Organized in conjunction with the DIA’s Shirin Neshat exhibition,GLOBAL IMAGINARIES¦Individual Realities is a series of lectures that establishes a platform for artists and their communities to enter into a wider conversation about socially engaged art. The ‘imaginary’ is a sociological term which describes the unspoken understanding between individuals within a society who all agree to function within the same ethical, cultural and political frameworks. The ‘global imaginary’ is an idea that expands on this notion, describing the social networks emerging between people from all over the world, assisted by innovations in technology such as the internet. In this lecture series we turn to several prominent artists whose work focuses on the role of art within the social and political sphere and invite a socio-cultural anthropologist, a political activist and sociologist of culture to discuss the role of art in shaping the global imaginary. This program will explore the underlying notions that shape our expectations of society and consider art as a social medium to navigate the vicissitudes of our imagined narratives.

Based in Paris, Esther Shalev-Gerz is internationally recognized for her seminal contributions to the field of art in the public realm and her consistent investigation into the nature of democracy, cultural memory and the politics of public space. For over 20 years her work has focused on interventions and projects in public space, taking the form of collaboration and exchange with the audience. Her installations and photographic work raise questions on group memory and its interaction with personal history and souvenir. In these commemorative monuments, installations, video and photographic works, questions about history are posed, and its relationship with collective memory is explored and investigated. 

She is a Professor at Valand School of Fine Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden where she is currently leading an international research project on Trust and the Unfolding Dialogue funded by the Swedish Research Council. Current and recent exhibitions include: a retrospective at the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne with a catalogue published by JRP|Ringier (22 September 2012-6 January 2013); an installation of MenschenDinge as part of the group exhibition Newtopia at Kazerne Dossin, Mechelen, Belgium (1 December 2012-31 March 2013); Describing Labor at Wolfsonian-FIU, Miami (5 December 2012-7 April 2013); Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops (2012); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2010); Vilnius Art Academy Gallery, Vilnius (2009); Maritime Museum, Greenwich, (2007); Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora, Weimar (2006); Sprengel Museum, Hannover (2002); Historiska Museet, Stockholm (2002)Museet, Stockholm (2002).

Sponsored by Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art and The Center for hte Study of Citizenship at Wayne State University.