Martin Art Gallery

Martin Art Gallery has temporarily closed.

Anthony Cervino

Hurry with the Furies 

March 10 - April 11

Artist Talk: March 17, 7pm in the Recital Hall 

Public Reception: March 25, 5:30 – 7pm

Hurry with the Furies will feature a suite of works that use the visual and formal language of institutional critique to explore how we fethisize cultural objects.   Cervino's recreated historical objects manipulate material conventions by resulting in humorous, and often transgressive meditations on his personal past.

This exhibition will also include a catalog, with essay by Margaret Winslow. 

Anthony says about his work "As an artist, I am still a committed object maker. Conceptually (and speaking broadly) most of my sculptures draw on personal memory, a sense of cultural nostalgia, and notions of boyhood/masculinity. Visually, I approach these subjects with an eclectic hand. Using both made forms and manipulated found objects, I focus on object-based compositions that tend to investigate conflicting notions of identity such as hero/coward, masculine/feminine, and victim/victimizer, among other formal and abstract considerations. Taken as a whole, my sculptures offer a wistful celebration of everyday possessions and poetic musings on an enigmatic past. My work pay homage to the emotional valences and real histories found in familiar and strange things."

Anthony has been exhibiting for over 20 years and teaching at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania since 2006. His exhibition record includes national and international shows where his artwork has been displayed in a variety of venues including college galleries, museums, art centers, commercial spaces, and art fairs.

Life of the Mind

Burak Delier, Pilvi Takala, and Vesna Pavlović

Extended through August 7th

Life of the Mind is an exhibition comprising three parts, each probing what exactly employers are asking of us while we are on the job. Any and all work requires an output, and when we sell our labor, that labor consists of some combination of physical and mental energies. Through the projects in this exhibition, Burak Delier, Vesna Pavlović and Pilvi Takala examine the context and costs of that transaction on our mental lives.

The title of the exhibition is taken from moral philosopher Hannah Arendt’s (1906–1975) final work of the same name.  Life of the Mind (posthumously published in two volumes in 1977 and 1978) begins with a quote from Cato the Elder (234–149 BCE) “Never is he more active than when he does nothing, never is he less alone than when he is by himself”.  Arendt saw modernity as an age of bureaucratic administration filled with anonymous labor, dominated by elites who manipulate public opinion.   Arendt’s perspective was shaped by her experience under totalitarianism, and it is as relevant in the present day as ever.  Today, the consequences of neoliberal capitalism and increased authoritarianism here and elsewhere are exponentially amplified by deindustrialization, automation and Artificial Intelligence, which are reshaping not only workplaces, but the mental lives of white collar workers all over the globe.

We all seek to be free, and to think and do what we want, but in order to survive under any economic system, most of us need to go to work.   Many of us take pride in our careers, and for those who do, it’s an integral part of our personal identity.  Through the work of these three artists, we don’t find satisfying or tidy answers to questions about personal and professional boundaries, but instead are given further avenues of inquiry about the norms, compromises, and control that our workplaces offer in exchange for what we hope amounts to a living wage.

The Autonomist Anomaly

Curated by Felice Moramarco 

Postponed until Spring 2021

Image: Enrico Scuro, Contro la criminalizzazione delle lotte, 1977

Martin Art Gallery at Muhlenberg College is pleased to host The Autonomist Anomaly guest curated by Felice Moramarco in our Galleria Space for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester. We will host an opening reception on Wednesday March 25 th from 5:30 – 7pm, with remarks by the curator at 6pm. We will also offer a companion talk and discussion with scholar and theorist Silvia Federici on March 31 st in the Recital Hall [across from the Galleria].

Through archival images and materials and the film Settembre ‘77, this exhibition will take a look at the cultural production and organizing of the Italian movement Autonomia. For almost a decade throughout the 70’s, Autonomia upset the Italian political system with a wave of uprisings, animated by radical demands of equality and social justice. Through audio recordings, super 8 videos, photos, and magazines from the archives of activists of the movement, the Autonomist Anomaly recollects some of the crucial events that marked the history of Autonomia. By giving a glimpse into the dynamic organisation of the movement and its unusual forms of political struggle, the exhibition aims to highlight the unique political experience that was Autonomia, and its enduring legacy that is still relevant today.

For several reasons, Autonomia constituted an unparalleled anomaly in the history of Western post war politics. An aspect that immediately stands out is the remarkable impact that the movement had on the cultural and political life of the country, despite its lack of any kind of organisational structure. To clearly trace the boundaries of the movement is indeed an arduous task even for today’s historians. Having been more than a homogeneous movement, Autonomia was in fact a constellation of collectives, groups, pirate radios, magazines, often very diverse from each other, but all connected by the strong commitment to construct forms of collective life beyond state authority and private property. Autonomia was “the body without organs of politics” as the philosopher Sylvere Lotringere defined it, a political organism without a centralized organisation, thus constantly evolving, expanding and within which contradictory elements coexisted.

Furthermore, Autonomia introduced within the field of political struggle, aspects of private and public life that were traditionally considered non-political. The right to idleness, collectivisation of happiness, liberation of desire, general femminisation, expanded sexuality constituted some aspects the movement decisively advanced. To some these are ancillary cultural battlegrounds with little political value, but they were part of a larger project that aimed at radically revising the boundaries of political discourse. The radicality of this project inevitably led Autonomia to a frontal clash with state authorities, mass media, and both right-wing and left-wing parties. Despite the power imbalance, for the decade it was active, Autonomia was a catalysing force dramatically affecting political and cultural life in the country. 

Felice Moramarco is a London based writer and curator, founding director of DEMO – Deptford Moving Image Festival. His practice and research focus on rethinking art’s agency in light of the current cultural, technological, and political paradigms shifts, exploring the possibilities of artistic practice to operate politically and configure new realities. He received his MA in Philosophy from the University of Bologna and his MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths. He held teaching and research positions at Goldsmiths – University of London, the British School in Rome, at Nordland Art and Film School and at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. He has curated various exhibition projects across Europe and the US, also in collaboration with renowned art institutions such as Arnolfini - Centre for Contemporary Arts in Bristol and the Museum of Modern Art of Bologna.

 Ongoing Events and Exhibitions:

Jen Huh : God's Eyes