Art historian and professor Joan Kee will be appearing at two events in Southern California later this month around the recent publication of her book, Models of Integrity: Art and Law in Post-Sixties America.
“A tour de force of scholarship and interdisciplinarity, this book is fundamentally about power: who wields it, how it takes shape, and how it can be contested. Kee’s groundbreaking work will change the way we think about culture and society; it will reshape our understanding of what art is—and what it can do.”—Michelle Kuo, Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art
Thursday, April 25, 4:30–6 PM, Santa Barbara Museum of Art
What Art Has to Say About the Law
Art Matters Lecture by Joan Kee
Beginning in the late 1960s, the contemporary art world was increasingly shaped by how its members engaged with the law. From contract-like conceptual artworks to confrontations with police and courts, artists like Suzanne Lacy, Ann Messner, David Hammons, Dennis Oppenheim, and Tehching Hsieh interacted with various facets of the law as an integral part of their creative process. Yet rather than focus on what art has done to law, contemporary artists produced works that raised pointed questions for lawyers, judges and for anyone interested in the legal institution.
Friday, April 26, 6–7:30 PM, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Los Angeles
Models of Integrity: An Evening with Joan Kee
A talk between Kibum Kim, Associate Director, Head of Art Business, at the Sotheby’s Institute Los Angeles and Joan Kee, Associate Professor, History of Art, University of Michigan, about her new book Models of Integrity, which covers artists from the 1960s and ’70s who used the law as a medium to engage in institutional critique and challenge the ways in which artworks are produced, exhibited, and circulated. Kee also has an article coming up in next month’s (May) issue of Artforum, in which she will discuss contemporary artists—such as Gala Porras-Kim, who are similarly looking toward the law to retain control over their work.
Please RSVP to admissionsLA@sia.edu. This event will also be livestreamed.
Additional upcoming speaking engagements will include e-flux in New York on May 22nd, and University of Hong Kong in June.
