Talk

In 2001, Lia Gangitano founded PARTICIPANT INC, a not-for-profit art space, presenting exhibitions by Virgil Marti, Charles Atlas, Kathe Burkhart, Michel Auder, Robert Boyd, Julie Tolentino, Breyer P-Orridge, Renée Green, Hunter Reynolds, Vaginal Davis, Kembra Pfahler, Jeffrey Gibson, Justin Vivian Bond, Greer Lankton, Ellen Cantor, Baseera Khan, Narcissister and Tuesday Smillie, among others.

As curator of Thread Waxing Space, NY, her exhibitions, screenings and performances included Spectacular Optical (1998), Luther Price: Imitation of Life (1999), Børre Sæthre: Module for Mood (2000) and Sigalit Landau (2001). She is editor of Blood and Guts in Hollywood: Two Screenplays by Laura Parnes, Dead Flowers and M Lamar: Negrogothic. As associate curator, she co-curated Dress Codes (1993) and Boston School (1995) for The ICA, Boston and edited New Histories (with Steven Nelson, 1997) and Boston School (1995). She has contributed to publications including Carol Rama: Space Even More than Time; Renée Green, Endless Dreams and Time-based Streams; Lovett/Codagnone; Whitney Biennial 2006-Day for Night; and 2012 Whitney Biennial on Charles Atlas. As curatorial advisor, her exhibitions at MoMA PS1 included Lovett/Codagnone, Interruption of a Course of Action and Lutz Bacher, My Secret Life (2009).

She teaches at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College where she curated, with Ann Butler and Jeannine Tang, The Conditions of Being Art, Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Arts, Co. She is a recipient of a Skowhegan Governors’ Award for Outstanding Service to Artists (2015), the inaugural White Columns/Shoot the Lobster Award (2016) and the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence (2018).