State Of The Arts NYC presents Talk On The Sexual Harassment Crisis In The Art World

Sexual harassment allegations have now hit the visual art world. Art Forum co-publisher Knight Landesman has resigned amid several allegations. More women have come forward. An open letter, begun by 10 members of a Whats App group, grew to 125 people within 24 hours, has been signed by luminaries including Cindy Sherman, Laurie Anderson, Lynn Nottage, Phyllida Barlow, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Tania Bruguera, and Jenny Holzer, whose work Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise is on the landing page for the letter. Now, over 5,000 women have signed the letter to stop these practices.

Joining the show to talk about this issue and the letter, are representatives Lisa Dent and Lumi Tan from that website Not Surprised.

Lisa Dent has been a cultural worker for close to 30 years, serving as an administrator, creative producer, curator, gallerist, writer, designer and activist. Dent was most recently the director of resources & award programs at Creative Capital, leading the financial and advisory services programs and advising awardees regarding the full realization of their projects, providing strategic insight and connecting them to a wide range of internal and external resources. Previously, Dent served as the associate curator of contemporary art at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio, held curatorial staff positions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, and was a director at Friedrich Petzel Gallery in New York. She has worked in film and the performing arts as a scenic designer, art director, and producer on numerous projects. She has taught courses in art history and production design at Cooper Union, University of California, Davis, Columbus College of Art and Design, and The Ohio State University. Dent received her BFA from Howard University, her MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and completed the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in curatorial studies. She has served on several juries and committees and is currently a board member of Visual AIDS and Triple Canopy.

We also have joining us Lumi Tan is Curator at The Kitchen in New York, where she organizes exhibitions and produces performances with artists across disciplines and generations. Most recently, Tan has worked with Meriem Bennani, Half Straddle, Sara Magenheimer, and Sondra Perry. Previously she co-curated From Minimalism into Algorithm (2016), a yearlong performance and exhibition series, as well as projects with artists including Ed Atkins, Gretchen Bender, Glasser, George Lewis, Anicka Yi, and Danh Vo and Xiu Xiu. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Artforum, Frieze, The Exhibitionist, and numerous exhibition catalogues.