Artists Experiment Programs and Events
2012- 2016
This is a list of events including performances, workshops, conferences, seminars, and public programs I organized as part of Artists Experiment at The Museum of Modern Art (New York) from 2012 to 2016.

Through this initiative, I have collaborated with artists Caroline Woolard, Raul Cardenas Osuna, Xaviera Simmons, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Allison Smith, The Office for Creative Research, Nina Katchadourian and Michael Rakowitz to realize these programs. All programs took place at the museum unless otherwise noted.

2016
Dust Gathering
October 21, 2016 - April 21, 2017
As part of a two-year collaboration through Artists Experiment, artist Nina Katchadourian presents Dust Gathering, an audio tour offering visitors an unexpected perspective on The Museum of Modern Art by examining its dust.

In Conversation: Nina Katchadourian and Paul Ramirez Jonas
March 30, 2016
A conversation between current and past Artists Experiment collaborators to discuss how their work with MoMA and how it relates to their larger body of practice. Moderated by Pablo Helguera.

Special Gallery Session: Michael Rakowitz
February 19, 2016
Join artist Michael Rakowitz and Jennifer Gray, Research Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, for a Q&A about Rakowitz's ongoing project, paraSITE, featured in the exhibition Endless House: Intersections of Art and Architecture. Rakowitz is currently collaborating with MoMA's Department of Education on their Artists Experiment initiative.

2015
Tea
November 11, 2015
Iraqi War veteran and artist Aaron Hughes hosts Tea, a ceremony and discussion that explores memories of war, detention, dehumanization, and love. When someone sits, sips, and reflects over a cup of tea there is space to ask questions about one’s relationship to the world—a world that’s filled with dehumanization, war, and destruction; a world that’s filled with moments of beauty, love, and humanity. Hosted by artist Michael Rakowitz.

Art and Practice: Michael Rakowitz with Aaron Hughes
May 5, 2015
Artists Michael Rakowitz and Aaron Hughes have collaborated on Rakowitz’s ongoing project Enemy Kitchen, inviting Iraqi veterans to cook and eat Iraqi dishes together and continue to be in dialog around notions of war and identity as it relates to their work. Their session will explore the ideas of survival in practice.

Art and Practice is a series of discussion-based seminars aimed at creating a space where emerging and experienced artists can explore challenges and possibilities in building and sustaining a creative practice.

Art and Practice: Nina Katchadourian and Regina Basha
April 28th, 2015
This session is intended to combine curators and artists for discussion and exercises that think about these two roles and, perhaps, some new ways to configure them. Curator Regine Basha and artist Nina Katchadourian will discuss their ongoing professional relationship, addressing specific past projects that have incorporated everything from site-specific commissions and commercial gallery shows to focused talks and interviews.

Art and Practice is a series of discussion-based seminars aimed at creating a space where emerging and experienced artists can explore challenges and possibilities in building and sustaining a creative practice.

Artists Experiment Opening Reception
April 11, 2015
Meet the artists and toast with us as we celebrate the launch of our spring Artists Experiment initiative with artists Michael Rakowitz, Nina Katchadourian, and The Office For Creative Research. Rakowitz collaborated with Art Food Catering to present Iraqi dishes and Nina Katchadourian created a special edition of dust clothes for guests.

A Sort of Joy (Thousands of Exhausted Things)
April 4 and 7, 2015
The Office For Creative Research (OCR), in collaboration with Elevator Repair Service (ERS), presents A Sort of Joy (Thousands of Exhausted Things), a live performance that uses information from MoMA’s collection database as the source material for its script, exploring the Museum’s past and present exhibitions. Join us for this free performance in the galleries. This site-specific performance will take place intermittently throughout the scheduled event time.

2014
Archives as Instigator: Part II
July 12, 2014
This one-day workshop invites participants to work with artist Jer Thorp and writer Emily Spivack to explore the creative process using archives and data sets for artistic production.

Archives as Instigator: Part I
July 7, 2014
This panel discussion explores the ways creatives mine archives and collections of data for artistc work. Panelists include artist Jer Thorp, writer Emily Spivack and technologist Mario Klingemann.

MoMA Studio: Breathe with Me
May - June 2014
Organized in conjunction with the exhibition Lygia Clark: The Abandonment of Art, 1948–1988, MoMA Studio: Breathe with Me is an interactive space that explores the intersections between art, therapeutic practice, and the ways in which we relate to objects and people through physical encounters. Taking the work of Lygia Clark as a reference point, the Studio presents a series of drop-in programs, participatory experiences, and artist-led workshops that reveal the profound resonance Clark’s work has had on contemporary artists. Collaborating artists include Allison Smith, Ricardo Basbaum, Michel Groisman, and others.

Contemporary Art Forum: The Curative Object
May 30 and 31, 2014
Organized in collaboration with artist Allison Smith, this two-day conference explores the curative properties of engaging with and making creative objects.

Allison Smith: American Pre-Modern
April 26 and 27, 2014
This hands-on studio workshop looks at the period of 1790–1840, locating a pre-modern precedent for American art not in the representational, accessible folk art paintings that Barr favored, but in everyday things created by people who did not consider themselves artists or designers (but who perhaps should be by today's standards). These artists also sought to stake out an American creative quality apart from that of Europe, but they did so through three-dimensional objects and all-encompassing domestic interiors: ceramics, textiles, furniture, floor coverings, lighting fixtures, and other forms of interior decoration. This program asks participants to consider even earlier forms of sculpture, installation, and social practice: American pre-modern.

MoMA CopyShop
March and May 8, 2014
Developed in collaboration with artist Paul Ramirez Jonas, MoMACopyShop is a free workshop in MoMA Books, on the second floor of the Museum. Throughout the day, visitors can meet the artist and create their own bound “catalogue” using MoMA brochures, publications, paper, and other ephemera to edit a book that maps their visit to the Museum.

Social Exchange: Artist Reception
January 29, 2014
Please join us for a special reception to launch the 2nd season of Artists Experiment. Each artist will present an experience or objects inspired by the museum and its history. With a performance by The Office for Creative Research with Elevator Repair Service, prints for each guest designed by Allison Smith, and a special menu developed by chef Lynn Bound in collaboration with Paul Ramirez Jonas. 

2013
Archives as Impetus (Not on View)
May - June 2013
Artist Xaviera Simmons presents a series of interventionist performances exploring MoMA's historical and contemporary relationship to politics and artists through her research in MoMA's Library collection.

Archives as Impetus: Portable Politics/Print as Protest
May 8, 2013
Artist Xaviera Simmons collaborates with screenprint maker Sara Gates of Kingsland Printing to present an afternoon of dialogue and action. Drawing from the MoMA Library and Archive collections, Simmons presents a selection of images surrounding various methods of political action or protest documented, presented, or in response to MoMA throughout its history. Using these images as source material, the workshop explores the ephemeral and performative nature of political action, and the ways in which artists have used various techniques to get their messages across. Following a group discussion, Gates and Simmons lead a screenprinting workshop, allowing each participant to create their own portable political messages via T-shirts and tote bags. This workshop is part of MoMA’s Artists Experiment initiative, and is part of Simmons’s ongoing Archive as Impetus project.

Peer Learning Groups
January - May 2013
Three sessions of peer learning classes were organized in collaboration with artist Caroline Woolard. Each class included 8 sessions exploring one theme. Sessions and content were organized and led by students enrolled, using the museum's collection and other resources for learning together.

MoMA Studio: Exchange Cafe
May - June 2013
An interactive studio space organized in collaboration with Caroline Woolard. See details here.

Capital Exchange: A Dinner Event
January 23, 2013
In collaboration with Chef Lynn Bound and Cafe 2, please join us for a special dinner event to celebrate the launch of Artists Experiment, an ongoing collaboration between MoMA’s Department of Education and four contemporary artists—Raúl Cárdenas Osuna, Caroline Woolard, Xaviera Simmons, and Kenneth Goldsmith—to develop programs that offer new opportunities for public engagement at MoMA.

The theme for this event, Capital Exchange, reflects a thread that is present in each of the participating artists’ ongoing experiments: an exploration of different notions of “capital,” ranging from the social and political to the cultural and historical. This event explores these ideas through a multisensory experience including sound, food, readings, and more. Join us to dine, drink, and learn more about exciting the events coming up at MoMA this season.

Raúl Cárdenas Osuna, in collaboration with Torolab’s Chef Diego Becerra and Cafe 2’s Chef Lynn Bound, created a menu inspired by classic 20th-century New York cuisine, with a modern-day ethnic twist.

Caroline Woolard will open the evening with a reflection on artist Eva Zeisel, the first female artist to have a solo exhibition at MoMA and the first woman to be commissioned by MoMA to create a limited edition of functional work for sale. Using the placebo as a symbol of value, guests will share in a collective experience with a special performance by singer Heather Christian.

Drawing from The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, poet Kenneth Goldsmith will share Brion Gysin’s special brownie recipe and Toklas’s response to Gysin’s scandalous contribution.

Drawing from her research in the MoMA library and archives, Xaviera Simmons will share a selection of her initial findings by presenting each guest with a special set of placemats inspired by images culled from artworks engaged and in reaction to major political movements of the 20th and 21st centuries from MoMa’s inception to the present—one for each course throughout the evening—as well as provide the evenings protest inspired soundtrack for the duration of the meal. The evening will end with a special performance by Xaviera and guest performers, including singer Teresa Mora.