Exhibitions at the Institute
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The Duke House Exhibition Series
The Great Hall Exhibitions Series
Fanny Sanín’s New York: The Critical Decade, 1971-1981
Cauleen Smith H-E-L-L-0: To Do All At Once
The Institute of Fine Arts Annual 2020 - 2021
We are delighted to announce the extension of the Duke House Exhibition Fanny Sanín’s New York: The Critical Decade, 1971-1981 which will remain on view at the Institute’s Duke House until January of 2022. We are deeply grateful to Fanny for agreeing to extend the loans of her four exquisite large-scale pieces installed in the Loeb Room and the Lecture Hall, where they appear to have been painted precisely for these elegant spaces. This show is the first comprehensive solo exhibition to explore the Colombian-born artist’s evolving practice of geometric abstraction during her first decade living and working in New York City. It is an honor to give our community members further opportunity to view this exhibition curated by Anastassia Perfileva, Megan Kincaid and Edward Chang. This show was the result of an initial class project for the fall 2019 seminar taught by Edward Sullivan on Curatorial Practice and Museum History. Fanny Sanín’s New York: The Critical Decade, 1971-1981 is generously funded by the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) www.islaa.org. Special thanks to the Fanny Sanín Legacy Project.
Installation view: Fanny Sanín’s New York: The Critical Decade, 1971-1981
Cauleen Smith, H-E-L-L-O (video still), 2014, digital video, 11:06 minutes. Courtesy the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago.
T
he Spring 2021 Great Hall Exhibition presented a solo exhibition of the acclaimed contemporary artist and filmmaker Cauleen Smith. Cauleen Smith, H-E-L-L-O: To Do All At Once was the first show in the series to take place entirely online and marked new opportunities for digital engagement. The exhibition focused on the artist’s 2014 short film, H-E-L-L-O, first commissioned as a response to Carnival traditions in North America. Set in the physical and psychic imaginary of post-Katrina New Orleans, the film casts isolated bass-clef performers amid the secular and sacred haunts of the city marked by devastation. In this way, Smith generates a constellation of artistic activity born amid the aftermath of regional devastation exacerbated by racial inequity. The exhibition website was designed in conjunction with the artist and included an illustrated biography and catalogue essay penned by the co-curators Megan Kincaid and Summer Sloane-Britt. In addition, the exhibition featured three responses to Smith’s film by colleagues and admirers of her work: Nikita Gale, Sky Hopinka, and The Black School. Each contributor considered H-E-L-L-O’s theoretical and formal approach in connection with their own practice––enlivening new dimensions and affordances of the film. The 2020-2021 Great Hall Exhibition Series is made possible through the generous support of Valeria Napoleone XX. We extend special thanks to the artist for lending the work on view, and additional thanks to her gallery, Corbett vs. Dempsey. Megan Kincaid and Summer Sloane-Britt curated the exhibition. Lizette Ayala designed the website. Miquael Williams contributed to the exhibition as an advisory curator, and Dr. Edward J. Sullivan provided faculty support.
