Art History Undergraduate Symposium
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth 
College of Visual and Performing Arts

Public Art and Activism
April 18, 2017

Public art is used to raise awareness, to shift ways of thinking, and to protest. In the past, this work bypassed galleries, museums, and formal art institutions and instead found its home on streets and public squares. Today, public art is increasingly showcased on social media. Transcending geographical borders, in the past two decades art of various mediums has been generated and displayed on social media networks in the hopes of creating a better world.

The current political climate in the United States, combined with human rights issues in various parts of the world have created an influx of activist art with strong public presence. Additionally, as our culture becomes more and more visual, activists increasingly turn to art to draw more attention to their political agendas. The Sixth Art History Undergraduate Symposium at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth aims to examine the intersections of public art and activism.

Keynote

2017 Playful Perspectives by Lucas Cowan, Curator of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston, MA. Before his tenor at the Greenway, Mr. Cowan worked for the Maryland State Arts Council as the director of public art programs, and senior curator of exhibits for Chicago’s highly regarded Millennium Park in Chicago.

Student Panels

Panel One: Contexts for Change

Chloe Bartlett, Blaine Little, Luisa Perez and Mariah Tarentino

Panel Two: Locations and Spaces·

Corey Arena and Kathryn Cua

Panel Three: Artists at Work

Lingjun Jiang. Melody Miller. and Devika Sen

Public Art & Activism

KEYNOTE:   Lucas Cowen, Curator of Public Art, Curating for the Public: The Rose Kennedy Greenway  Conservancy

Subject Fields:
Cultural Studies,Urban Studies, Heritage and Museum studies Art History, Media & Visual Culture Studies, Women & Gender Studies, and Studio Art with focus on art as activism

Public art has been used to raise awareness, to shift ways of thinking, and to protest. In the past, this work bypassed galleries, museums, and formal art institutions and instead found its home on streets and public squares. Today, public art is increasingly showcased on social media. Transcending geographical borders, in the past two decades art of various mediums has been generated and displayed on social media networks in the hopes of creating a better world.

The current political climate in the United States, combined with human rights issues in various parts of the world have created an influx of activist art with strong public presence. Additionally, as our culture becomes more and more visual, activists increasingly turn to art to draw more attention to their political agendas. The 6th Art History Undergraduate Symposium at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth aims to examine the intersections of public art and activism. We invite students of various disciplines to share their thoughts on the topic of public art as activism. Papers may focus on specific historical or contemporary examples, but may also address broader thematic questions such as: • How has activist art evolved since the invention of social media?
• Is creating art activism enough? Does it truly affect broader socio-political issues?
• How is activist art similar and different across varying geographies?
• Is there a line between activist art and propaganda?

Please send a 200-word abstract (along with essay title and a short resume) to the president, Mariah Tarentino (mtarentino@umassd.edu) by March 13th, 2017. Those whose proposals are accepted will be notified shortly thereafter and requested to submit full papers and PowerPoint presentations no later than April 5th, 2017.

Call for Papers! – Deadline Monday, February 24th, 2015

Fourth Annual Art History Undergraduate Student Conference
Art History Department, College of Visual and Performing Arts
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

Overview:
Progress seems to be strictly linear; advancement builds upon the graves of obsolete ideas and technology. Though there has been and will continue to be tension between progress and tradition, this friction is important to innovation, and this is exceptionally true in the world of art creation, and exhibition. Progress is a cyclical process of relationships, and nowhere is this more prevalent than in the History of Art. For example, the resurgence of taste in the Renaissance during Neoclassical period is interesting in its continuation of past ideals. In direct contrast, Impressionists, tired of the focus on the organization of space and canon figures, aimed to capture light in its transient state, and were deemed heretical for going against tradition. Where the former built off the past, the latter pushed onward, but neither would have had the drastic impact on history without the context of the relationship between them.

We are in a very exciting time, where old and new are in constant flux. Artists have a chance to work with multiple types of mediums from physical to virtual, traditional and contemporary and have an extensive history of art to learn from and work with. This vortex of tradition and change allows artists a vast amount of creative freedom, but raises questions about the future of art, how we categorize it and study its history. Must curation take heed of this rapidly fluctuating culture? What developments in exhibition are crucial now that art resides in an amalgam of media?

The future of art, its creation, history and preservation is then not about Old vs. New but the collaboration between the two. Looking into the past is necessary in the process of building the future and new technologies and media are pivotal to preserve the past. The Art History Department of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth seeks proposals for a student symposium on the topic of this collaborative process; where art and its history are going; the benefits as well as the disadvantages of New Media technology and its impact on tradition, art making, and history. Papers on the exploration of the museum and gallery space, curation, and exhibition with contemporary difficulties are also welcome.

Call for Papers:
We invite papers from undergraduates as well as graduate students in all areas of the arts, sciences, business and related fields such as, art history and visual culture, history of science, BFA and MFA programs which comprise a broad range of methodologies and media. In addition, we welcome proposals on the presentation of creative artwork and design.

Possible topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Curation
• Exhibition
• Augmented Reality and the Museum
• New Technologies Impact on the Arts
• Changes to the Business Climate for the Arts and Art History
• Vision of the Short-Term Future of Art and Art History
• Obsolete Careers and New Directions
• Innovations in Art Forensics

Please note: Due to budgetary restrictions, student participants traveling from a distance are expected to seek reimbursement for lodging and transportation expenses from their home institutions.

Questions? E-mail Betsey Janus at bjanus@umassd.edu\

Conference Time and Place:
Claire T. Carney Library, Grand Reading Room; University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Thursday, April 2^nd from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Light Refreshments will be provided.

Organizers: Adrien Mercier and Betsey Janus
Contact Email: bjanus@umassd.edu
Department of Art History Faculty Sponsors: Dr. Pamela Karimi, Dr. Thomas Stubblefield, and Dr. Hallie Meredith