ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College will present “Positioning,” an exhibition curated by first-year graduate students in the Center’s master’s degree program. Positioning will be on view at the Center for Curatorial Studies Museum on the Bard College campus from Sunday, February 7, to Sunday, February 21, with an opening reception from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on February 7. The exhibition and opening reception are free and open to the public. Museum hours are Wednesday to Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Positioning was conceived as a curatorial collaboration between the first-year graduate students and visiting curator Maria Hlavajova, who is director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts-Slovakia. According to the curators, the exhibition explores current directions in the visual arts. It examines artworks that consider issues and artistic concerns that have arisen during the past ten years. Positioning is organized around four areas of interest that have preoccupied artists in the 1990s: the Personal and Intimate, Relational Positioning, Subversive and Sublime, and Transient and Permanent. In contemporary society, anyone’s image, speech, or writing has the potential to be broadcast over great distance and to a great number of people. “Positioning” attempts to broaden the categories of viewer and of object viewed by exploring both the position of artists in relation to their artwork and to society and the position of viewers in relation to what they view.
Positioning features works by Matthew Barney, Vanessa Beecroft, Sophie Calle, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Mona Hatoum, Tony Oursler, Jack Pierson, Kiki Smith, Sean Landers, Gabriel Orozco, and other artists. The works are from the Marieluise Hessel Collection, which is on permanent loan to the Center for Curatorial Studies. The exhibition is curated by Weijun Cao, Jennifer Crowe, Lisa Hatchadoorian, Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy, Ji-Seon Kim, Dermis P. Leon, Tumelo Mosaka, Gregory Sandoval, Lorelei Stewart, Monika Szczukowska, Mercedes Vicente, Jeffrey Walkowiak, and Teresa Williams.
In conjunction with Positioning, two film screenings will be presented in collaboration with the Bard College Film and Electronic Arts Program. The films will be shown on Wednesday, February 17, and Thursday, February 18, times to be announced, and will be free and open to the public.