“WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?”
Art, Activism, and Abracadabra
The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) will present the second in The Brant Foundation Lecture in Contemporary Art series with a lecture by artist AA Bronson, to be given on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 at 5pm at Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center, Bard College. This lecture is made by possible by the major grant given from The Brant Foundation to Bard College to support The Brant Foundation Fellowship in Contemporary Arts.
On the 50th anniversary of the founding of General Idea, the artists’ group that he founded with his partners Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal in 1968, AA Bronson will visit Bard to speak about art, activism and magic.
AA Bronson’s work—as an artist, healer, curator, and educator—is dominated by the practice of collaboration and consensus. From his beginnings in a free school and commune, through his 25 years as one of the artists of General Idea, in his deep involvement with founding and developing collaborative and social structures such as Art Metropole, the NY Art Book Fair and AA Bronson’s School for Young Shamans, and through his current collaborations with younger generations, he has focused on the politics of decision-making and on living life radically as social sculpture.
AA will speak on his history with art and social justice through the lens of various projects: from the commune movement and underground newspapers of the 60s, to AIDS activism in the 80s and 90s, to an obsession with art and healing for the last twenty years. For the first time, he will describe and reflect upon his current project, A Public Apology to Siksika Nation, which builds on his family history to address white supremacy and the attempted destruction of Blackfoot culture.
About AA Bronson:
AA Bronson is a Canadian artist living and working in Berlin. In 1966, he left university with a group of friends to found a free school, a commune, and an underground newspaper. This led him into an adventure with gestalt therapy, radical education, and independent publishing.
In 1969 he formed the artists’ group General Idea in Toronto with Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal; for the next 25 years they lived and worked together to produce the living artwork of their being together, undertaking over 100 solo exhibitions, and countless group shows and temporary public art projects.
They were well-known for their magazine FILE (1972-1989), their unrelenting production of low-cost multiples, and their early involvement in punk, queer theory, AIDS activism, and other manifestations of the Other. In 1974 they founded Art Metropole, Toronto, a distribution center and archive for artists’ books, audio, video, and multiples. In 1986 they relocated to New York City: from 1987 through to the death of his partners in 1994 they worked entirely on the theme of AIDS.
Since the late 90s, AA has worked and exhibited as a solo artist, often collaborating with younger generations. From 1999 to 2013, he worked as a healer, an identity that he also incorporated into his artwork.
From 2004 to 2010 he was the Director of Printed Matter, Inc. in New York City, founding the annual NY Art Book Fair in 2005. In 2009 he founded the Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 2013 he was the founding Director of Printed Matter’s LA Art Book Fair.
AA Bronson continues to exhibit internationally. His Temptation of AA Bronson at Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, won the 2014 AICA Netherlands Award for best exhibition. In 2015 he had concurrent shows at the Salzburger and Grazer Kunstvereins; his work was showcased in the 2016 Art Unlimited Basel; in April 2018, he will have simultaneous exhibitions at Esther Schipper and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, both in Berlin.
General Idea has had retrospectives at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2011), the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2012), Musée Jumex, Mexico City (2016) and MALBA, Buenos Aires (2017). Most recently, General Idea was presented at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York. Works by both AA Bronson and General Idea are included in the current exhibition An Incomplete History of Protest at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
AA Bronson has taught at UCLA, the University of Toronto, and the Yale School of Art. In 2012 he was named an Honorary Professor of Art, Religion, and Social Justice by Union Theological Seminary. He holds many awards and three honorary doctorates. In 2008 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2011 he was named a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres by the French government.
AA Bronson and General Idea are represented by Esther Schipper, Berlin, and Maureen Paley, London. General Idea additionally is represented by Mai 36 Gallery, Zurich, and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York.
About The Brant Foundation
The Brant Foundation, Inc.’s mission is to promote education and appreciation of contemporary art and design by making works available to institutions and individuals for scholarly study, examination, and loan. Currently, The Brant Foundation, established in 1996, lends works to more than a dozen exhibitions per year. The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, designed by Richard Gluckman and located in Greenwich, CT, opened its doors in 2009 and presents long-term exhibitions curated primarily from the collection. The collection is remarkable in that scores of artists are represented in depth, including works from the earliest period of their practice through their most recent works. Additional information may be found on the Foundation’s website, www.brantfoundation.org.