Visiting Artist Colloquium

media release: The Art Department Colloquium is a series supported by the Anonymous Fund and the Brittingham Trust. Visiting Artist lectures are held every Wednesday during the academic year, and are free and open to the public.

Discover the latest developments in fine art, craft, and design at our free public lectures by some of the nation’s most prominent artists, critics, and gallery and museum directors.

Wednesdays @ 5 – 6:15 pm, Chazen Auditorium (March 11 moves to the Play Circle)

Astria Suparak’s cross-disciplinary projects address complex and urgent issues (like institutionalized racism, feminism, and colonialism) made accessible through a popular culture lens, such as science fiction movies, rock music, memes, and sports. Straddling creative and scholarly work, Suparak’s projects often take the form of publicly available tools and databases, chronicling subcultures and omitted perspectives. Her multimedia performance Asian futures, without Asians, an incisive taxonomy of film tropes which reference the histories of architecture, fashion, religion, and weaponry, was described as “cathartic, brilliant,” (Variable West) and “a compelling yet brutally honest exploration,” (The Michigan Daily). Her Tropicsss series proposes possible, expanded affinities and solidarities across geography and national borders. In the last five years, Suparak’s installations, performances, and videos have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the ArtScience Museum, Singapore.

She has curated exhibitions, screenings, and performances that are “visually and conceptually stunning,” (Hyperallergic) with “savvy political consciousness,” for the Liverpool Biennial, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, MoMA PS1 and The Kitchen in New York, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, and Expo Chicago, as well as for unconventional spaces such as roller-skating rinks, sports bars, and rock clubs.

Suparak is the winner of the 2022 San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Award, and is based in Oakland, California. astriasuparak.com