In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of MoMA's New Photography series—and its current edition, Ocean of Images: New Photography 2015—this forum focuses on discourses and changes in contemporary photo-based culture since 1985, New Photography's inaugural year. Since its inception, this pioneering series has introduced the work of 100 artists from around the globe early in their careers, underscoring the Museum’s commitment to presenting recent bodies of work that engage photography as a field of experimentation and intellectual inquiry.
We have invited artists and curators who have either contributed to the New Photography series or to the overall evolution of contemporary image-making to reflect on the art of creating, post-producing, circulating, and reenacting images, and to discuss issues of authorship and reception. Participants include Darsie Alexander, Executive Director, Katonah Museum of Art; Charlotte Cotton, photography writer and curator; artist Thomas Demand; artist David Hartt; Thomas J. Lax, Associate Curator in Media and Performance Art, MoMA; and artist Erin Shirreff.
This event is invitation only, but we are very pleased to present a live stream of the forum, which will allow remote friends and colleagues to participate in the conversation.
Cofounded by curators Roxana Marcoci and Eva Respini on February 16, 2010, and conceived as an experimental platform for free-form critical discussions, MoMA’s forums on contemporary photography are designed to encourage debate about the perspectives and scope of still and moving images and other forms of picture-making among leading artists, curators, and theorists in the field. The creative process of today is not solitary but dynamic, evolving from countless partnerships. These forums offer an intellectual milieu that values the scholarly reassessment of pivotal ideas in art, innovative practices, and complex and competing visions of modern and contemporary art.
Roxana Marcoci, The David Dechman Senior Curator and Acting Chief Curator of Photography, The Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography, MoMA, begins each session with an introduction to the topic, providing context for the conversation. Four to seven featured speakers then present for five to 10 minutes each. The presentations are followed by a probing, critical Q&A session and a moderated discussion with all the guests.
Read an article about the Forums from Art in America.
Organized by Roxana Marcoci, Senior Curator, Department of Photography, MoMA
Speakers: Darsie Alexander, Executive Director, Katonah Museum of Art
Charlotte Cotton, photography writer and curator
Thomas Demand, artist
David Hartt, artist
Thomas J. Lax, Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, MoMA
Erin Shirreff, artist