SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
2PM
ARMORY LIVE THEATER
Featuring Cecilia Alemani, Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art and Artistic Director of the 59th International Art Exhibition (2022) at the Venice Biennale; Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum; and Alyssa Nitchun, Executive Director at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art—moderated by Farah Nayeri, Writer for The New York Times and author of Takedown: Art and Power in the Digital Age.
Following the United States Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the conversation brings together women in positions of institutional leadership to discuss the historical depiction of women in art and representation, examining how these topics relate to contemporary notions of bodily autonomy and the current political climate.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
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CECILIA ALEMANI
Cecilia Alemani is an Italian curator based in New York. Currently, she is the Artistic Director of the 59th International Art Exhibition (2022) in Venice. Since 2011, she has been the Donald R. Mullen, Jr Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, the public art program presented by the High Line in New York. In 2018, Alemani served as Artistic Director of the inaugural edition of Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires. In 2017, she curated the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Image courtesy of the speaker.
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ANNE PASTERNAK
Since 2015, Anne Pasternak has served as the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum, one of the oldest and largest fine arts institutions in the nation. For more than thirty years, Anne has devoted her career to engaging broad audiences with the limitless power of art to move, motivate, and inspire. As a staunch advocate for the civic and democratic roles our cultural and educational institutions can play, she is committed to projects that demonstrate the crucial links between art and social justice. During her time at the Brooklyn Museum, Anne has focused on strengthening the Museum as a center for the visual arts that is courageous, pioneering, and inspirational. With her demonstrated imagination and skill, she envisions new ways to connect the Brooklyn Museum’s historical collections with contemporary ideas and practices, such as experimenting with how to make the permanent collection and gallery spaces into more dynamic experiences. Through her leadership, Anne has also expanded the Museum’s educational and public program offerings, and she has fostered remarkable special exhibitions, including The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America and We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85. These initiatives are building the foundations for the Brooklyn Museum’s new Strategic Plan, to further the Museum’s mission to create inspiring encounters with art and engage the community around the issues of today. Prior to joining the Brooklyn Museum, Anne served as the director of Creative Time, where she initiated projects that gave artists opportunities to respond to political and environmental challenges, while also expanding their practice and work globally. During her tenure, the organization collaborated with hundreds of artists, including Nick Cave, Paul Chan, Jenny Holzer, and Kara Walker, commissioning and presenting works that ranged from sculptural installations in Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall to skywriting over Manhattan, as well as Tribute in Light, the twin beacons of light that illuminated the sky above the former World Trade Center site, and continue to be presented on the anniversaries of 9/11.
Image courtesy of the speaker.
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ALYSSA NITCHUN
Alyssa Nitchun is Executive Director of The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, where she oversees the Museum's many initiatives and long-term growth. Prior to LLMA, Alyssa was an independent cultural consultant focused on the Middle East and Europe, advising artists and cultural institutions on realizing large-scale projects. From 2012 to 2018, Alyssa was with the public art organization Creative Time where she held a variety of positions focused on development, communications, and team management, culminating with Acting Executive Director. Prior to Creative Time, Alyssa oversaw Institutional Giving for StoryCorps – the public media organization archiving diverse oral histories at the Library of Congress. Alyssa has also served as Director of Development for the CUNY Graduate Center’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies and has held multiple creative positions in the worlds of art, fashion, and music. Alyssa received an MA in Gender Politics with a focus in Queer theory from New York University.
Image courtesy of the speaker.
![](https://www.thearmoryshow.com/media/pages/programming/art-and-autonomy-figuration-representation-and-choice/3edb15b31e-1661876615/farah-nayeri-author-photo-by-suzanne-plunkett-800x800-crop-50-50.jpg)
FARAH NAYERI
Farah Nayeri is the author of “Takedown: Art and Power in the Digital Age” and an arts and culture writer for the New York Times. She also hosts the CultureBlast podcast. Originally from Iran, she lives and works in London. Nayeri began her journalism career in Paris as a reporter for Time Magazine and a contributor to The Wall Street Journal. She later became a correspondent of Bloomberg in Paris, Rome, and London, covering politics and economics, then culture. Nayeri is a public speaker and panel moderator, regularly chairing conferences for the New York Times and for institutions in Europe. She is a classically trained pianist and a devotee of flamenco dance.
Image courtesy of the speaker.
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