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Visual Culture Caucus
The Visual Culture Caucus works to support the critical investigation of visual materials at the American Studies meetings and to provide a network for scholars working in visual studies from diverse disciplinary homes. Its members include teachers, museum curators, librarians, and others who research a variety of visual forms and media, such as painting, photography, sculpture, film, television, advertisements, cartoons, visual ethnographies, and the Internet. The VC Caucus works closely with the national organizing committees and councils of the ASA, organizes and sponsors sessions, conducts business, and co-hosts a reception at the ASA’s annual meeting.
Through this discussion board, the Caucus acts as a clearinghouse for people teaching and doing research in visual culture and those seeking to broaden their community or to gain the advice of other scholars and teachers. We are particularly devoted to the mentoring of emerging scholars, and encourage graduate students to participate in this forum, organize sessions through the caucus and attend our meetings.
To join us, see “register” at right.
To add a listing or event, see “member tools,“ also at right. Please use a short description as well as a long entry.
Community Blog
Symposium What’s Modern about American Art, 1900-1930? June 19-20, 2009 Chicago and Milwaukee
Featuring both established scholars and new voices in the field of
American art and visual culture, this two-day, two-city symposium will
address the question of American modernism. Through an innovative,
interactive format consisting of a series of brief “keyword” talks, panel
discussions, and exhibition gallery talks, the many manifestations of
American modernism in progressive painting and design between 1900 and the
early 1930s will be investigated. Sample keywords include museums,
transatlantic, realism, and authenticity, among others. Pulitzer Prize
winning historian Michael Kammen will deliver the keynote lecture, “Visual
Culture in Progressive America: Anomalies and Achievements.“
The symposium coincides with two exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum
(MAM): The Eight and American Modernisms, organized by the Terra
Foundation for American Art (TFAA) in collaboration with the New Britain
Museum of American Art and MAM; and The Artistic Furniture of Charles
Rohlfs, organized by MAM, the Chipstone Foundation, and American
Decorative Art 1900 Foundation (ADA1900). The symposium is being convened
by TFAA in collaboration with MAM and ADA1900.
For more information or to register, call 312.654.2278 or visit
http://terraamericanart.org/modernism-symposium.
Categories:
Call For Action: Fund Museums in the Stimulus Bill
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS
ACT NOW Museum Advocacy Update
Amendment Excluding Museums Passes Senate, 73-24
Tell Congress About Your Museum’s Economic Impact!
During Senate consideration of the economic recovery legislation today, an amendment was passed prohibiting funds from going to museums, zoos, and aquariums. The amendment, offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (S. Amdt. No. 309), states, “None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquariums, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center and highway beautification project. “
The amendment was adopted on a 73-24 vote.
Differences between the House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus legislation will have to be resolved in a House-Senate conference committee before the bill is submitted to the President.
“Congress needs to be reminded that museums are a vital part of our economy,“ said AAM President Ford W. Bell. “It’s time for us to make our case and I am calling on all museums to send their Members of Congress an Economic Impact Statement showing the ways in which their museum contributes to the economy.“
Most Members of Congress do not realize that museums employ more than a quarter-million Americans, spend an estimated $14.5 billion annually, and rank among the top three family vacation destinations. Let them know about the local impact your museum has by contacting your U.S. Senators and Representative today!
Visit http://www.speakupformuseums.org for more information about AAM’s advocacy for museums.
Petition in Opposition to the Closing of the Rose Art Museum
Folks, a group of Brandeis alumni have created an online petition to protest the closing of the Rose Art Museum and the monetization of its fabulous collection. The group’s goal was to achieve 1000 signatures. Signatures now number over 1500.
For those of you who attended the Material Culture Caucus’s panel on the Eakins controversy in Philadelphia, you know that there is widespread despair about the future of university art museums and well, about how museums of all sorts may survive economic downturn, the movement of capital, the shifting ethics of their trustees and directors.
Please consider adding your name to the Brandeis alumni petition at
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/in-opposition-to-the-closing-of-the-ro%20se-art-museum
And please let your colleagues know as well.
Categories:
Brandeis to close Rose Art Museum
Another University collection is being deaccessioned due to the financial turbulence.
Categories:
Call for Participation: 2010 College Art Association Conference Session
“Rethinking Consumption in the History of American Art,“ Association of Historians of American Art sponsored session at the CAA meeting in Chicago, February 10-13, 2010
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