Artist Lecture: Joanna Malinowska Dec 4th

The University of Maine Intermedia MFA program is pleased to announce the sixth lecture, Joanna Malinowska , for their fall 2012 Visiting Artist series. This presentation is in part sponsored by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture as part of a new partnership program with the Intermedia MFA Program. Malinowska will present a public lecture on Tuesday Dec 4th at 7pm in 100 Lord Hall on the University of Maine campus in Orono.

Inspiration for Malinowska’s sculpture, performance and video-based projects comes from her fascination with anthropology, and her works often playfully suggest her own take on anthropological field work and interpretation. “Before choosing art, I had considered becoming a cultural anthropologist, but eventually decided that what made me interested in anthropology was not so much the research that aspires to scientific objectivity, but rather the sense of relativity of a cosmic order of one’s own culture in comparison to other possible systems.”  By illuminating similarities between ostensibly different cultures, she seeks to create a bridge between them rather than set them apart.

 Malinowska also explores the idea of collective consciousness—when similar ideas arise in various parts of the world without direct interaction or influence—in her work. From the Canyons to the Stars enacts a fantasy of Arctic peoples creating a sculpture that unknowingly echoes both everyday Western life and art. Malinowska was born in Poland and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She received an MFA from Yale University and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Malinowska has participated in the Smack Mellon Artist Studio Program in New York.  She is the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.  In addition to many international solo and group exhibitions, Malinowska is represented by the Canada Gallery in New York.

 The Masters of Fine Arts in Intermedia at the University of Maine provides substantial advanced study for individuals interested in interdisciplinary study in the arts. The program emphasizes intensive development of students’ creative and innovative abilities through a diverse engagement with multiple research processes, critical thinking skills and creative production tools and technologies. The visiting artist series supports and reflects the wide variety of disciplines represented by the program including but not limited to, Art, New Media, Theater, Dance, Philosophy, Art History, Engineering, Communications, Media Studies, Music, Psychology, Natural Sciences, and others.

 This event is sponsored by the Intermedia MFA Program, the New Media Department, The Cultural Affairs / Distinguished Lecture Series Fund and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

 For more information contact Bethany Engstrom at bethany.engstrom@umit.maine.edu