EVENTS

Thursday, November 2, 3:00 – 7:00pm | Día de Muertos | Flatiron North Plaza, East 23rd Street and Broadway

SVA Continuing Education and the Flatiron NoMad Partnership present a celebration of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), a Mexican tradition of pre-Hispanic origin that celebrates the memory and presence of the deceased. According to popular belief, from Tuesday, October 31, through Thursday, November 2, the souls return home to be with their loved ones. Altars are assembled with offerings, food and rituals to celebrate their visit.

Thursday, November 2, 12:00 – 1:00pm | The Algorithmic State: AI as Metaphor | Online

If AI is a simulation of human thinking, then can we understand the way it mimics us as a metaphor for the human and what do such metaphorical mirrors suggest? MA Curatorial Practice presents a panel featuring Noam Segal, LG Electronics Associate Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and philosopher Franco “Bifo” Berardi to discuss with Steven Henry Madoff, chair of the MA Curatorial Practice department, what the ramifications of AI as metaphor are for the future of culture and society.

Thursday, November 2, 6:30 – 8:30pm | In Their Own Words: Demythifying Asian Americans|133/141 West 21st Street, Room 101C and Online

MFA Fine Arts and SVA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion present a conversation between artists Ji Woo Kim (MFA 2023 Fine Arts) and Yin Ming Wong (MFA 2023 Fine Arts), artist and faculty member Aya Rodriguez-Izumi (MFA 2017 Fine Arts) and MA/MAT Art Education Chair Dr. Catherine Rosamond on the harmful effects of the “model minority” myth. This panel aims to share discourse on inclusivity and community, specifically delving into how the Asian American identity is an intersection of race, ethnicity and nationality.

Monday, November 6, 6:30 – 8:00pm | Tara Dabir, The Power of a Case Study |136 West 21st Street, Room 418-F

How do you tell your story? Geared toward those seeking to tell the story of their studio’s work, MA Design Research, Writing and Criticism presents a workshop with Tara Dabir (MA 2012 Design Research, Writing and Criticism), director of new business development at Pentagram. This workshop will highlight the power of the case study for designers, creatives, researchers and writers alike, and help us consider how we talk about design with non-designers.

Tuesday, November 7, 3:00 – 5:00pm | Felipe Mujica | 133/141 West 21st Street, Room 101C and Online

MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by Felipe Mujica, co-founder of the artist-run space Galería Chilena (GCH), which operated between 1999 and 2005, first as a nomadic and commercial art gallery and later as a collaborative art project—a curatorial “experiment.” In early 2000, Mujica moved to New York City where he currently lives. Parallel and interrelated to his own work, Mujica has organized and produced many collaborative projects, which include mostly exhibitions and the design and publishing of books.

Tuesday, November 7, 5:00 – 6:00pm | The Artists Roundtable: Dawn DeDeaux (New Orleans) | Online

MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with Dawn DeDeaux, who has merged art with new technologies for decades to broaden definitions of art and audience. Early works from the 1970s such as CB Radio Booths harnessed the mobility and fluidity of language and location—utilizing mass communication media as the medium itself to bring art into the streets, connecting underserved communities to the currents of cultural discourse. Mid-career works offered pioneering immersive, synchronized media environments and video sculptures—including Soul Shadows, Women Eating, Almost Touching You, The Face of God and In Search of—a six channel 360 degree environment that premiered at the 1996 Olympics. In 2023 she was the subject of a major retrospective at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Tuesday, November 7, 6:30 – 7:30pm | Leo Porto and Felipe Rocha, a Design Conversation |136 West 21st Street, 2nd floor

MA Design Research, Writing and Criticism presents a masterclass in design thinking with Felipe Rocha and Leo Porto (BFA 2015 Advertising), creative directors of the award-winning strategy and design agency Porto Rocha. From large-scale projects to socially and culturally motivated initiatives, these groundbreaking designers will discuss how they produce work that provokes meaningful change, recently recognized as 2023 Studio of the Year from the Latin American Design Awards.

Tuesday, November 7, 7:00 – 8:30pm | i3 Photo Lecture: Amon Focus | Location provided upon RSVP

MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with Amon Focus, the founder and driving creative force behind New York Said, part of its i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series. Focus is a documentary photographer, culture journalist and producer with an unwavering mission: to document and preserve the messages hidden in plain sight, not only within the five boroughs but also globally. Complementing this visual narrative, he hosts the New York Said interview series, in which he has engaged in over 250 in-depth conversations with luminaries such as Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz, acclaimed photographer Jay Maisel, and legendary graffiti writer TAKI 183. Through both lens and microphone, Focus curates and celebrates the stories and insights of the city that too often go unnoticed.

Monday, November 13, 7:00 – 8:00pm | Visiting Artist Lecture: Mithu Sen | 335 West 16th Street

BFA Fine Arts presents a visiting artist lecture with Mithu Sen, a conceptual artist who explores myths of identity and their intersection with the structures of our world, whether social, political, economic or emotional. She performs her work across mediums to explore hierarchies and conventions with particular reference to “myths” of language, sexuality, market and marginalization. Braiding grotesque fiction, personal ephemera and piercing humor to obscure societal codes, the by-products of her conceptual practice take the forms of drawings, poems, performances, videos, glitches and instructional interventions.

Tuesday, November 14, 1:00 – 2:00pm | The Artists Roundtable: Ahmet Ögüt (Berlin) | Online

MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with Ahmet Ögüt. Born in 1981 in Silvan, Diyarbakır, Ögüt lives and works in Amsterdam, Istanbul and Berlin. He was the initiator of The Silent University. He received his BA at Hacettepe University In Ankara, and his MA From Yildiz Teknik University InIstanbul. Ögüt spent two years at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten In Amsterdam. He has had recent solo exhibitions in Skopje, Athrns and Kuala Lampur and has work in permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museum Goetz in Munich.

Tuesday, November 14, 3:00 – 5:00pm | Willie Cole |133/141 West 21st Street, Room 101C

MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by Willie Cole (BFA 1976 Media Arts), whose work has been the subject of several solo museum exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1998), Bronx Museum of the Arts (2001), Miami Art Museum (2001), Tampa Museum of Art (2004), University of Wyoming Art Museum (2006), Montclair Art Museum (2006) and College of Wooster Art Museum (2013-14).

Tuesday, November 14, 6:30 – 8:00pm | Frances Fox Piven: Way Beyond Normal | Online

BFA Visual & Critical Studies and the Honors Program present a talk with Frances Fox Piven, political scientist, activist, one of the “nine most dangerous people in the world” (according to Glenn Beck) and author of definitive analyses of social movements and barriers to voting in the US. Piven returns to SVA to analyze the wild style—maybe not seen since the 1850s—of American politics today.

Wednesday, November 15, 6:30 – 8:00pm | Criticism, Research & the Essay: A Design Conversation |136 West 21st Street, 2nd floor

Where does the essay fit into the literary world? What role does research play? MA Design Research, Writing and Criticism presents a talk with editors Jessica Lynne and Niela Orr alongside prolific critic Jennifer Krasinski and faculty member and essayist Jennifer Kabat for a thorough conversation about writing, criticism and editing the essay. They’ll explore how they develop voice in their writing and where they see criticism and the essay in the world today, as well as practical matters on writing, pitching and working with editors.

Features

This month at the College offers a tribute to BFA Advertising and BFA Design Chair Emeritus Richard Wilde, Art & Activism events and a slew of talks by artists and curators.