Featured Presenters

Lucy R. Lippard is a writer/activist/sometime curator, author of 24 books on contemporary art activism, feminism, place, photography, archaeology, and land use. Most recently: Undermining: A Wild Ride through Land Use, Politics and Art in the Changing West (2014), Time and Time Again (on Chaco and Mesa Verde, with photographer Peter Goin) and Down Country: The Tano of the Galisteo Basin, 1250-1782,( 2010) as well as Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990) and The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society (1997). Recipient of nine honorary degrees, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Lannan Grant, among other awards, she lives off the grid in rural New Mexico, where for 20 years she has edited the monthly community newsletter, El Puente de Galisteo.

Mel Chin, from Houston, Texas, is known for the broad range of approaches in his art, including works that require multi-disciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. He developed Revival Field (1989-ongoing), a project that pioneered the field of “green remediation,” the use of plants to remove toxic, heavy metals from the soil. A current project, Fundred Dollar Bill/Operation Paydirt, focuses on national awareness and prevention of childhood lead-poisoning through art-making. Mel is also well known for his iconic sculptures and installations, works that often address the importance of memory and collective identity, and for inserting art into unlikely places, including destroyed homes, toxic landfills, and even popular television, investigating how art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility.