by Jon Lackman | 14 February 2011 | Conferences
Apparently I have conference-reporting fatigue. I have rounded up (and sometimes contributed to) CAA coverage for the last five years, but this year I just can’t seem to muster the enthusiasm necessary to comb blogs and tweets for the pithiest aperçus into the power-point-a-thon that is the College Art Association annual conference. Next year I vow to catch a second wind or find someone to do it for me! I did this year at least read through CAA’s blog. My favorite post: William Gassaway’s on “Global Art Histories/ Multiple Modernities”:
As Dr. King-Hammond admitted in her opening remarks, she was not immediately jazzed to take the proscribed directive of hosting a “panel on diversity” … because, frankly, it’s a struggle which has become difficult to the point of exasperation in recent years … With her very first breath, Mina Cheon heartily disagreed with King-Hammond’s opening remarks by claiming, “Well, I’m not done fighting for diversity!” She then proceeded to layout a well-reasoned and sardonic rant against the stagnant institutionalization of art education in university located across the globe today … Continuing the trend, Lowery Sims began the next installment in the session by claiming outright, “I am a victim of diversity fatigue . . . [and] I just don’t give a damn anymore!” … Finally Edward Sullivan’s talk began with even more scathing jests directed (again) toward the institutionalization of art and the often frustrating tedium associated with conferences such as this. But I think he reflected the sentiment of the entire audience when he said with a smile, “But this was fun! You all have redeemed my love for this kind of thing!”
