For Immediate Release
February 29, 2024

CLARK ART INSTITUTE RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC PROGRAM PRESENTS LECTURE ON THE COMPROMISED ART OF PARASITICAL RESISTANCE

Williamstown, Massachusetts—On Friday, April 5 at 5:30 pm, the Clark Art Institute’s Research and Academic Program presents a lecture by Anna Watkins Fisher (University of Michigan) who examines artistic resistance in the twenty-first century, when disruption and dissent are co-opted and commodified in ways that reinforce powerful systems. The talk takes place in the Clark’s auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.

This lecture weighs the gambit of artists who willfully abandon the radical scripts of opposition and refusal long identified with anticapitalism and feminism to embrace parasitism—tactics of complicity that effect subversion from within dominant structures. The talk explores their irreverent and often troubling artworks and what they tell us about the conditions for resistance and critique today.

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. A reception at 5 pm in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the event. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events. 

The next Research and Academic Program lecture is presented by Michelle Foa (Tulane University / Florence Gould Foundation Fellow) who frames Edgar Degas as an artist who was committed, above all, to investigating the life of matter and the matter of art. The event takes place on Tuesday, April 9 at 5:30 pm in the Clark’s auditorium.

ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 285,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

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