Viewpoints: Art and Post-Colonial Activism
VIEW EVENT DETAILSConversation with Artist Richard Bell and Carin Kuoni
Can art have social impact? For years, the artist Richard Bell has been working at the crossroad of art and political issues, advocating for Indigenous sovereignty through activism. Through his multimedia art practice, he addresses the mainstream systemic colonialism that permeates Australian society, a reality that many First Nations people around the world continue to experience. In this conversation, Bell will be joined by Carin Kuoni, Senior Director and Chief Curator of Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School, to retrace his journey from activist to artist, and how his work and his role in the Aboriginal art community shapes the discourse on Indigenous and human rights in Australia and beyond.
Viewpoints is an annual series in which prominent, visionary figures in the creative arts are interviewed on-stage before a public audience, about their work, career, and relationship with Asia. Viewpoints has been made possible by the generous support of Aashish and Dinyar S. Devitre.
The program precedes the day-long program of Bell’s ongoing artwork, Embassy (2013–present) that takes place at Asia Society on November 16. Learn more about Embassy at Asia Society.
This conversation is part of a series of programs held in conjunction with the “Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala,” on view at Asia Society Museum through January 5, 2025.
Speakers
Richard Bell (b. 1953, Charleville; lives and works in Brisbane) is a member of the Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurung Gurung peoples. He works across a variety of media including painting, installation, performance and video. One of Australia’s foremost artists, Bell’s work explores the complex artistic and political problems of Western, colonial and Indigenous art production. He grew out of a generation of Aboriginal activists and has remained committed to the politics of Aboriginal emancipation and self-determination. In 2003 he was the recipient of the Telstra National Aboriginal Art Award, establishing him as an important Australian artistic figure. Bell is represented in most major National and State collections, and has exhibited in a number of solo exhibitions at important institutions in Australia and America.
Carin Kuoni is a curator and writer whose work examines how contemporary artistic practices reflect and shape social, political, and cultural conditions. She is Senior Director and Chief Curator of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School and assistant professor of Visual Studies. She has organized numerous transdisciplinary exhibitions, and is editor or co-editor of numerous related publications, including Assuming Boycott: Resistance, Agency, and Cultural Production (2017) and Energy Plan for the Western Man: Joseph Beuys in America (1993). Most recently, she co-edited Studies into Darkness: On the Perils and Promise of Freedom of Speech (2022) and Maria Thereza Alves: Seeds of Change (2020) for the Vera List Center and Amherst College Press.
Event Details
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