Negotiating the Terrain: Contemporary Artists in Society

Speaker: Carol Becker
Discussant: Shireen Gandhy

October 27 to 29, 2003 | 6.30 pm
Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai

Carol Becker is the Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of numerous articles and several books including: The Invisible Drama: Women and The Anxiety of Change; The Subversive Imagination: Artist, Society, and Social Responsibility; Zones of Contention: Essays on Art, Institutions, Gender and Anxiety; and most recently, Surpassing the Spectacle: Global Transformation and the Changing Politics of Art.

The lectures will focus on contemporary practice and how artists address various aspects of society. Each lecture will attempt to situate the complexity of the role of the artist as citizen. Each will also attempt to deepen the audience’s understanding of how artists think about the social issues of their time and to explain how U.S. audiences respond to contemporary work.

October 27, 2003
Lecture I: Dreaming in the Dark: The Ambivalent Love Affair Between Artists and Museums

October 28, 2003
Lecture II: Messing With the Sacred: When Images Unnerve Their Publics

October 29, 2003
Lecture III: Borne of Necessity: Artists Address Poverty