What can contemporary artists do? The question is a vague and obvious one, but remains unanswered amidst the splintering profusion of ideals and artistic practices. Has the recent infinitude of socially conscious art been liberating, or has it been constrictive? Do artists hope to regain the dissipating public, or withdraw from it? Do artists resist the culture industry which encroaches upon it and devise alternate utopia’s, or liquidate into it and bring about change from within popular culture? What is at stake with artist collectives – singular isolation, or global revolution? Has postmodern and contemporary art moved beyond modernism, or has there been regression to pre-modernity? Most importantly, what purchase does art have on the present moment for augmenting change on a broader political level?
Three panelists working at the intersection of art and politics will attempt to answer these, and other questions from different perspectives – as historians, practitioners, and theorists. We hope that this conversation will aid in understanding the bewildering present by uncovering the implicit hopes of contemporary art.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

6:00pm – 9:00pm

280 S Columbus Dr.

Chicago, IL 60603

Featuring:
Claire Pentecost (artist, writer, SAIC)
Chris Cutrone (Critic, Platypus, SAIC, U. Chicago)
Stephen Eisenman (Art History, Northwestern)

www.platypus1917.org
http://platypus1917.org/2010/04/08/an-interview-with-hal-foster/