Description:

Art/Politics/Protest: Local and Global Engagement
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Crowe 1-132
Join us at 5pm for drinks and appetizers. Event will begin at 5:30pm

The International Studies end-of-year celebration will be on Thursday May 25h from 5-7pm in Crowe Hall. The event will celebrate students, graduate fellows, staff, and everyone else who helped make the program a success this year, and will also host three special guests for a panel presentation on this year’s theme of Art/Politics/Protest. We’ll announce recipients of the Certificate of Distinction in Foreign languages, photography contest winners, and more, and welcome our incoming honors students and our incoming team of graduate fellows and instructors. The reception starts at 5pm, and the art discussion will start around 5:45. We hope to see you there - feel free to bring along anyone who you think might be interested!

Our guests this year are three artists who deal with contemporary politics and political mobilization - all are terrifically interesting. They are María María Acha-Kutscher, Coya Paz, and Jenny Kendler. Bios are below.

See you on May 25th!

Bios:
María María Acha-Kutscher. Lima-Perú, 1968. Feminist visual artist. Co-directs with Tomás Ruiz-Rivas the experimental art project Antimuseo. Lives in Madrid and works globally. The main focus of her work is woman. Her story, the struggles for emancipation and equality, and the cultural construction of femininity. Her work does not adhere to any particular language or style, nor is it identified with specific techniques or formats. Acha-Kutscher organizes her work in long-term projects, and for each one develops a unique language and methodology. She is possibly one of the few artists of her generation who defines themself as feminist, because of the political dimension of her work that plays a dual role: it is an artistic product in itself and also an instrument covers a social need and also contributes to political transformations.

Coya Paz is is a writer, director, and lip gloss connoisseur who was raised in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and the United States. She is the Artistic Director of Free Street Theater, aThe Americans, based on interviews with over 100 people in 10 states; DOPE: 420 Stories About Weed, Kush, Pot, Prisons, Parents, and People, which traces the life of a joint from seed to distribution; and Coya Paz is Not _______, a solo performance in verse. Currently, she is working on 100 HAUNTINGS, based on everyday ghost stories told by people across Chicago.

Jenny Kendler is an interdisciplinary artist, environmental activist, naturalist & wild forager who lives in Chicago and various forests. She is currently the first Artist-in-Residence with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Kendler also helps run artist residency ACRE and art/research/activism initiative Deep Time Chicago. Alongside an interdisciplinary team, she was recently awarded a major grant for her community-engagement project Garden for a Changing Climate. Her work has been featured in exhibitions in the U.S., France, Ireland, and Costa Rica.