In a time when the idea of alternatives is ever present, we at Dead Hare thought it might be interesting to try to define how an alternative art practice might be defined. How are artists moving away from the art market and tourism focused cultural production. So we reached out to one of the foremost curators delving into these ideas. That being Nato Thompson.
Since January 2007, Nato has organized major projects for Creative Time such as The Creative Time Summit (2009 and 2010), Paul Ramirez Jonas’s: Key to the City (2010), Jeremy Deller’s It is What it is with New Museum curators Laura Hoptman and Amy Mackie (2009), Democracy in America: The National Campaign (2008), Paul Chan’s acclaimed Waiting for Godot in New Orleans (2007) and Mike Nelson’s A Psychic Vacuum with curator Peter Eleey. Previously, he worked as Curator at MASS MoCA where he completed numerous large-scale exhibitions including The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere (2004) with a catalogue distributed by MIT Press. His writings have appeared in numerous publications including BookForum, Frieze, Art Journal, Art Forum, Parkett, Cabinet and The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. The College Art Association awarded him for distinguished writing in Art Journal in 2004. He curated the exhibition for Independent Curators International titled Experimental Geography with a book available by Melville House Publishing. His book Seeing Power: Socially Engaged Art in the Age of Cultural Production is due out by Melville House in January 2012.
After Nato we sat down with Jean Brennan, Steve Rossi, and Angelika Rinnhoffer to flesh out how alternative art practices are being played out in the Hudson Valley. In this conversation we discuss the why and how a practice like this is established with specific questions about where the need for such a practice is growing and its moral grounding.
Jean Brennan
Steve Rossi
Angelika Rinnhofer
