FRIENDSHIP
WHEN
February 12th, 2021, 8 – 9 pm
WHERE
To receive a link to the Zoom meeting, as well as a gift from us, register HERE
Dear reader, dear friend—
We are writing with a new year message, a missive of mutuality and care, a letter that is intended to be passed from you along to your friends. We write to you beyond 2020 and from 2020. We write to you in anticipation of the Lunar New Year.
We dreamed up the 2020 series in November of 2019 to be together, to produce something of ourselves, and to worry our moment in time. We did not know what was to come. You are part of our future, the friend who has yet to become our own.
We would like to send you a chain letter, a gift of our shared friendship, and an invitation to join us virtually Friday, at 8 pm February 12, for an evening of poems, and togetherness.
Fill out this FORM, and you’ll receive something in your mailbox. Watch your email inbox for an invitation for our lunar celebration on Zoom with Anya Ventura and Carolyn Bergonzo.
Yours,
Claire, Daisy, and Meg
February 12th, 2021, 8 – 9 pm
WHERE
To receive a link to the Zoom meeting, as well as a gift from us, register HERE
Dear reader, dear friend—
We are writing with a new year message, a missive of mutuality and care, a letter that is intended to be passed from you along to your friends. We write to you beyond 2020 and from 2020. We write to you in anticipation of the Lunar New Year.
We dreamed up the 2020 series in November of 2019 to be together, to produce something of ourselves, and to worry our moment in time. We did not know what was to come. You are part of our future, the friend who has yet to become our own.
We would like to send you a chain letter, a gift of our shared friendship, and an invitation to join us virtually Friday, at 8 pm February 12, for an evening of poems, and togetherness.
Fill out this FORM, and you’ll receive something in your mailbox. Watch your email inbox for an invitation for our lunar celebration on Zoom with Anya Ventura and Carolyn Bergonzo.
Yours,
Claire, Daisy, and Meg
CHANNELING
WHEN
October 29th, 6 – 7 pm
WHERE
On Zoom, register HERE
Hosted by Tufts University Art Galleries
Our next talk, Channeling, is all about spirit.
Spirit means many things.
In the context of channeling, it means feeling a spirit breathe through you.
What does it mean to channel a figure from the past?
What do we learn about the future by looking at the past?
One of the motivations for organizing the 2020 talks was to think about hindsight.
What can spirit teach us in 2020?
For Channeling, we bring together three visionary artists, Ria Brodell, Ariana Reines, and Valerie Stephens.
Ria Brodell’s ongoing series of intimate portraits, Butch Heroes, features forgotten figures from the past who openly disregarded conventional rules about gender.
Poet and educator Ariana Reines incorporates the experience of channeling an oracular entity to powerful effect in her stunning long poem, “MOSAIC,” which is the final poem in her award-winning collection from 2019, A Sand Book.
Actor, storyteller, and vocalist Valerie Stephens, who grew up in Boston, assumes the guise of renowned personalities such as Nina Simone with uncanny accuracy in her captivating performances.
Each of these artists, through their work, bring history to life.
October 29th, 6 – 7 pm
WHERE
On Zoom, register HERE
Hosted by Tufts University Art Galleries
Our next talk, Channeling, is all about spirit.
Spirit means many things.
In the context of channeling, it means feeling a spirit breathe through you.
What does it mean to channel a figure from the past?
What do we learn about the future by looking at the past?
One of the motivations for organizing the 2020 talks was to think about hindsight.
What can spirit teach us in 2020?
For Channeling, we bring together three visionary artists, Ria Brodell, Ariana Reines, and Valerie Stephens.
Ria Brodell’s ongoing series of intimate portraits, Butch Heroes, features forgotten figures from the past who openly disregarded conventional rules about gender.
Poet and educator Ariana Reines incorporates the experience of channeling an oracular entity to powerful effect in her stunning long poem, “MOSAIC,” which is the final poem in her award-winning collection from 2019, A Sand Book.
Actor, storyteller, and vocalist Valerie Stephens, who grew up in Boston, assumes the guise of renowned personalities such as Nina Simone with uncanny accuracy in her captivating performances.
Each of these artists, through their work, bring history to life.
SPEAKERS
RIA BRODELL
(pronouns: they, them) is a non-binary trans artist, educator and author based in Boston. Brodell attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University. Brodell has had solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, is a recipient of an Artadia Award, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship and an SMFA Traveling Fellowship. Brodell’s work has appeared in the Guardian, ARTNews, The Boston Globe, New American Paintings and Art New England among other publications. Brodell’s book, Butch Heroes, was released in 2018 via MIT Press.
(pronouns: they, them) is a non-binary trans artist, educator and author based in Boston. Brodell attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University. Brodell has had solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, is a recipient of an Artadia Award, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship and an SMFA Traveling Fellowship. Brodell’s work has appeared in the Guardian, ARTNews, The Boston Globe, New American Paintings and Art New England among other publications. Brodell’s book, Butch Heroes, was released in 2018 via MIT Press.
ARIANA REINES
is an award-winning poet, playwright, and translator. Her most recent book of poetry is A Sand Book (Tin House, 2019), which was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her other books include Tiffany’s Poems (Song Cave, 2015), Ramayana (Song Cave, 2015), The Origin of the World (Semiotext(e), 2014), Beyond Relief (Belladonna*, 2013),Thursday (Spork Press, 2012), Mercury (Fence Books, 2011), Coeur de Lion (Fence Books, 2007), and The Cow (Fence Books, 2006). Her poems have been anthologized in Corrected Slogans (Triple Canopy, 2013), Miscellaneous Uncatalogued Materials (Triple Canopy, 2011), Against Expression (Northwestern University Press, 2011), and Gurlesque (Saturnalia, 2010). Reines has been described as “one of the crucial voices of her generation” by Michael Silverblatt on NPR’s Bookworm. In 2020, she won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. She’s been a MacDowell Fellow, has judged the National Poetry Series, and writes regularly for ArtForum.
is an award-winning poet, playwright, and translator. Her most recent book of poetry is A Sand Book (Tin House, 2019), which was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her other books include Tiffany’s Poems (Song Cave, 2015), Ramayana (Song Cave, 2015), The Origin of the World (Semiotext(e), 2014), Beyond Relief (Belladonna*, 2013),Thursday (Spork Press, 2012), Mercury (Fence Books, 2011), Coeur de Lion (Fence Books, 2007), and The Cow (Fence Books, 2006). Her poems have been anthologized in Corrected Slogans (Triple Canopy, 2013), Miscellaneous Uncatalogued Materials (Triple Canopy, 2011), Against Expression (Northwestern University Press, 2011), and Gurlesque (Saturnalia, 2010). Reines has been described as “one of the crucial voices of her generation” by Michael Silverblatt on NPR’s Bookworm. In 2020, she won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. She’s been a MacDowell Fellow, has judged the National Poetry Series, and writes regularly for ArtForum.
VALERIE STEPHENS
is a performing artist/ arts educator whose professional career spans 35 years. In addition to receiving a 2019 Brother Thomas Fellowship with an unrestricted award of $15,000, Valerie has received 2019 Bridge Award in Arts, 2018 Boston City Council Resolution for creating the annual event PRINCESS DAY: Celebrating Little Girls of Color and her commitment to Nina Simone’s legacy, 2017 New England Foundation for the Arts Creative City Grant for creating the Elder Storytelling Performance Project, 2016 Get Konnected! Boston Legends & Pioneers Award, the 2011 NAACP Image Award, 2007 Urban Music Award in Blues and was a nominee for the 2011 Urban Music Award in Jazz as well as Citations of Appreciation from the Cities of Boston, New Bedford, and Springfield. Her current and ongoing performances include The Mammy Diaries, an exploratory tribute to the unnamed, often vilified women called Mammy; NINA SIMONE & Hip Hop Concert, and I’m Not Your Preconceived Notion (Or Mine), a biographical performance piece.
is a performing artist/ arts educator whose professional career spans 35 years. In addition to receiving a 2019 Brother Thomas Fellowship with an unrestricted award of $15,000, Valerie has received 2019 Bridge Award in Arts, 2018 Boston City Council Resolution for creating the annual event PRINCESS DAY: Celebrating Little Girls of Color and her commitment to Nina Simone’s legacy, 2017 New England Foundation for the Arts Creative City Grant for creating the Elder Storytelling Performance Project, 2016 Get Konnected! Boston Legends & Pioneers Award, the 2011 NAACP Image Award, 2007 Urban Music Award in Blues and was a nominee for the 2011 Urban Music Award in Jazz as well as Citations of Appreciation from the Cities of Boston, New Bedford, and Springfield. Her current and ongoing performances include The Mammy Diaries, an exploratory tribute to the unnamed, often vilified women called Mammy; NINA SIMONE & Hip Hop Concert, and I’m Not Your Preconceived Notion (Or Mine), a biographical performance piece.
REDRESS
WHEN
June 1 – 30th
WHERE
On Instagram, @2020_talks
20/20 continues in June around the idea of redress—the act of repairing, amending, or revising a past action—and the form of a letter. Hindsight allows for reflection after an event has occurred. But once one sees the wrongdoing, what then? How does one right a wrong? The subsequent actions can be more difficult than recognizing the transgressions. And what if you are seeking redress? Perhaps a letter is one form that allows for redress. In letters one can be intentional, intimate, vulnerable, provocative, and mundane all at the same time. In that process of writing or receiving a letter, there is potential for remedy, reconciliation and reparation.
This June starting on the first of the month, artists, writers, curators select and read existing letters that can serve as inspiration for us throughout this time. We will post the readings of letters on our Instagram @2020_talks.
If you have any favorite letters that you want to share, we’d love to hear from you. Email us at thehindsightseries@gmail.com
MEG ROTZEL
curator of exhibitions at Radcliffe and 2020 Talks co-organizer, reads Angela Davis: Open Letter to Black High School Students, written from Marin County Jail, March 23, 1971.
CLAIRE BARLIANT
writer and 2020 Talks co-organizer, reads June Jordan, Letter to the Local Police, 2005.
TIF WEBBER
lawyer based in Memphis, Tennessee, reads Sylvia Wynter, No Humans Involved: An Open Letter to my Colleagues, May 1992.
OLIVIAN CHA
curator of The Corita Art Center, reads Corita Kent, to Anita Caspary, IHM, Mother General of the Community, 1968.
KATARINA BURIN
artist, reads Fran Hosken to Philip Johnson, May – June 1951. Video LEGS by Burin and George Liu.
LIZANIA CRUZ
artist, designer and founder of We the News, reads Bayard Rustin to Davis Platt, July 14, 1944.
JESSE CHUN
artist, reads Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Dear Mother, April 19, Seoul, Korea. Video shot in her home in Brooklyn, NY.
DAISY NAM
curator and 2020 Talks co-organizer, reads James Baldwin, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” from The Fire Next Time, 1963.
DAISY BOUSQUET-DESROSIERS
curator and Program Director for the Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby, reads Jesse Darling, A Letter to Translator, 2018.
To read the letters, find them HERE.
June 1 – 30th
WHERE
On Instagram, @2020_talks
20/20 continues in June around the idea of redress—the act of repairing, amending, or revising a past action—and the form of a letter. Hindsight allows for reflection after an event has occurred. But once one sees the wrongdoing, what then? How does one right a wrong? The subsequent actions can be more difficult than recognizing the transgressions. And what if you are seeking redress? Perhaps a letter is one form that allows for redress. In letters one can be intentional, intimate, vulnerable, provocative, and mundane all at the same time. In that process of writing or receiving a letter, there is potential for remedy, reconciliation and reparation.
This June starting on the first of the month, artists, writers, curators select and read existing letters that can serve as inspiration for us throughout this time. We will post the readings of letters on our Instagram @2020_talks.
If you have any favorite letters that you want to share, we’d love to hear from you. Email us at thehindsightseries@gmail.com
SPEAKERS
MEG ROTZEL
curator of exhibitions at Radcliffe and 2020 Talks co-organizer, reads Angela Davis: Open Letter to Black High School Students, written from Marin County Jail, March 23, 1971.
CLAIRE BARLIANT
writer and 2020 Talks co-organizer, reads June Jordan, Letter to the Local Police, 2005.
TIF WEBBER
lawyer based in Memphis, Tennessee, reads Sylvia Wynter, No Humans Involved: An Open Letter to my Colleagues, May 1992.
OLIVIAN CHA
curator of The Corita Art Center, reads Corita Kent, to Anita Caspary, IHM, Mother General of the Community, 1968.
KATARINA BURIN
artist, reads Fran Hosken to Philip Johnson, May – June 1951. Video LEGS by Burin and George Liu.
LIZANIA CRUZ
artist, designer and founder of We the News, reads Bayard Rustin to Davis Platt, July 14, 1944.
JESSE CHUN
artist, reads Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Dear Mother, April 19, Seoul, Korea. Video shot in her home in Brooklyn, NY.
DAISY NAM
curator and 2020 Talks co-organizer, reads James Baldwin, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” from The Fire Next Time, 1963.
DAISY BOUSQUET-DESROSIERS
curator and Program Director for the Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby, reads Jesse Darling, A Letter to Translator, 2018.
To read the letters, find them HERE.
FERTILITY
WHEN
May 20th, 1 – 2 pm
WHERE
On Zoom, register HERE
Hosted by the Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts
After indefinitely postponing our first 2020 Talk, we have regrouped and are moving the talk online. While the world seems to be on “pause,” the fight over reproductive rights continues unabated—particularly as some states try to restrict abortion access as a result of the pandemic. Our speakers, who bring different perspectives to reproductive rights, will discuss how advocates continue to tirelessly promote women’s right to a safe and legal abortion. Malkit Shoshan researches how the control of women’s bodies intersects with efforts at regulating and exploiting nature. She will discuss her recent exhibition at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Love in a Mist, which demonstrated how the fight for reproductive health is intertwined with environmental concerns. Judy Norsigian is a cofounder of Our Bodies Ourselves, a collective that started in Boston in 1969 and which published the seminal text on women’s bodies and health. Today, OBOS advocates on behalf of women for improved healthcare around the world. Norsigian offers the viewpoint of one who has been on the frontlines of the fight for better reproductive health for fifty years.
May 20th, 1 – 2 pm
WHERE
On Zoom, register HERE
Hosted by the Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts
After indefinitely postponing our first 2020 Talk, we have regrouped and are moving the talk online. While the world seems to be on “pause,” the fight over reproductive rights continues unabated—particularly as some states try to restrict abortion access as a result of the pandemic. Our speakers, who bring different perspectives to reproductive rights, will discuss how advocates continue to tirelessly promote women’s right to a safe and legal abortion. Malkit Shoshan researches how the control of women’s bodies intersects with efforts at regulating and exploiting nature. She will discuss her recent exhibition at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Love in a Mist, which demonstrated how the fight for reproductive health is intertwined with environmental concerns. Judy Norsigian is a cofounder of Our Bodies Ourselves, a collective that started in Boston in 1969 and which published the seminal text on women’s bodies and health. Today, OBOS advocates on behalf of women for improved healthcare around the world. Norsigian offers the viewpoint of one who has been on the frontlines of the fight for better reproductive health for fifty years.
SPEAKERS
JUDY NORSIGIAN
is a co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves who served as executive director of the organization from 2001 to 2015. She is currently chair of the OBOS board of directors. An internationally renowned speaker and author on a range of women’s health concerns, her areas of focus include women and health care reform, abortion and contraception, childbirth (especially the role of midwifery), genetics and reproductive technologies, and drug and device safety.
is a co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves who served as executive director of the organization from 2001 to 2015. She is currently chair of the OBOS board of directors. An internationally renowned speaker and author on a range of women’s health concerns, her areas of focus include women and health care reform, abortion and contraception, childbirth (especially the role of midwifery), genetics and reproductive technologies, and drug and device safety.
MALKIT SHOSHAN
is the founding director of the architectural think-tank FAST: Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory. FAST uses research, advocacy, and design to investigate the relationships between architecture, urban planning, and human rights in conflict-affected areas. In 2016, Shoshan was the curator of the Dutch Pavilion for The Venice Architecture Biennale with the exhibition BLUE: Architecture of UN Peacekeeping Missions, which examines the spatiality and legacy of UN Peace Operations in conflict-affected urban environments. She is currently Area Head of the Art, Design, and the Public Domain Master in Design Studies at Harvard GSD and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU. Shoshan’s exhibition Love in a Mist, at Harvard Graduate School of Design, illustrated the unexpected connections between efforts to control women and nature, such as the use of synthetic hormones on both women and livestock.
is the founding director of the architectural think-tank FAST: Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory. FAST uses research, advocacy, and design to investigate the relationships between architecture, urban planning, and human rights in conflict-affected areas. In 2016, Shoshan was the curator of the Dutch Pavilion for The Venice Architecture Biennale with the exhibition BLUE: Architecture of UN Peacekeeping Missions, which examines the spatiality and legacy of UN Peace Operations in conflict-affected urban environments. She is currently Area Head of the Art, Design, and the Public Domain Master in Design Studies at Harvard GSD and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU. Shoshan’s exhibition Love in a Mist, at Harvard Graduate School of Design, illustrated the unexpected connections between efforts to control women and nature, such as the use of synthetic hormones on both women and livestock.
ABOUT
A lot has changed since Daisy, Meg, and I first planned the 2020 talks. When we initially conceived the idea,
we were pumped because it was an election year and the centennial of women’s suffrage. We thought it might be an
opportune time to reflect in anticipation of whatever the future would bring. Little did we know that the future,
such as it was, would be a time when the world was on pause, halted mid-stride, with no idea where to go next, or when.
The first 2020 talk was scheduled to happen on March 20, 2020, nine days after most of the United States went into lockdown. After a few weeks of sitting around in shock, like everyone else, we slowly pulled ourselves together, and with some critical support, both technical and emotional, from the Boston Center of the Arts, we have decided to “reboot” the talks for these particular times of exclusively virtual gathering.
The talks pick up on our original themes—fertility, redress, channeling, and friendship—but consider how these topics resonate in these changed times. How do we motivate ourselves to care about reproductive rights when we can’t even leave the house? How do we think about communication when we must stand six feet apart from one another? How do we “channel” history in a world that is now pushing aggressively into a fragmented future? How can we be friends?
The talk on fertility will take place online, as will the talk on redress. Likely the others too, although we can’t say for sure. If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that we have no idea what the rest of 2020 will bring.
The first 2020 talk was scheduled to happen on March 20, 2020, nine days after most of the United States went into lockdown. After a few weeks of sitting around in shock, like everyone else, we slowly pulled ourselves together, and with some critical support, both technical and emotional, from the Boston Center of the Arts, we have decided to “reboot” the talks for these particular times of exclusively virtual gathering.
The talks pick up on our original themes—fertility, redress, channeling, and friendship—but consider how these topics resonate in these changed times. How do we motivate ourselves to care about reproductive rights when we can’t even leave the house? How do we think about communication when we must stand six feet apart from one another? How do we “channel” history in a world that is now pushing aggressively into a fragmented future? How can we be friends?
The talk on fertility will take place online, as will the talk on redress. Likely the others too, although we can’t say for sure. If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that we have no idea what the rest of 2020 will bring.
ORGANIZED BY
CLAIRE BARLIANT
is a writer based in Cambridge, MA. Her writing on art, architecture, and other subjects has appeared in several publications, including Apollo, Artforum, Art in America, East of Borneo, Icon, The New Yorker, Metropolis, Modern Painters, and Triple Canopy. She has also contributed essays to several artist monographs and museum catalogues. In 2014 she curated As We Were Saying, an exhibition at EFA Project Space, New York, about the renewal of identity politics in art, which was reviewed by Holland Cotter for the New York Times. She is currently an MFA candidate in creative writing at Emerson College.
is a writer based in Cambridge, MA. Her writing on art, architecture, and other subjects has appeared in several publications, including Apollo, Artforum, Art in America, East of Borneo, Icon, The New Yorker, Metropolis, Modern Painters, and Triple Canopy. She has also contributed essays to several artist monographs and museum catalogues. In 2014 she curated As We Were Saying, an exhibition at EFA Project Space, New York, about the renewal of identity politics in art, which was reviewed by Holland Cotter for the New York Times. She is currently an MFA candidate in creative writing at Emerson College.
DAISY NAM
is currently the Marcia Tucker Senior Research Fellow at the New Museum. She was most recently the curator-in-residence at Bellas Artes, Bataan, Philippines and Surf Point in York, Maine in 2019. She was previously the assistant director at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University from 2015 – 2019 where she organized exhibitions, publications, and public programs. From 2008 – 2015 she was the assistant director of public programs at the School of the Arts, Columbia University curating and producing talks, screenings, performances, workshops, working closely with artists to engage with the campus community and public at large. At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, she worked on fundraising initiatives that supported the museum’s collection, exhibition and educational programs. She holds a masters degree in Curatorial and Critical Studies from Columbia University and a bachelors degree in Art History and Cinema Studies from New York University.
is currently the Marcia Tucker Senior Research Fellow at the New Museum. She was most recently the curator-in-residence at Bellas Artes, Bataan, Philippines and Surf Point in York, Maine in 2019. She was previously the assistant director at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University from 2015 – 2019 where she organized exhibitions, publications, and public programs. From 2008 – 2015 she was the assistant director of public programs at the School of the Arts, Columbia University curating and producing talks, screenings, performances, workshops, working closely with artists to engage with the campus community and public at large. At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, she worked on fundraising initiatives that supported the museum’s collection, exhibition and educational programs. She holds a masters degree in Curatorial and Critical Studies from Columbia University and a bachelors degree in Art History and Cinema Studies from New York University.
MEG ROTZEL
is a curator of artist projects and public programs in the research university context. She is Curator of Exhibitions for the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University where she organizes art shows and exhibitions that draw from the collections of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Meg worked for a decade at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she connected artistic disciplines to research in science, technology, and the humanities. She created new artworks through programs originating from the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, the MIT program in Art, Culture and Technology, and the Center for Art, Science and Technology. Meg approaches her work within institutions as an artist and collaborator, following art school, she founded and directed the Boston based artist-run non-profit Berwick Research Institute and developed residency programs for artists and curators in their early careers. She received a MA from Brown University in Public Humanities, a BFA from Tufts University, and a Diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
is a curator of artist projects and public programs in the research university context. She is Curator of Exhibitions for the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University where she organizes art shows and exhibitions that draw from the collections of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Meg worked for a decade at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she connected artistic disciplines to research in science, technology, and the humanities. She created new artworks through programs originating from the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, the MIT program in Art, Culture and Technology, and the Center for Art, Science and Technology. Meg approaches her work within institutions as an artist and collaborator, following art school, she founded and directed the Boston based artist-run non-profit Berwick Research Institute and developed residency programs for artists and curators in their early careers. She received a MA from Brown University in Public Humanities, a BFA from Tufts University, and a Diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
CONTACT
Please contact us to be added to the mailing list and receive details on upcoming programs. Also follow us on social
media for news, information about participants, and more.
thehindsightseries@gmail.com
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