Sculpture Center's THE ECCENTRICS Panel Discussion Set for The New School on Today

In early 20th Century Russia, circus performers were referred to as "eccentrics," a term picked up by the St. Petersburg-based avant-garde group of artists, writers, and filmmakers who comprised the "Factory for the Eccentric Actor" or FEKS. For them, using stunts, gags, and tricks became ways to address the changing pace of life with new developments in technology and media culture. The circus emerged as a touchstone because it was a place where the impossible happened, and social orders and scientific laws were stretched to challenge the conventions of the reality outside of the tent.

Join us this Tuesday at the New School's Vera List Center for Art and Politics for a panel discussion which extends from these ideas informing the current SculptureCenter exhibition, The Eccentrics. The discussion will feature two of the exhibiting artists, Sanya Kantarovsky and Jeanine Oleson, as well as exhibition curator Ruba Katrib and New School faculty member Margot Bouman. The role of special effects in contemporary art and performance is key to their discussion as well as strategies of belief and suspense of belief that are used by artists and performers to elicit particular emotional and cognitive responses from their audiences.

Free Admission. Registration requested; please RSVP directly to the New School at vlc@newschool.edu.
Please note that The Eccentrics remains on view at SculptureCenter through April 4. SculptureCenter is open Thur-Mon, 11am-6pm.

Photo: Kyle Knodell