Winter 2010 News and Programming

Esteemed Members of the Museum and Curatorial Studies Faculty Research Cluster:

Happy 2010!

Following the success of our Fall 2009 programming which featured Irit Rogoff and Griselda Pollock, we are excited to begin the new year with more opportunities for debate and discussion around the theme “Critical Curations.”

This winter, the MACS Speaker Series will feature Carolina Ponce de León, Founder and Executive Director of Galería de la Raza in San Francisco. Referencing her work at both Galería and El Museo del Barrio in New York City, Ponce de León will address the diverse ways in which artists, critics, curators, and the media have framed, ignored and/or expanded notions of cultural identity. For more information, please visit http://macs.ucsc.edu/ss.html.

That same week, on February 18th, MACS will host “Writing Resistance in Crisis and Collaboration,” a Curated Conversation with Chilean author and activist Pia Barros. Barros is the founder of underground press Ergo Sum, an editorial initiative dedicated to creating spaces for feminist pedagogy and praxis. During her visit, she will discuss tactics for cultural resistance in the midst of political and economic crisis. This event coincides with an exhibition at the McHenry Library, curated by Lissette Olivares and Lucian Gomoll, which explores the context, politics, and aesthetics of Ergo Sum. Olivares is also organizing a Spanish writing workshop with Barros the following day. For more information, please visit http://macs.ucsc.edu/events.html.

We are very pleased to announce a new online discussion forum for MACS. On this interactive web site, members may further participate in cluster activities, such as discussing events before and after they occur, announcing exhibition openings in the area, organizing reading group meetings, discussing the details of attending our conference in May, and much more. Please visit http://www.macs-forums.org/ to sign up (You must register to post messages. To do so, click on the small “Register” link directly below the image of Fred Wilson’s installation and above the Google ads, and follow the instructions. The advertisements disappear once you are logged in).

On the main MACS website, we have added a Student section that includes details about volunteering at our events, as well as a detailed list of internship and volunteer opportunities, created by MACS Research Assistant Diana Kapsner. This page may be found at http://macs.ucsc.edu/students.html.

Lastly, please remember that February 5th, 2010 is the last day to submit proposals to “The Task of the Curator,” a MACS conference that will take place on May 14th, 2010. The CFP is available on the website, at http://macs.ucsc.edu/conferences.html. Please continue to distribute our CFP widely so we receive the best possible submissions for the event.

We look forward to sharing another exciting and collaborative quarter with you!

Sincerely,

Lissette Olivares & Lucian Gomoll
MACS Directors
macs@ucsc.edu
http://macs.ucsc.edu/