MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by artist Gregory Sholette who will speak on his personal art practice, followed by an introduction to Social Practice Queens, an academic program at Queens College (CUNY) that he co-directs with Chloë Bass.

In his wide-ranging art, activist, teaching and writing practice, Dr. Gregory Sholette develops a self-described "viable, democratic, counter-narrative that, bit-by-bit, gains descriptive power within the larger public discourse." He is a founding member of Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D: 1980-1988, NYC); of REPOhistory collective (1989-2000); and Gulf Labor, an artists' group advocating for migrant workers' rights constructing Western-branded art museums in Abu Dhabi (2010-ongoing). While his individual art explores issues of artistic labor and political resistance via drawing, sculpture and mixed media, Sholette's critical writing document and reflect upon decades of activist art, much of which might otherwise remain invisible. He is editor or author of seven published volumes including most recently Art as Social Action (edited with Chloë Bass: Skyhorse Publishers, May 2018); Delirium & Resistance: Art Activism & the Crisis of Capitalism (2017) and Dark Matter: Art and Politics in an Age of Enterprise Culture (2011, both Pluto Press). Along with Bass he co-directs Social Practice Queens at Queens College (CUNY), where his is a professor holding a PhD from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2017), and degrees from The Cooper Union (BFA, 1979), University of California, San Diego (MFA, 1995), and The Whitney Independent Studies Program in Critical Theory (1996).

Social Practice Queens (SPQ) is situated within one of the country's most culturally diverse neighborhoods and is a unique collaboration between Queens College Art Department (CUNY) and the Queens Museum of Art. Working in a supportive learning environment that encourages both theory and its real-world application, select groups of emerging artists and cultural practitioners earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree focused on Critical Social Practice (54 credits), or an Advanced Certificate in Critical Social Practice (24 credits). Self-directed areas of study include: community and public art, urban research, guerrilla architecture, street performance, environmental activism and public interventions.

Talk

Gregory Sholette and Social Practice Queens

Room 101C