Conversations with Contemporary Artists: Social Practice: Paul Ramírez Jonas

Thursday, April 28, 2011 6:00 PM New York–based artist Paul Ramírez Jonas, whose work examines the interaction between artist and audience, discusses his artistic practice with Carol Becker, Professor of the Arts and Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts. Moderated by MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry. Paul Ramírez Jonas' selected solo exhibitions include The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; Alexander Gray Associates, New York; Björkholmen Gallery, Stockholm; Postmasters Gallery, New York; and surveys at Ikon Gallery and Cornerhouse in the United Kingdom. Ramírez Jonas' work was featured in numerous group exhibitions since the early 1990s, including the Gallery for Contemporary Art Leipzig; MoMA PS1; Whitechapel, London; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Künstlerhaus, Vienna; The New Museum, New York; and Kunsthaus Zurich. He has participated in the Johannesburg Biennale; the Seoul Biennial, the Shanghai Biennial; the 28th Sao Paulo Biennial; 7th Bienal do Mercosul; and the 53rd Venice Biennial. He has built permanent public art projects in Cambridge, Massachusetts and for the Hudson River Park, New York, New York. In 2010 his Key to the City project was presented by Creative Time in cooperation with the City of New York. He has received numerous grants and awards, including fellowships from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Art Matters, and the Howard Foundation. He holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design. He is a Professor of Art at Hunter College, New York, NY. Carol Becker is Professor of the Arts and Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts. Prior to this appointment she was Dean of Faculty and Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of numerous articles and several books including: The Invisible Drama: Women and the Anxiety of Change (with multiple foreign editions); Zones of Contention: Essays on Art, Institutions, Gender, and Anxiety; Surpassing the Spectacle: Global Transformations and the Changing Politics of Art; The Subversive Imagination: Artists, Society, and Social Responsibility—an edited edition; and most recently, Thinking in Place: Art, Action, and Cultural Production.