JANET SARBANES ON RADICAL DEMOCRACY AND THE RADICAL IMAGINARY IN LETTERS ON THE AUTONOMY PROJECT

By Christine N. Ziemba

Author Janet Sarbanes, faculty member in the School of Critical Studies, writes open letters to artists, academics, and activists (“Dear A”) in her newest book, Letters on the Autonomy Project (Punctum Books).

The subject matter is prescient given the rise of authoritarianism—and loss of autonomy—while at the same time we see renewed struggle against social, political, and economic inequity and injustice.

Rooted in political and aesthetic theory and history, and framed by the thought of Cornelius Castoriadis, Sarbanes’ book examines the possibilities for radical democracy and the radical social imaginary in our era, as well as for art. She asks, how can we understand political and artistic autonomies as linked (rather than diametrically opposed)? What role does pedagogy play in fostering self-determination? “Teaching at CalArts,” Sarbanes observes, “and researching and experiencing its particular legacy of radical pedagogy has definitely influenced my thinking and practice. One of the letters is dedicated to tracing that history.”

In the first open letter, she writes: One of the central aims of this book is to think through and recalibrate the relationship between art and politics by way of autonomy. Indeed, I believe we cannot face our current crisis of social imagination and political will without a better understanding of autonomy both as a concept and a practice. But just as importantly, this book was conceived in a moment of struggle, and it seeks to contribute to that struggle. Whatever the context of its reading, that is the context of its writing—this is a work of praxis. Some of these letters explore political and aesthetic theories of autonomy; others hearken back to the reignition of the radical social imaginary in the late sixties and early seventies, with special attention paid to Black Radical, Feminist, and Autonomist Marxist approaches to liberation; still others discuss the re-emergence of the radical imaginary in our own time, proof that another world is possible, dear A, every minute of every day.

When asked about the genesis of the book, she responds, “I really wanted to understand the times I was—and we are—living in, which seemed to me to be extraordinary. I was excited by the radical horizon that had been resurrected, the idea that we could change the whole of society, rather than bits and pieces of it here and there, and I felt grateful to be alive in a moment where new solidarities were emerging.

I chose the form of the open letter to reflect this fact, to invite the reader to think across struggles, and perhaps most importantly to suggest a radical horizon that expands with each and every demand for self-determination, whether it issues forth from the Black liberation struggle, trans liberation struggle, or workers’ struggle, just a few of the examples considered in the book. I was also struck by how absent art appeared to be from the scene—not the work of individual artists per se but rather the presence of a strong counterculture that could feed these struggles and take them further (the relationship of the Black Arts Movement to the Black Power Movement in the ’60s is instructive here). If we’re living in a time when one of the dominant ideologies of neoliberal capitalism—hyperindividualism— is coming under real scrutiny, we’re going to have to ask some hard questions about the role of existing art institutions in upholding that ideology, as well as work to create new institutions that link individual and collective creativity in socially and politically liberatory ways.”

Sarbanes, the 2017 recipient of a Creative Capital/ Andy Warhol art writer’s grant, has also authored the short story collections Army of One and The Protester Has Been Released. Her art criticism and critical essays have been published in museum catalogs, anthologies, and journals including East of Borneo, Afterall, Popular Music and Society, and the Journal of Utopian Studies. Her essay on Shaker aesthetics and utopian communalism received the Eugenio Battisti prize from the Society for Utopian Studies.

Calarts Alums Named 2023 United States Artists Fellows

By Christine N. Ziemba

In January, United States Artists (USA)—a Chicago-based national arts funding organization—announced its 2023 Fellows from 10 creative disciplines. CalArts alums Antoine Hunter aka Purple Fire Crow (DANCE 02) and Kite (MuSiC BFA 14) were among the 45 fellows who will receive $50,000 unrestricted cash awards. The USA Fellowship honors artists from all stages of their careers for their creative accomplishments and supports ongoing artistic and professional development in the following disciplines: Architecture & Design, Craft, Dance, Film, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Art, and Writing.

Hunter, who was featured in issue 3 of The Pool, is an internationally known producer, choreographer, director, and Deaf advocate. Named a 2023 USA Fellow in Dance, he emboldens his Urban Jazz Dance Company to “engage with audiences; empower Deaf and disabled communities; and advocate for human rights and access, working to end discrimination and prejudice.” While he cannot hear the music that accompanies his dances, Hunter has learned to experience and embody the music and beats.

The Oglála Lakĥóta performance artist, visual artist, composer, and academic Kite, awarded a 2023 USA Fellowship for Media, is one of the first American Indian artists to use machine learning in art practice. “Her groundbreaking scholarship and practice explore contemporary Lakota ontology through research-creation and performance. She often works in collaboration, especially with family and community members.”

Since 2006, United States Artists has awarded nearly 800 artists and cultural practitioners more than $38 million of direct support through its USA Fellowship flagship program. ⁂

School Of Art Launches Rosalind Harris Visiting Critic Program

By Katie Dunham

Throughout the spring semester, CalArts’ School of Art welcomed scholar Nana Adusei-Poku, artist and CalArts alum Alicia Piller (art MFa 19), and artist-writer-musician

Devin Kenny as inaugural visiting critics in the Rosalind Harris Visiting Critic Program, part of the Charles Gaines Faculty Chair initiative. Each visiting critic participated in an oncampus residency that included free public talks, pedagogical workshops, and studio visits with CalArts students.

Adusei-Poku began the series in March with the lecture “Black Melancholia as Critical Practice.” Taking its title and theme from an exhibition curated by Adusei-Poku last summer at Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies in upstate New York, the exhibition brought together the work of 28 artists of African descent to expand and complicate the notion of “melancholy” in Western art history and cultures. The exhibition pushed beyond the iconography of melancholia as an art historical subject and psychoanalytical concept to subvert highly racialized discourses in which notions of longing, despair, sadness, and loss were not only pathologized but also reserved for white cis (fe-)male subjects. In her presentation, AduseiPoku discussed the larger research project in which Black melancholia is embedded through the exhibition itself, various case studies, as well as methodological challenges in African diasporic art history.

During her Distinguished Alumnx Lecture “Journey to Materiality,” Piller discussed her art practice and her own blueprint for creation and navigation, going back in time while moving us forward on her continued voyage. Noted for her large-scale mixed-media sculptures, Piller’s practice examines historical traumas, both political and environmental, through the lens of a microscope.

Kenny’s talk aligned with his current research that proposes the syncretic cultures of the Black Atlantic as a forerunner to the logic of contemporary network culture and uses that as a launchpad for social and aesthetic critique. By fluctuating between the research-responsive and the intuitive, and frequently with sharp humor, Kenny uses a wide modality of mediums and modes of distribution to complicate ideas on contemporary culture as it has been impacted by network technology by “any means possible.”

In August 2020, philanthropist Eileen Harris Norton honored artist and longtime CalArts faculty Charles Gaines with a $5 million gift to create the Charles Gaines Faculty Chair and related programming. The gift facilitates further professional development for Black and other underrepresented faculty members in the School of Art through its support of research, creative activities, and curriculum innovation, which includes the new visiting critic program.

“We are at a sociopolitical moment in which diversity cannot just be about appearance. We need deep, varied, complex approaches to Black study and experimentalism,” said Steven Lam, Kraus Family Distinguished Dean Chair of Art. These three visiting critics each addressed how artistic work can challenge the aftereffects of racial capitalism through examinations of the curatorial archive, everyday experiments in the studio, or explorations with style and technology.

Lam continues, “We look forward to working with the Eileen Norton Harris Foundation to develop the Charles Gaines Faculty Chair in the years to come.” ⁂