Kirsten Swenson | University of Massachusetts, Lowell (original) (raw)
Papers by Kirsten Swenson
Art in America, 2009
A feature written on the occasion of Graham's 2009 retrospective exhibition "Dan Graham: Beyond" ... more A feature written on the occasion of Graham's 2009 retrospective exhibition "Dan Graham: Beyond" at MoCA (Los Angeles) (also traveled to the Whitney).
A groundswell of art since the turn of the millennium has engaged the politics of land use, addre... more A groundswell of art since the turn of the millennium has engaged the politics of land use, addressing topics from the widespread privatization of public spaces and resources to anthropogenic climate change, borderland conflicts, the Occupy movement, and the rhetoric of “sustainable development.” Some of the most compelling artists today are forging new representational and performative practices to reveal the social significance of hidden, or normalized, features inscribed in the land. Their work pivots around a set of evolving questions: In what ways is land, formed over the course of geological time, also contemporary, or formed by the conditions of the present? How do environmental and economic structures correlate? Can art spur more nuanced ways of thinking about and interacting with the land? How might art contribute to the expansion of spatial and environmental justice? Certain artists negotiate the legacy of 1960s and 1970s Land art or the conditions of the global art world,...
Art in America, 2017
On two Nari Ward exhibitions in 2017--his traveling retrospective, Sun Splashed, and show at Lehm... more On two Nari Ward exhibitions in 2017--his traveling retrospective, Sun Splashed, and show at Lehmann Maupin, Till/Lit.
Art in America, 2013
This article responds to a series of James Turrell exhibitions in 2013. I was interested in revis... more This article responds to a series of James Turrell exhibitions in 2013. I was interested in revisiting Rosalind Krauss's critique of his work in "On the Logic of the Late Capitalist Museum" in light of these retrospectives. This informed my own analysis of Turrell's ganzfelds, perceptual cells, and dark spaces, where I spent quite a bit of time at LACMA, the Kayne, Griffin, Corcoran gallery, the Mattress Factory, and the Louis Vuitton store in Las Vegas (!) as part of my research for this article.
Robert Ryman, Dia Art Foundation, 2017
This is a catalogue essay on ephemerality and installation in the painting practice of Robert Ryman.
An essay published in the catalogue Sol LeWitt Structures: 1965 - 2011 (Nicholas Baume, ed.) on t... more An essay published in the catalogue Sol LeWitt Structures: 1965 - 2011 (Nicholas Baume, ed.) on the occasion of the Public Art Fund exhibition of LeWitt's structures in New York City. (Yale University Press, 2011).
Books by Kirsten Swenson
From Francis Alÿs and Ursula Biemann to Vivan Sundaram, Allora & Calzadilla, and the Center for U... more From Francis Alÿs and Ursula Biemann to Vivan Sundaram, Allora & Calzadilla, and the Center for Urban Pedagogy, some of the most compelling artists today are engaging with the politics of land use, including the growth of the global economy, climate change, sustainability, Occupy movements, and the privatization of public space. Their work pivots around a set of evolving questions: In what ways is land, formed over the course of geological time, also contemporary and formed by the conditions of the present? How might art contribute to the expansion of spatial and environmental justice? Editors Emily Eliza Scott and Kirsten Swenson bring together a range of international voices and artworks to illuminate this critical mass of practices.
>>> CONTRIBUTORS: Edgar Arceneaux, Amy Balkin, Nuit Banai, Kelly C. Baum, Ursula Biemann, Aaron Bobrow-Strain, Nicholas Brown, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Andrew Burridge, Ashley Dawson, TJ Demos (reprint), Ruth Erikson, Robby Herbst, Institute for Infinitely Small Things, Sarah Kanouse, Yazan Khalili, Dongsei Kim, Janet Kraynak (reprint), Shiloh Krupar, Jenna Loyd, Saloni Mathur, Lize Mogel, Julian Myers-Szupinska, James Nisbet, Trevor Paglen (reprint), Giulia Paoletti, Paul (Monty) Paret, Lorenzo Pezzani, David Pinder, Chunghoon Shin, Luke Skrebowski, Jeannine Tang, and Ying Zhou.
>>> REVIEWS: “This is the book I’ve been waiting for. Scott and Swenson bring together a vast variety of projects from all over the globe, providing a rigorous and sometimes brilliant examination of the social spaces into which artists have been inserting themselves for decades now. Departing from conventional landscapes and documentary approaches, informed by feminism and grassroots and global movements, authors and artists are opening the floodgates to a still broader context for art.”—Lucy R. Lippard, author of Undermining: A Wild Ride through Land Use, Politics, and Art in the Changing West // "Scott and Swenson’s trenchant collection of essays will be indispensable for theorists of land use, critical urbanism, and contemporary art. It is itself a monument in the beleaguered landscape of our age."—Caroline A. Jones, Professor of History, Theory, and Criticism, MIT, and editor of Sensorium: Embodied Experience, Technology, and Contemporary Art // "Though in radically different ways, these authors contest the common treatment of land as neutral or a given—as if all that matters is what happens on top of it. For some the project is to make land visible, and for others it is to capture what is present even if invisible. They move against erasure or the generic. They trace and mark differences."—Saskia Sassen, author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy
Art in America, 2009
A feature written on the occasion of Graham's 2009 retrospective exhibition "Dan Graham: Beyond" ... more A feature written on the occasion of Graham's 2009 retrospective exhibition "Dan Graham: Beyond" at MoCA (Los Angeles) (also traveled to the Whitney).
A groundswell of art since the turn of the millennium has engaged the politics of land use, addre... more A groundswell of art since the turn of the millennium has engaged the politics of land use, addressing topics from the widespread privatization of public spaces and resources to anthropogenic climate change, borderland conflicts, the Occupy movement, and the rhetoric of “sustainable development.” Some of the most compelling artists today are forging new representational and performative practices to reveal the social significance of hidden, or normalized, features inscribed in the land. Their work pivots around a set of evolving questions: In what ways is land, formed over the course of geological time, also contemporary, or formed by the conditions of the present? How do environmental and economic structures correlate? Can art spur more nuanced ways of thinking about and interacting with the land? How might art contribute to the expansion of spatial and environmental justice? Certain artists negotiate the legacy of 1960s and 1970s Land art or the conditions of the global art world,...
Art in America, 2017
On two Nari Ward exhibitions in 2017--his traveling retrospective, Sun Splashed, and show at Lehm... more On two Nari Ward exhibitions in 2017--his traveling retrospective, Sun Splashed, and show at Lehmann Maupin, Till/Lit.
Art in America, 2013
This article responds to a series of James Turrell exhibitions in 2013. I was interested in revis... more This article responds to a series of James Turrell exhibitions in 2013. I was interested in revisiting Rosalind Krauss's critique of his work in "On the Logic of the Late Capitalist Museum" in light of these retrospectives. This informed my own analysis of Turrell's ganzfelds, perceptual cells, and dark spaces, where I spent quite a bit of time at LACMA, the Kayne, Griffin, Corcoran gallery, the Mattress Factory, and the Louis Vuitton store in Las Vegas (!) as part of my research for this article.
Robert Ryman, Dia Art Foundation, 2017
This is a catalogue essay on ephemerality and installation in the painting practice of Robert Ryman.
An essay published in the catalogue Sol LeWitt Structures: 1965 - 2011 (Nicholas Baume, ed.) on t... more An essay published in the catalogue Sol LeWitt Structures: 1965 - 2011 (Nicholas Baume, ed.) on the occasion of the Public Art Fund exhibition of LeWitt's structures in New York City. (Yale University Press, 2011).
From Francis Alÿs and Ursula Biemann to Vivan Sundaram, Allora & Calzadilla, and the Center for U... more From Francis Alÿs and Ursula Biemann to Vivan Sundaram, Allora & Calzadilla, and the Center for Urban Pedagogy, some of the most compelling artists today are engaging with the politics of land use, including the growth of the global economy, climate change, sustainability, Occupy movements, and the privatization of public space. Their work pivots around a set of evolving questions: In what ways is land, formed over the course of geological time, also contemporary and formed by the conditions of the present? How might art contribute to the expansion of spatial and environmental justice? Editors Emily Eliza Scott and Kirsten Swenson bring together a range of international voices and artworks to illuminate this critical mass of practices.
>>> CONTRIBUTORS: Edgar Arceneaux, Amy Balkin, Nuit Banai, Kelly C. Baum, Ursula Biemann, Aaron Bobrow-Strain, Nicholas Brown, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Andrew Burridge, Ashley Dawson, TJ Demos (reprint), Ruth Erikson, Robby Herbst, Institute for Infinitely Small Things, Sarah Kanouse, Yazan Khalili, Dongsei Kim, Janet Kraynak (reprint), Shiloh Krupar, Jenna Loyd, Saloni Mathur, Lize Mogel, Julian Myers-Szupinska, James Nisbet, Trevor Paglen (reprint), Giulia Paoletti, Paul (Monty) Paret, Lorenzo Pezzani, David Pinder, Chunghoon Shin, Luke Skrebowski, Jeannine Tang, and Ying Zhou.
>>> REVIEWS: “This is the book I’ve been waiting for. Scott and Swenson bring together a vast variety of projects from all over the globe, providing a rigorous and sometimes brilliant examination of the social spaces into which artists have been inserting themselves for decades now. Departing from conventional landscapes and documentary approaches, informed by feminism and grassroots and global movements, authors and artists are opening the floodgates to a still broader context for art.”—Lucy R. Lippard, author of Undermining: A Wild Ride through Land Use, Politics, and Art in the Changing West // "Scott and Swenson’s trenchant collection of essays will be indispensable for theorists of land use, critical urbanism, and contemporary art. It is itself a monument in the beleaguered landscape of our age."—Caroline A. Jones, Professor of History, Theory, and Criticism, MIT, and editor of Sensorium: Embodied Experience, Technology, and Contemporary Art // "Though in radically different ways, these authors contest the common treatment of land as neutral or a given—as if all that matters is what happens on top of it. For some the project is to make land visible, and for others it is to capture what is present even if invisible. They move against erasure or the generic. They trace and mark differences."—Saskia Sassen, author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy