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A DISCUSSION WITH JOSHUA DECTER AND LA BOOK LAUNCH
May 3, 2014
LA><ART
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Press Release
For his presentation at LA><ART, New York-based writer, curator and art historian Joshua Decter will discuss his new book, Art Is a Problem: Selected Criticism, Essays, Interviews and Curatorial Projects (1986-2012). By examining contemporary art in relation to its various ideological, public, discursive, and social contexts, Decter recognizes art’s paradoxical condition: art problematizes, and is intrinsically a problem. From this standpoint, he analyzes art’s definitions, functions, ethical entanglements, societal aspirations, and cultural contradictions.
Joshua Decter has contributed to Artforum, Afterall, Texte zur Kunst, Flash Art, The Exhibitionist, Mousse, among other international periodicals, and curated exhibitions at institutions such as PS1 (now MoMA PS1), The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Apex Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, The Kunsthalle Vienna, and The Santa Monica Museum of Art. His exhibition projects have been reviewed in The New York Times, Artforum, The Village Voice, Art Monthly, The Los Angeles Times, Art News, Le Monde, and elsewhere. In addition to Art is a Problem, Decter is also the co-author of a forthcoming 2014 book Exhibition as Social Intervention: ‘Culture in Action’ 1993, volume 3 of Afterall Books Exhibition Histories series. This program is organized in collaboration with ARTBOOK I D.A.P. Discursive Programs at LA><ART is a multi-faceted education initiative that generates opportunities for publics to engage with artists, curators, and other cultural producers through intimate conversations, group discussions, speaking presentations and readings. This initiative produces one-time projects and ongoing programs that create unique conditions for intellectual exchange and public engagement. In addition to providing an independent curriculum, Discursive Programs serves as an open forum with partnering institutions, to pursue knowledge through artistic interests, curatorial activities, and interdisciplinary reflection on cultural production today. 
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