Theaters of Refusal: Exhibition Politics

This seminar takes its title from an exhibition curated by artist and CalArts faculty emeritus Charles Gaines at UC Irvine in 1993, titled "Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism." In his accompanying catalog essay, Gaines situates marginality as always-already political: "Marginal discourse reveals through its complex relationship with the mainstream that 'truth' can more accurately be defined by the Nietzschean and Deleuze/Guattarian term 'power.' Power (maintenance) is the underlying structure responsible for the mainstream's frequent complaint that marginal discourse addresses only minority concerns. Marginality, therefore, is political, is always seen politically by the mainstream." Starting with Gaines's exhibition and essay, this course seeks to identify a number of contemporary exhibitions in which questions of power are raised in relation to difference, whether implicitly or explicitly; often implicit politics are made explicit with protests of an exhibition or its institution. Topics and case studies include the 1993 Whitney Biennial of American Art; the 2022 edition of Documenta; the 1990s Asian-American activist network Godzilla, "Let the Record Show..." (New Museum, 1988) and other exhibitions confronting the AIDS crisis; and indigenous exhibition approaches alongside the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990. We will consider the relationship between rhetoric and gesture in exhibition-making, as well as the lineage of critical discourse around institutions, and the role of print and social media in shaping discourse and public policy. We will read and interrogate texts by curators, critics, and artists including Howie Chen, Aruna D'Souza, Darby English, Okwui Enwezor, Andrea Fraser, Coco Fusco, and Paul Chaat Smith, among others. Students will participate in individual and group research projects, with several reflective writing assignments.