CalArtians Present at Free Radicals Symposium

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@fulcrumarts @williamsongallery at ArtCenter, and @pitzerartgalleries will present the symposium, Free Radicals: On the Provocations of Awe, a program of Fulcrum Arts’ AxS (art + science) initiative, and @lasertalks (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous), Leonardo/ISAST’s international program of gatherings that brings artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversations. Theoretical cosmologist @jannalevin will deliver the keynote presentation, and the symposium will also include presentations by Rana Adhikari, Bill Anthes, I.R. Bach, @nancybakercahill , Beatriz Cortez, Ciara Ennis, @tomhallsonics , Ian Ingram, @karenlofgren , Kyle McDonald, Rebeca Mendez, Chris Parks, Archie Prakash, Brittany Ransom, Christopher Richmond, Sasha Samochina, Jana Winderen, The World in a Cell, and @jennyyurshansky. Please click on our bio to get FREE TICKETS!

A post shared by Fulcrum Arts (@fulcrumarts) on Nov 6, 2019 at 6:00pm PST

CalArtians Beatriz Cortez (Art MFA 15) and Karen Lofgren (Art MFA 00) will be featured panelists at the free arts symposium Free Radicals: On the Provocations of Awe, which takes place this weekend (Nov. 9-10) ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena.

Presented by Fulcrum Arts, the Williamson Gallery at ArtCenter and Pitzer College Art Galleries, Free Radicals brings artists and scientists together, offering a robust two-day exploration of the phenomenon of “awe” from both artistic and scientific perspectives. Through artist talks, performances, screenings and panel conversations, attendees investigate the sensation of awe and its “newly emerging complexities of the natural in conflict with fading clichés of the supernatural.” The symposium features a keynote presentation by theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin, and addresses topics including robotics, space science, botany, and augmented and virtual reality.

Cortez and Lofgren will participate in the “Botanic Potentials” panel discussion alongside artist Jenny Yurshansky. The speakers, each of whom utilize scientific methodologies in their practices, seek to reveal “the structural biases embedded within, while also gesturing towards alternative uses of these systems.” The panel will be moderated by Ciara Ennis, director and curator of Pitzer College Art Galleries.

Cortez is a San Salvador-born, LA-based artist whose work investigates different temporalities and versions of modernity, especially as it relates to memory and loss in the wake of war and migration. Her exhibitions include Aquí estamos (We Are Here) (2019) at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, The Lookout / El mirador (2014) at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art and Nomad World (2015) at the Stamp Gallery in Maryland. She is the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant (2018), the Artist Community Engagement Grant (2017) and the California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists (2016).

Lofgren is a Toronto-born, LA-based artist whose research in ritual, history and mythology takes shape in sculpture, installation and other media. Her recent solo exhibitions include What is to Cure and Other Relevant Experience at Royale Projects Contemporary Art, On the River at VOLUME, Trajectory Object c. 2000-2050 with High Desert Test Sites and Stabilizers at Armory Center for the Arts. She is the recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Award (2019), a Fulbright Scholarship and Core Scholar Award (2017-18), a Durfee Foundation ARC Grant (2009) and a Canada Council for the Arts Production Award (2003).

See here for the full Free Radicals program schedule.