FRIENDS OF ASOR WEBINARS
Contemporary Interventions: The Case for Contemporary Art in Archaeological Museums
Friends of ASOR present the next webinar in the 2023-2024 season on February 22, 2024, at 6:00 pm EST, presented by Dr. Kiersten Neumann moderated by Dr. Agnete Lassen.
Curating an exhibition of contemporary art comes with the incredible opportunity of collaborating with living artists to realize together how to give voice and vision to their work. Doing so in the space of an archaeological museum brings with it the added opportunity to revisit and reevaluate traditional object narratives and museological methods. For centuries Western cultural institutions and museum exhibitions have advanced historical narratives of ancient West Asia with a singular, authoritative voice, predominantly disconnected from the present. Contemporary installations have the power to forefront and celebrate the complexity and continuity of this rich cultural heritage, presenting postcolonial perspectives and thought-provoking artistic responses that draw on diverse lived experiences, memories, and imagination.
In this webinar, Kiersten Neumann will discuss powerful examples of the pairing of contemporary art and archaeological objects from her own experience as an art historian, archaeologist, and curator, demonstrating some of the ways in which such contemporary interventions, including those by local and diaspora artists and communities, can bring a uniquely humanizing perspective to this history.
The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A session moderated by Dr. Agnete Lassen.
Kiersten Neumann specializes in the art and archaeology of West Asia, with a focus on Assyrian and Achaemenid material culture. In addition to co-editing The Routledge Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East (2022), she has published numerous articles on sensory experience, ritualized practice, and visual culture, as well as on museum practice, collecting histories, and provenance research. She is Curator of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum (ISAC Museum [formerly Oriental Institute Museum]), Research Associate at ISAC, and Lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. At the ISAC Museum, she has curated such exhibitions as Joseph Lindon Smith: The Persepolis Paintings (2022), Making Sense of Marbles: Roman Sculpture at the OI (2022–2023), and Artifacts Also Die (2023), in addition to the museum’s permanent galleries as part of a complete renovation (2019). She has conducted fieldwork in Turkey (Tell Tayinat) and Greece (Athenian Agora), and collaborates on international museum, art, and cultural heritage projects and exhibitions. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of British Columbia and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, during which time she also worked at the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology in Berkeley, ultimately as Associate Curator and Interim Director. Kiersten became involved with ASOR in 2008. In addition to being an active participant at the ASOR annual meetings, she is a member of the Program Committee (co-chair since 2022), which she represents on the Chairs Coordinating Council; she was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on ASOR’s Name (2020); and she joined the Board of Trustees in January of this year.
This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.
*Please log in to the Online Portal BEFORE registering for the webinar. Once you have logged in, you will be able to register under our Events page linked above.
ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $6.50 | Public: $13
Season Pass: ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $75 | Public: $155
Buy one here!
Please e-mail membership@asor.org with any questions or issues with registering.
All proceeds from this webinar are used to fund scholarships for members as well as increasing ASOR’s online resources, which are free to the public.
READY FOR A WEBINAR SEASON PASS?
Buy a season pass for all the webinars* of the 2023-2024 FOA Webinar Season! With a season pass, you will automatically be registered for every webinar in the season, and you will receive the recording of each webinar automatically after the event.
If you have missed webinars earlier in the season and still want to buy the pass, you will receive the links to the recordings of the webinars you missed in your automatic confirmation email after you buy the pass.
*Special symposiums may be excluded from the season pass price.
No more registering for a year if you buy your pass today!
Pricing:
ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 (automatic registration for each webinar)
Members: $75
Public: $150
Not a member yet? Click here to join as a member and receive the 50% off a season pass!
Please e-mail membership@asor.org if you have any questions or issues.
