I study photography, media, and installation with a particular focus on how these inform experience.
In my research I use my own experiences as a curator to fuel my writing. In my monograph Bruce Nauman: Spatial Encounters (2019, University of California Press, with Constance Lewallen), for example, I take my 2019 reinstallation of Nauman's San Jose Installation (1970) as a starting point to examine how physical engagement with this installation opens questions about spatial perception, subjectivity, and the evolving social landscape of what would become Silicon Valley. Currently, I am completing a monograph on the diorama. Although the diorama is commonly encountered as a museum display, or, previously, as a pre-cinematic entertainment, I argue that dioramas also preserve events and places excised in modern times, serving politically conservative goals. At the same time, contemporary artists use dioramas against the grain to critique the status quo.
I publish articles in scholarly and public venues, including Culture et Musées, Art in America, Afterimage, Camerawork, and the Brooklyn Rail, where I serve as editor-at-large and host online cultural events, such as my "Art School Confidential" (part 1, part 2). My curated exhibitions have been located primarily in France and the United States.
My work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Warhol Foundation, Camargo Foundation, Clark Art Institute, Centre Allemand d’histoire de l’art, and the Getty Center, among others.
I am Research Professor in the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies at Duke University, and can be contacted at [email protected]. My CV is here.
The photo above was taken at one of my favorite locations—the basilica Notre-dame de la garde in Marseille.
In my research I use my own experiences as a curator to fuel my writing. In my monograph Bruce Nauman: Spatial Encounters (2019, University of California Press, with Constance Lewallen), for example, I take my 2019 reinstallation of Nauman's San Jose Installation (1970) as a starting point to examine how physical engagement with this installation opens questions about spatial perception, subjectivity, and the evolving social landscape of what would become Silicon Valley. Currently, I am completing a monograph on the diorama. Although the diorama is commonly encountered as a museum display, or, previously, as a pre-cinematic entertainment, I argue that dioramas also preserve events and places excised in modern times, serving politically conservative goals. At the same time, contemporary artists use dioramas against the grain to critique the status quo.
I publish articles in scholarly and public venues, including Culture et Musées, Art in America, Afterimage, Camerawork, and the Brooklyn Rail, where I serve as editor-at-large and host online cultural events, such as my "Art School Confidential" (part 1, part 2). My curated exhibitions have been located primarily in France and the United States.
My work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Warhol Foundation, Camargo Foundation, Clark Art Institute, Centre Allemand d’histoire de l’art, and the Getty Center, among others.
I am Research Professor in the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies at Duke University, and can be contacted at [email protected]. My CV is here.
The photo above was taken at one of my favorite locations—the basilica Notre-dame de la garde in Marseille.