The Classroom
On the second floor of 950 S. Raymond Ave12–1 PM
Sculpture as a Weapon in the Cold War and the Monument That Never Was, with Ben Rejali
This program will examine the largely forgotten international competition to create a monument to the unknown political prisoner, paying homage to their dignity and plight around the world. One of the first truly international art competitions with submissions from over 57 countries, the project resulted in scandal, disaster, and the destruction of the prize-winning monument at the hands of a museum-goer. Coinciding with the launch of a publication on this history, Khabar Keslan’s editor-in-chief, Ben Rejali, will explore how the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Tate Modern, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked hand-in-hand to create the competition and how their aims to use sculpture as a weapon of the Cold War backfired. The presentation will also focus on overlooked entries from Palestine, Iraq, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Japan in order to demonstrate how sculpture was politicized within an emerging anti-colonial world. Presented by Khabar Keslan Magazine.
1–2 PM
Publishing Incarcerated Writers, with Patty Prewitt
Some People Press (SPP) will present their methods for working with writers both inside prison and after release. SPP organizes a weekly autobiographical writing workshop at a minimum-security prison in Northeast Portland. They work with these incarcerated writers to edit and publish their own books as part of a diverse publishing program. In this presentation, SPP author Patty Prewitt, who was incarcerated for thirty-eight years in Missouri, will read from Trying to Catch Lightning in a Jar: Letters from Prison, her newly released second book of letters from prison. Presented by Some People Press.
2–3 PM
Living to Learn, with My Barbarian, Noah Simblist, Rodrigo Valenzuela, and Dominic Willsdon
Editor Noah Simblist will moderate a discussion with LA-based contributors to Living to Learn: Art & Education for the Common Good (ICA at VCU and Inventory Press), which presents the work of over 70 artists, curators, collectives, and scholars who address contemporary art as a site of learning in the 21st century. The book constructs an impressionistic constellation of global case studies to see how innovations in education have had a dynamic relationship with artistic practice, alternative arts organizations, universities, museums, and biennials. Questions for discussion will include: How can alternative organizations and traditional institutions learn from one another? How have exhibition platforms created space for artists to generate learning environments? How has pedagogy changed assumptions about art institutions and artistic practice? Finally, how can we relate these ideas to questions of economic, ecological, and institutional sustainability? Presented by Inventory Press.
3–4 PM
Alien: Sensing on the Page, with Roya Carreras
falgoush presents a lecture-performance and launch for the choreographer and movement artist Roya Carreras's latest chapbook ALIEN, which draws from an ongoing work that investigates sound and gesture as vessels for protest, pleasure, and futurity. Shaped by the physical and psychic hauntings of multiple rounds of chemotherapy, ALIEN uses poetry and dance to archive opacity, cadence, and the transformation of words from the page to the body. Alongside the lecture-performance, Carreras will share elements of her humming practice, read selections from the chapbook, and open the floor for discussion. Presented by falgoush.
4–5 PM
Publication Praxis: Zine Pedagogy Within (and Against) the Academy, with Mark Allen, Frankie Gutierrez, Kayla Romberger, and Xtina Webb
How can a historically radical form of anti-institutional knowledge transmission exist inside the academy without being subsumed by it? What are the opportunities and limits of codifying a countercultural mode of production into a standardized curriculum? What is gained and what is lost when a DIY ethos is paired with mandated learning outcomes? This panel discussion, moderated by Alex Lukas (Associate Professor of Print & Publication, University of California Santa Barbara), brings together educators Mark Allen, Frankie Gutierrez, Kayla Romberger, and Xtina Webb, all of whom teach zinemaking at the post-secondary level to interrogate the pedagogical structures they employ in the classroom to maintain the medium's liberatory potential. Presented by Written Names Fanzine.
5–6 PM
Ron Finley: The Gangsta Gardener
Ron Finley–visionary designer, humanitarian, and artist–has changed the perception of concrete spaces using only a seed and a shovel. Known as the "Gangsta Gardener," Finley's transformative work in South Central Los Angeles, has redefined what it means to grow food and regenerate communities. His gardening initiative through the Ron Finley Project reclaims and redesigns neglected urban spaces such as abandoned lots, traffic medians, and curb strips, enabling Finley to bring fresh, organic produce to food deserts, while also sparking local and international movements toward food sovereignty and communal reciprocity. In connection with the book, Ron Finley: Gangsta Gardener, published as part of the Hammer Museum exhibition, Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice, Finley will chronicle his community work, illuminating how he encourages underserved communities to take charge of their own self-determination. He will also build on critical and timely questions around climate change and its inescapable intersection with issues of equity and social justice. Presented by DelMonico Books.