Delineations of Political Identity: Artists Elaine Byrne, Pedro Lasch and Cannupa Hanska Luger in Conversation with Sara Reisman

Delineations of Political Identity: Artists Elaine Byrne, Pedro Lasch
and Cannupa Hanska Luger in Conversation with Sara Reisman

Thursday, October 10
from 6 to 8pm

Elaine Byrne, Fortified Boundaries VII, 2018. Courtesy of the artist and Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin. [Image Description: A photograph capturing one of the ends of the border between Spain and Morroco, which is comprised of a light brown wall built upon a white, concrete foundation, jutting out into a body of water.]

Moderated by the Foundation’s Executive and Artistic Director Sara Reisman, Delineations of Political Identity featured artists Elaine Byrne, Pedro Lasch and Cannupa Hanska Luger, whose work is currently on view in The Watchers at The 8th Floor. The conversation focused on how their artistic practices are affected by the contemporary geopolitical landscape. Each artist reflected on issues motivating their work: Byrne's photographic series Fortified Boundaries makes visible the infrastructure of international borders, Luger’s artwork engages activism in response to the Dakota Pipeline at Standing Rock, and Lasch’s Phantom Limbs project examines factual and fictitious commemorations of the September 11th attacks.

Bios

Based between Dublin and New York, Elaine Byrne has an MA in Visual Arts Practices and is a fellow of the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program (‘15). She was the winner of the 8th Arte Laguna sculpture prize (‘14) and TINA prize (‘15). Her work is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; the Rosenbach Museum and Library, Pennsylvania; Office of Public Works, Ireland to name a few. She was awarded a studio at the International Studio and Curatorial program NYC as part of their ground floor program. She has exhibited widely in Ireland, Italy, USA and Mexico and is represented by the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Ireland. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Pedro Lasch (Mexico/US/Germany) is a visual artist, Duke professor, and 16 Beaver organizer. He is also director of the FHI Social Practice Lab at Duke. Solo exhibitions and projects include Open Routines (QMA), Black Mirror (Nasher), Abstract Nationalism (Phillips Collection), Art of the MOOC (Creative Time), A Sculptural Proposal for the Zócalo (Casa Wabi); group exhibitions include MoMA PS1, MASS MoCA (USA); RCA, Hayward Gallery, Baltic (UK); Centro Nacional de las Artes, MUAC, National Palace Gallery (Mexico); Prospect 4 Triennial New Orleans (2017), Gwangju Biennial (2006), Havana Biennial (2015), Documenta 13 (ANDANDAND, 2012), and 56th Venice Biennale (Creative Time Summit, 2015). Author of four books, his work has appeared in numerous catalogues, as well as journals like October Magazine, Saber Ver, Art Forum, ARTnews, Cultural Studies, The New York Times, and La Jornada. His online pedagogical artwork ART of the MOOC has had over 31,000 enrolled participants in 134 countries since it launched in 2015.

Cannupa Hanska Luger is a New Mexico-based, multi-disciplinary artist. Raised on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, he is of Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, Austrian, and Norwegian descent. Using social collaboration and in response to timely and site-specific issues, Luger produces multi-pronged projects that take many forms. Through monumental installations that incorporate ceramics, video, sound, fiber, steel, and cut-paper, Luger interweaves performance and political action to communicate stories about 21st century Indigeneity. This work provokes diverse publics to engage with Indigenous peoples and values apart from the lens of colonial social structuring and oftentimes presents a call to action to protect land from capitalist exploits.