Crystal Bridges Art Symposium: The Myth of the Melting Pot

Art in Conversation: Environment, Identity, and Memory
http://crystalbridges.org/symposium-art-in-conversation/

The Myth of the Melting Pot
With Opening Spoken Word Performance

Moderated by Lauren Haynes, Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges

Panelists:
Claudia Mesch, art historian
Ghada Amer, artist
Jeffrey Gibson, artist

In popular culture, American identity has been idealized as a homogenous “melting pot” of cultures, rather than as a rich system of cultural exchange. While this exchange can result in a diversity of new traditions and artistic forms, it can also lead to an unfortunate appropriation of cultural elements by those who are naïve or insensitive to their significance. Art historian Claudia Mesch will present new scholarship exploring how cultural exchange has informed artmaking in the Americas through history. A discussion with artists Jeffrey Gibson and Ghada Amer, each of whose work explores issues of cultural identity and re-appropriation, will follow.