the Core residents will be in attendance. The 2011 Core Exhibition features work by artists-in-residence Nick Barbee; Lourdes Correa-Carlo; Fatima Haider; Steffani Jemison; Gabriel Martinez; Julie Ann Nagle; Kelly Sears; and Clarissa Tossin.

A lecture by Professor Frazer Ward
Thursday, January 27, 2011
7 p.m.
Freed Auditorium, Glassell School of Art

Frazer Ward is Associate Professor in the Dept. of Art at Smith College, where he teaches the history of contemporary art and architecture. He was educated as the University of Sydney and Cornell University. He has written extensively about art since the sixties, often focussing on performance art and the public sphere. His work appears in catalogues and essay collections, and in journals including Art Journal, Art & Text, Documents, Frieze and October.

The Core Exhibition Program Presents
Single Channel: Contemporary Video, Screening: January 19–31, 2011
Tamy Ben-Tor, The End of Art, 2006
Digital Video Disk
7 minute loop

Israeli performance and video artist Tamy Ben-Tor´s work continues the legacy of character-driven art or entertainment acts by Eleanor Antin, Cindy Sherman, Sarah Silverman, and Tracey Ullman. Using her expressive face, voice, and body, Ben-Tor writes and performs hilarious and unsettling monologues that examine personal and societal anxieties, contradictions, anger, and analysis.

In The End of Art, 2006, Ben-Tor does an impersonation of the artist Rirkrit Tiravanija discussing his notorious practice of cooking Thai food in galleries and museums, and an opinionated art critic discussing her powerful objectivity.

Tamy Ben-Tor was born in Israel and currently lives and works in New York, NY. She has had solo shows at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Cubitt, London; and Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, and has participated in group exhibitions at the Mori Museum, Tokyo; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Reina Sofia, Madrid; as well as the PERFORMA 05 and PERFORMA 07 Biennials, New York.

For more informaiton on the work of Tamy Ben-Tor please visit: Zach Feuer Gallery

A Lecture by artist Clifford Owens
Friday, January 7, 2011
7 p.m.
Freed Auditorium, Glassell School of Art

Clifford Owens is a New York-based photographer and performance artist. Often incorporating the camera in his performance works, Owens blurs the boundaries between the documentation of his performance events and the creation of photographic artwork born out of action. Additionally, Owens´ performances break through the separation between artist and viewer by allowing audiences to participate in events. He also restages historical work by other artists, creating open-ended situations that challenge the convention of art-making. Inherent in his work, however, is the proclivity for performance as complex and process-oriented work. Owens´ works often contain multiple components and layers based upon his interactions with the public or other artists. These interactions serve to create a context for the work that involves physically demanding actions within a controlled set of conditions. Working within these self-imposed conditions, Owens brings a new perspective to the history of performance art through the incorporation of the camera and audience as well as through the restaging of historical performance works. Particularly in his restaging, Owens brings a newfound understanding of the canon through the recognition of black artists who have been historically lost within this dialogue.