News

The Chicago-based Floating Museum, an art collective codirected by Bard alumnus Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford ’07, will serve as the artistic team leading the fifth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, or CAB 5. Titled This is a Rehearsal, CAB 5 “will build on and expand the collective’s ongoing work,” writes Matt Hickman for the Architect’s Newspaper. “Floating Museum is organized to work at the intersection of disciplines, where civic participation inspires and shapes our process. It’s both a thrill and challenge to collaborate with the CAB as the artistic team of the 2023 edition,” said the members of Floating Museum. With This is a Rehearsal, the collective hopes to showcase work that demonstrates the ways in which “contemporary environmental, political, and economic issues are shared across national boundaries but are addressed differently around the world through art, architecture, infrastructure, and civic participation.” CAB 5, This is a Rehearsal, is scheduled to open September 2023.

Novelist Stephanie LaCava profiles her friend, multidisciplinary artist, and Bard studio arts alumna Carolee Shneemann ’59 for the Guardian. Shneemann (1939–2019) was among the founding artists of the Judson Dance Theater, alongside the late Trisha Brown and Aileen Passloff (Professor Emerita of Dance at Bard). Shneemann created boundary-breaking, embodied art that included kinetic theater, film, photography, sculpture, and writing, however, she always considered herself a painter. While in her lifetime, gallery representation and critical recognition was elusive, her legacy is receiving more attention. “Postmortem, the accolades come fast for Carolee. They were never so forthcoming when she was still pushing the limits of earthbound energy, inhabiting her body,” writes LaCava. “Body Politics,” the first UK survey of Schneemann’s work, is on view at the Barbican in London until January 8, 2023. 

An exhibition in Catskill features work by the Columbia Collective, a multimedia arts group of female and trans incarcerated artists that was founded by Maggie Hazen, visiting artist in residence at Bard College. Anna Schupack ’22 helped Hazen organize the exhibition to promote the artists in the collective while bringing attention to problems in the juvenile justice system. Sofia Thieu D’Amico CCS ’22 curated the show. The exhibition was funded by Bard’s Margarita Kuchma Project Award, which Schupack and Sarah Soucek ’22 won in July. Talking Back: Artists of the Columbia Collective, runs through September 25 at Foreland Contemporary Arts Campus in Catskill.

The Foreland galleries will host an artist talk and panel discussion for the exhibition on September 14 at 6:30 pm, in person and on Zoom, moderated by D'Amico:
This event is free and open to the public, with Alison Cornyn of the Incorrigibles Project and Mark Loughney, artist of Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, focusing on the intersections of cultural and carceral systems, tapping our prison history archives, the crisis of youth incarceration, and visions of a decarcerated future. They will ask: How do we identify modes of abolition and advocacy, create critical projects, and identify the reaches of our prison industrial complex? Following artist presentations and discussion will be a Q&A session with panelists and Columbia Collective founder Maggie Hazen.

After a nearly decade-long break, the trio that helped spark New York’s early 2000s rock revival is back with Cool It Down, “an expansive album that dares to imagine a bold, fresh future.” The New York Times profiles the band, featuring Bard alum Nick Zinner ’98 on guitar, as they return to the studio and the stage with a new perspective in their 40s, after moving cross-country, starting families, and years pursuing their own musical and artistic projects. The new album tackles serious themes such as climate change and the longing for closeness in the aftermath of the pandemic, but ultimately the band is on a mission to bring a sense of joy and hope to audiences.
 

Sky Hopinka, assistant professor of film and electronic arts, talks with the BBC about his new documentary, Kicking the Clouds, which has been shortlisted for the BBC's LongShots film festival. Hopinka, who is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño people, talks about how a 50-year-old recording of a language lesson between his mother and grandmother sparked the film, which the BBC calls “dreamy and soulful ... a poetic road trip into the history of a family and the disappearing language of a tribe.”

From September 8 to September 19, viewers can vote for their favorite film and choose the winner of the LongShots Audience Award. Dedicated this year to the theme of “Journeys,” LongShots spotlights the best short documentaries from the most interesting emerging filmmakers worldwide, handpicked by some of the most prestigious film festivals around the world.

Assistant Professor of Music Angelica Sanchez’s newest acoustic-trio album Sparkle Beings will be released by Sunnyside Records on September 23 and is featured in the New York Times culture section’s fall preview. “This pianist and composer has yet to receive her full due, but at 50 she continues to churn out fabulous acoustic free jazz recordings at an unfettered clip,” writes Giovanni Russonello for the New York Times.