Practicing Jews: Art, Identity, and Culture

About

Practicing Jews: Art, Identity and Culture will focus on the contribution of Jewish artists and theorists to 20th and 21st century culture and the conceptual diaspora that moved Jewish thinking out into the mainstream in ways that have yet to be fully articulated. For Jewish artists historically, Jewishness may not be at the foreground of identity, however this conference is intended to raise questions about both the nature of Jewishness and the nature of “Jewish Art” in North America as well as Jewish identity in general.

While clearly engaged with both the practice of and the writing of contemporary art history, Jewishness has not been recognized as an ethnic identity in the arts. Jewish difference, once the material for anti-Semitic exclusion from the canon, has been absorbed by critical culture to such a degree that in this multi-cultural era, Jews have been curiously absent from multi-cultural discourse. While Jewish scholars and artists in the 20th and 21st century arguably have played a vital role in the creation of Modern and Post-Modern art culture, rarely if ever are they looked at as a group of individuals with a common thread, that being their identity as diasporic Jews.

Practicing Jews: Art, Identity and Culture offers a platform for critical dialogue about the role of Jewish artists and scholars in shaping 20th and 21st century art practices. From Walter Benjamin, Clement Greenberg, Susan Sontag and others on the theory side to the numerous Jewish artists including Mark Rothko, Alan Kaprow, Judy Chicago, Miriam Shapiro and others on the practice side, these individuals have created a foundation for modern and post-modern practice. Yet, the question arises, is their ethnicity merely a coincidence or is there a thread that connects these thinkers/artists that may be tracked back to their Jewishness?

Through papers, presentations, performances and dialogue, Practicing Jews: Art, Identity and Culture will create a space to engage the questions that arise out of the intersection of art, theory, performance and Jewish identity.