Rose B. Simpson, who lives and works in her native Santa Clara Pueblo, NM, is a mixed-media artist who works across ceramic sculpture, installation, performance, custom cars, and more. Growing up in a multigenerational, matrilineal lineage of artists working with clay, her practice—built around androgynous clay figures adorned with found and manufactured objects—is informed by indigenous tradition as well as her own experience of guidance, resilience and empowerment. Simpson’s sculptures mirror her expansive vision: representing strength in assertive stances alongside depictions of interpersonal relationships and moments of quiet support.

Drawing on their recent exhibitions—LaToya Ruby Frazier’s at MoMA and Steve Locke’s at MASS MoCA—these two politically engaged American artists will reflect on how in their works they negotiate racial, social, economic, and artistic structures of power.  With shared interests in history, justice, racism, systemic violence, education, queer rights and health care, both consider their works as platforms from which to speak to the issues in the world that demand our attention.

This fall Art Speaks will address the most definitive issue of our times, the climate crisis. Join us on September 27 to listen to two of our most impactful writers on this subject. Following an unprecedented summer during which the most extreme weather events have occurred in the Global North, the authors’ deep knowledge in the field will bring insight into our understanding of the environment and our future within it. As uncontrollable wildfires continue to burn across Canada, this talk could not be more timely.

Art Speaks is proud to present a conversation between Helen Molesworth and Jarrett Earnest, which will focus on Molesworth’s impressive career and trajectory in the art world as a thinker, writer and curator.

Join us for a compelling conversation about the realities of contemporary art world success. Tau Lewis and Woody De Othello, two of the most exciting and innovative artists of our time, will share their experiences and insights into the intricate relationship between artistic demands and their creative processes. As a respected leader in the art world and a driving force behind many creative initiatives, Lucas Zwirner, head of content at David Zwirner Gallery, will moderate the discussion and bring his unique perspective to the conversation. As part of a generation that is redefining the boundaries and possibilities of contemporary art, each will offer their perspectives on the complexities of the post-pandemic art world. Don’t miss out on this thought-provoking dialogue that will inspire, challenge, and elevate your understanding of contemporary art.

Art Speaks and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts are proud to present an original lecture by one of today’s pre-eminent writers about art and culture, The New York Times’ critic at large, Jason Farago, who will speak about art criticism in the digital age.

Art Speaks is delighted to present flow / form, a new online conversation platform launching on the @artspeaksmtlIGTV channel on Tuesday, September 14, 2021, at 8pm with a conversation between multidisciplinary artists Manuel Mathieu and Curtis Talwst Santiago. In this program, the two artists share the foundations of their artistic practices, what drives them to create and the spiritual convictions that shape their lives and work. The dialogue offers a unique window into the artists’ worlds and reveals a moment of genuine connection.

Art Speaks is delighted to present a fascinating conversation between artist Catherine Opie and poet Robin Coste Lewis. This candid dialogue will be grounded on ideas that intersect in their work such as feminism, motherhood, identity, representation and the colour blue. Opie and Lewis were both recipients of Guggenheim Fellowships in 2019.

Art Speaks is a proud sponsoring partner for the keynote lecture of the Global Asia/Pacific Art Exchange (GAX 2019) in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal) on the theme of Asian indigenous Relations in Contemporary Art. In this keynote presentation, Yuki Kihara discusses her new body of work, whose title is adapted from a popular Japanese song entitled ‘サモア島の歌 (Samoatou no uta)’ meaning ‘A song from Samoa.’ Music textbooks for elementary school students in Japan feature the song. The lyrics describe the Samoan archipelago situated in the Moana — an Indigenous pan-Polynesian name for the Pacific continent — as a paradise on earth settled by ‘noble savages’ — a typically romantic, Orientalist imagining of neighbouring Island nations held by Japan dating back since the Edo period in the 17th century.

Art Speaks is pleased to present leading art critic, Jerry Saltz for its upcoming talk. Jerry Saltz’s witty, provocative writing portrays art and the shifting art market with sharp insight. He has been dubbed the “people’s critic” for his ability to bring art to a broader audience, and for his notable role in stimulating energetic debates on art and politics through social media.

As a dynamic thinker and successful social entrepreneur, Zita Cobb has inspired many around the world with her visionary approach to creating meaningful change in her home of Fogo Island, Newfoundland. Zita’s initiatives have helped build a new leg on the Island’s economy that had been left bereft by the collapse of the cod fishing industry. Her first project, Fogo Island Arts, is a world-class artist-in-residence program that brings Canadian and international artists, curators, writers and thinkers to live among the island’s communities and work in architect-designed studios placed on bluffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Alumni of the program include artists Jumana Manna, Abbas Akhavan, Brian Jungen and Janice Kerbel.

For this special event, Gates will discuss his latest research forThe Black Madonna, a multi-part project that comprises a series of exhibitions and performances which draw on a range of sources, from influential depictions of the Madonna in European churches and museums, to the extensive print archive of the Johnson Publishing Corporation, the Chicago-based publisher of Jet and Ebony magazines. This exploration of the history of the black female and her image will manifest in exhibitions in four institutions in 2018.

Thelma Golden, directrice et conservatrice en chef du Studio Museum de Harlem, a profondément influencé notre perception de l’art. Depuis le début des années 1990, ses expositions visionnaires ont provoqué, dans le domaine de l’art contemporain, un dialogue important sur les enjeux liés à la culture et aux réalités raciales aux États-Unis. Animé par la conviction que l’art peut être un vecteur de changements sur le plan politique et social, son travail nous amène à reformuler notre vision du monde.

Hajra Waheed’s multidisciplinary practice ranges from interactive installations to collage, video, sound and sculpture. Prompted by news accounts and extensive research, Waheed uses complex narrative structures to explore issues surrounding covert power, mass surveillance, cultural distortion and the traumas and alienation of displaced subjects via mass migration. Over the last decade, Waheed has participated in exhibitions worldwide, most recently including the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, VIVA ARTE VIVA, Venice (2017); 11th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2016); The Cyphers, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2016); Still Against the Sky, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2015); L’avenir (Looking Forward), La Biennale de Montréal, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, QC (2014).

Frances Stark is a mid-career, interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Using text, images and literary sources, she mines the complexities of everyday life for her provocative subject matter. Celebrated for her unabashed approach, she reveals herself in her work — utilizing the personal to speak to complex concerns related to the broader public, in the manner of literature.