Changes in Contemporary Art Curation Panel Discussion

Changes in Contemporary Art Curation Panel Discussion

Wednesday, September 13, 2023 (7:00-8:30pm) on Zoom

$10 CAA Member; $15 General Admission

Maximum number of attendees: 100

What trends are curators following and creating? How do priorities differ based on the venue? What roles do public art and community-based art play in this conversation? The many kinds of institutions within the art world - major museums, university galleries, for-profit and non-for galleries, artist-run spaces - create different opportunities for dialogue. And, each has its own audience, tiers of accountability, and level of agility when it comes to creating and presenting exhibition programs. 

Please join the Cambridge Art Association (CAA) for an online panel discussion of current trends in curatorial practice, featuring curators from many different facets of the art world, and learn more about what kinds of trends they are observing - and creating - within their respective institutions. 

The Changes in Curatorial Practices panel will be hosted on ZOOM.  There will be 60 minutes of moderated discussion, followed by up to 30 minutes of moderated Q&A from the audience. We anticipate that the panel will inspire thoughtful and innovative discussions about contemporary art curation. 

Moderator:

Jasper Sanchez

Jasper A. Sanchez (he/they; b. 1997, USA) is an independent curator, queer art historian, and public art enthusiast who graduated from the Art History & Critical Theory program at Lesley University. A Venezuelan-Colombian raised in Miami, FL, immersion in transnational art since their youth inspired them to focus their studies on curatorial practice with an interest in queer diaspora. He was the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy’s inaugural Public Art Intern Ambassador and later helped develop socially engaged art projects within Lesley’s Office of Community Engagement. Sanchez has programmed with the Boston LGBTQIA+ Artist Alliance (BLAA) and curated exhibitions at Distillery Gallery, Boston Cyberarts Gallery, and Tufts University Art Galleries. In the Fall of 2022, Sanchez curated Anukriti: A Temple For Timeless Beasts at the Mills Gallery as part of the Boston Center for the Arts' 1:1 Curatorial Initiative. Their exhibitions have been reviewed in The Boston Globe and WBUR, while their writing has been featured in the Boston Art Review and the Boston Hassle.

He is currently Assitant Curator with the public art organization Now + There, where he is helping curate temporary, site-specific experiences aiming to make public space in Boston more caring, equitable, and welcoming for all. You can follow Jasper on Instagram at @jasper_a_sanchez.

Panelists:

Chenoa Baker

Chenoa Baker (she/her) is a curator, wordsmith, and descendant of self-emancipators. Art spaces
as incubators for intergroup dialogue and imaginative portals were her foray into curatorial work.
In addition to leading the exhibition program as the Associate Curator at Beacon Gallery, she
worked on: Gio Swaby: Fresh Up at the Peabody Essex Museum; Simone Leigh at ICA/Boston;
Simone Leigh: Sovereignty at the 59th La Biennale di Venezia; and Touching Roots: Black
Ancestral Legacies in the Americas at MFA/Boston. Her autobiographical-style art criticism
appears in Public Parking, Material Intelligence, Studio Potter, Boston Art Review, Sixty Inches
From Center, Burnaway, and a monograph contribution for Helena Metaferia: Generations, Art
For This Moment.

Gabriel Sosa 

Gabriel Sosa is a Cuban-American artist, educator, linguist, and curator. His work has been shown at Fitchburg Art Museum; The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Fábrica de Arte Cubano, Havana, Cuba; Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford; A R E A, Boston; Now + There; and Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia. He has participated in residencies at Lugar a dudas, The Art & Law Program, Urbano Project, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Mass MoCA, and Santa Fe Art Institute. A former court interpreter, he has worked on language initiatives with Harvard Art Museums, ICA Boston, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gabriel teaches in the Art Education Department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and also serves as Deputy Director of Essex Art Center, a community nonprofit in Lawrence, Massachusetts. 

Michelle Y. Loh

Michelle Y. Loh is a New York based art gallery director and curator. Loh  represents galleries at international art fairs including Frieze New York Frieze Masters London, Art Basel Miami, Art Basel Hong Kong, and FIAC in Paris. Loh has also curated museum exhibitions including at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, the Museum of Chinese in America in New York, and Today Art Museum in Beijing as well as at Christie’s New York and the Ping Yao International Photo Festival.

Loh has lectured on contemporary Asian art at Columbia University, Pace University, the New York Academy of Art and other academic and cultural institutions. Loh also serves on the Board of Directors of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York City, and Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan, CT.