Curator Noah Simblist will discuss how artists can often act as outsiders to criticize, explicitly or implicitly, the social ills of a society foreign to them. Simblist will focus on the work of Francis Alys, Marine Hugonnier, Artur Zmijewsky, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Phil Collins, and Zoe Leonard, and how they deal with the problems of a colonialist or tourist approach to a local situation. These issues are inherent to a globalized art work, especially through international biennials, but they also cross over to non-governmental and civic organizations that rely on “internationals” for both support and content.
Curator Leah Abir will follow Simblist’s presentation with a response and moderated discussion.
“Outside Interference” is a joint event presented in collaboration with the Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon.
Noah Simblist works as a writer, independent curator and artist. He is an Associate Professor of Art at Southern Methodist University and is a PhD candidate in art history at the University of TX, Austin where he was the 2010-2011 Curatorial Fellow at The Visual Arts Center. His curatorial projects include “Yuri’s Office” by Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, “Out of Place” at Lora Reynolds Gallery, “Tamy Ben Tor” at “Testsite”, and “Queer State(s)” at the Visual Arts Center. He is also on the curatorial team for the 2013 Texas Biennial. Writing projects include “Setting Sail: The Aesthetics of Politics on the Gaza Flotilla” as well as interviews with Khaled Hourani, Omer Fast, Jill Magid, Walead Beshty and Nicholas Schaffhausen, “Trouble in Paradise: The Erasure of Memory” at Canada Park for Pidgin Magazine, “The Art of Forgetfulness, the Trauma of Memory: Yael Bartana and Artur Zmijewski” for Transmission Annual, and a feature about the work of Dor Guez for ARTPULSE.