On Monday April 5 at 7 pm, The Acuff Chair of Excellence will speak in the APSU Theater before the opening of the exhibition “I Am. Amen” which he curated. The exhibition contains work created by students enrolled in Mr. Berry’s Special Topics course with several visiting artists.

Ian Berry is Associate Director and The Susan Rabinowitz Malloy Curator of The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. A specialist in contemporary art, Berry has organized several exhibitions for the Tang that combine collections of antique maps, scientific equipment, Edward Curtis photographs, Rube Goldberg cartoons, and Shaker furniture with new works of international contemporary art. Among his many solo contemporary projects Berry has produced exhibitions and catalogues on artists such as Amy Sillman, Jim Hodges, Alyson Shotz, Lee Boroson, Joseph Grigely, Shahzia Sikander, Nina Katchadourian, Martin Kersels, and Nayland Blake.

I am. Amen.

Berry has organized a special topics class that is focusing on contemporary curatorial classes

The class is exploring experimental curatorial projects and students are thinking a great deal about the role of the curator as cultural producer. The artist’s role is more important than ever as we are witness to huge economic, political, and inspirational shifts. Ezra Pound said that “artists are the antennae of the race,” and as artists of all stripes from a wide variety of disciplines continue to be on the front lines of cultural criticism they will be looked to in these times of change.

Students are studying the history and practice of avant-garde exhibition practices driven by artists that pushed against the constraints of the modern museum, in many cases moving outside their walls.

The semester will culminate with an exhibition in the Trahern Gallery.