Selected and introduced by Juli Carson, this book presents a collection of essential essays, interviews, and never-before published archival materials that trace the development of the teaching of major artist and thinker Mary Kelly, from 1980-2017.
As an artist and a theorist, Kelly is known for her foundational contributions to Feminism and Conceptual Art; she is also revered for her innovative pedagogy, which has influenced countless artists, writers and teachers within the international art community. Her description of a feminist practice of concentric pedagogy, centred on the artwork rather the mastery of the teacher, radically changed teaching practice in art studios.
Detailing Kelly’s innovative pedagogical program, the essays are split into three sections: The Method, which focuses on Kelly’s renowned method of “ethical observation” within studio critique; The Project, which explores her notion of what constitutes an artistic project; and Project and Method in the Field which presents, for the first time, a transcription of On the Passage of a Few People though a Rather Brief Period of Time, a performative colloquy commissioned by the Tate Modern and moderated by Kelly in 2015; following this transcription is a portfolio of practicing artists previously enrolled in Kelly’s Interdisciplinary Studio Area at UCLA.
Mary Kelly’s Concentric Pedagogy highlights how contemporary studio teaching practice has been largely informed by Kelly’s bold and innovative approach to art pedagogy, evidencing how the intersection of teaching, artistic practice, and radical political engagement can transform our approach to all three. It is essential reading for students and teachers of art and design studio practice, art history and theory, contemporary, and feminist art.
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Series Editor Preface, Griselda Pollock Introduction, Juli Carson Part One: The Method 1. Mary Kelly, Concentric Pedagogy: Toward an Ethics of the Observer 2. Looking, Listening, Slowing Down, Mary Kelly and Kerry Tribe in Conversation 3. Archive (Part One): Attendant Course Schedules / Handwritten Course Notes and Charts 4. Mary Kelly, Re-viewing Modernist Criticism 5. Formations in the Studio 6. Mary Kelly, The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi: Notes on Gesture, Medium and Mediation Part Two: The Project 7. Mary Kelly, Dialogic Procedures and Project-Based Work 8. The Dialogic Imagination, Mary Kelly in conversation with Sharon Hayes, Jane Jin Kaisen, Andrea Geyer, Dont Rhine 9. Archive (Part Two): Attendant Course Schedules / Handwritten Course Notes and Charts 10. Mary Kelly, Miming the Master: Boy Things, Bad Girls, and Femmes Vitales 11. Dispersions in the Field 12. Mary Kelly, On Fidelity: Art, Politics, Passion and Event Part Three: Project and Method in the Field 13. Archive (Part Three): Posters and Symposia Readers 14. On the Passage of a Few People Through a Rather Brief Period of Time, Mary Kelly, Moderator, Tate Modern Online Conference 15. Mary Kelly’s The Practical Past Appendix 16. Concentric Pedagogy Chronology Bibliography Author, Editor and Contributors' Biographies Index
Mary Kelly is an American conceptual artist, feminist, educator, and writer. Juli Carson is Professor of Art, Criticism and Curation at University of California Irvine, USA. From 2018-19 she was Philippe Jabre Professor of Art History and Curating at the American University of Beirut. Her previous books include Exile of the Imaginary: Politics, Aesthetics, Love (2007), The Limits of Representation: Psychoanalysis and Critical Aesthetics (2011) and The Hermenuetic Impulse: Aesthetics of An Untethered Past (2019).
Reviews for Mary Kelly's Concentric Pedagogy: Selected Writings
A significant collection of essays, archival materials, and artist conversations that offers considerable insight into the celebrated teaching methodologies of Mary Kelly. An instruction manual for how to approach, look, think, parse, and speak about art and exhibitions. * Glenn R. Phillips, Senior Curator, Head of Exhibitions, Getty Research Institute, USA * Kelly’s writings speak to the most urgent concerns in the field today: the systems of art, the solicitation of the art-encounter, and how to attend with rigour to the artwork as a political agent in times of global crisis. This is an important, timely and necessary book. * Natalie Loveless, Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory, University of Alberta, USA * Mary Kelly is one of our great pedagogues. We have been using her concentric pedagogy since 1997, in the knowledge that it creates the artistic awareness necessary to transform students into artists. Finally, her collected writings on pedagogy is here. * Gertrud Sandqvist, Professor, Malmö Art Academy, Lund University, Sweden * Modelling the interconnections between teaching and artmaking, this book provides an in depth look at how Kelly’s “method” and “project” brought feminism and psychoanalysis from first generation conceptualism to the classroom, and includes course materials, projects, and contributions by former students. It will be a valuable resource for artists and educators alike. * Ken Gonzales-Day, Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair in Art and Professor of Art, Scripps College, USA * Serves as a potent affirmation for artist educators seeking to activate mutually dynamic relationships between an artwork’s material particularities and broader worlds of perception, fiction, consumption, exploitation and production. * Sean Lowry, Head of Critical and Theoretical Studies, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Australia * Finally, Mary Kelly's tremendously influential pedagogy is available beyond the circle of students and colleagues who have been lucky enough to work with her. This book will be an essential resource for everyone who cares about the ethics of engaging with art. * Andrea Fraser, Practising Artist and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studio, UCLA School of Arts and Architecture, USA *
