College Art Association Annual Conference
Friday, February 12, at 2PM EST
Panelists: Rebecca Uchill, Caitlin Cherry, Dee Marie Hamilton, Ana María León, Dushko Petrovich; Discussants: Aruna D’Souza, Paul Chan

ALT-CAA Q&A
Friday, February 12, at 2:45PM EST

Join panelists from the CAA panel “Whitewalling: 3 Years Later” for an open Q and A. View the panel recording here: https://ruchill.wistia.com/medias/qeucvceith. Join conversation here: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/96313579786?pwd=L1lhTzFTc2lGem5BVFdRcFEyVUhqZz09.

Whitewalling: Art, Race & Protest in 3 Acts, authored by critical arts writer Aruna D’Souza, takes on one of the most memorable exhibition controversies of recent years. The inclusion of Dana Schutz’s painting of Emmett Till in the 2017 Whitney Biennial sparked protests and conversations about race-based power dynamics and institutional conditions. Whitewalling places these events into historical context by examining two significant precedent “acts” from New York City exhibition history. The book has been in avid, urgent public conversation since its 2018 publication by artist Paul Chan’s Badlands Unlimited press. Whitewalling was a radical act of publication and a consequential catalyst for dialogue across many spheres of contemporary art discourse. 

This panel invites reflections on Whitewalling in form and content. How, if at all, have landscapes of exhibitions and representations of racial identity and positionality changed in the brief but active timeframe since its publication? How does the book figure into broader shifts in the historiography of the long “contemporary,” including reconsiderations of avant-garde exhibition venues and the problematics of poststructuralism? What lessons can we learn about writing about—and for—the contemporary era, in looking at the quick production timeline for this project, its use of social media citations as primary sources, and the publication of art criticism by an artist-run press? The panel invites artists, art historians, curators, publishers and others to discuss Whitewalling and its themes of protest, public culture, and structural racism in American museums, canons, and society. Aruna D’Souza and Paul Chan will be featured discussants.