Ingrid Schaffner – författare

The Dispatch is the second of two publications accompanying the 2018 Carnegie International, 57th Edition. Intended as a missive that sends the exhibition out into the world, this slim scholarly volume stands as a document of the show, through photographs and a checklist of the exhibition and its programs. In addition, it reflects forward, by presenting a series of studies on the relevance of an international exhibition today. Local, national and global perspectives are surveyed here, as well as artists' thoughts on the role of recurring international exhibitions for their work. With contributions by Gabriella Beckhurst, Jennifer Burris, Emi Finkelstein, Rebecca Giordano, Larissa Harris, Talia Heiman, Elizabeth Hoover, Hitomi Iwasaki, Koyo Kouoh, Prem Krishnamurthy, Paula Kupfer, Ellen Larson, Katie Loney, Sophia Marisa Lucas, Ashley McNelis, Liz Park, Erin Peters, Ingrid Schaffner and Marina Tyquiengco, and an artist project by Leslie Hewitt.

At first glance, The Puppet Show seems a flip title. Organized by Philadelphia ICA Senior Curator Ingrid Schaffner and Carin Kuoni, this exhibition catalogue focuses--with both humor and gravity--on the surprisingly prodigious amount of puppet imagery in contemporary art. It takes as its historic point of departure one of the first episodes of avant-garde art history: Alfred Jarry's 1896 puppet play Ubu Roi, which the South African artist William Kentridge, in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company, has adapted into an allegory of apartheid. Other puppets are featured in works from more than 30 well-established, international artists, including Anne Chu, Terence Gower, Pierre Huyghe, Christian Jankowski, Laurie Simmons, Kiki Smith and Kara Walker. This volume also looks at puppets in Modern art and popular culture--from Sophie Tauber Arp’s Dada marionettes to the Internet phenomenon of the “sockpuppet”--a well-known person’s fake online persona, created in order to boost public opinion.

The eloquent story of Eileen Harris Norton’s collection and its pivotal role in championing the work of women artists, artists of color, and changing narratives of contemporary art. Since she acquired her very first artwork from Los Angeles printmaker Ruth Waddy in 1976, Eileen Harris Norton’s collection has bloomed into a beautiful reflection of her interest in the practices of women and artists of color, and work made in California. Alongside the eponymous exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, Destiny Is a Rose celebrates fifty years of Harris Norton’s remarkable collection, taking its title from a painting in the collection by Kerry James Marshall and featuring numerous iconic works of contemporary art by Mark Bradford, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon, Yoshimoto Nara, Adrian Piper, Betye Saar, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, and more. Texts by art historian Kellie Jones and curator Ingrid Schaffner delve into the critical role that education and philanthropy, representation and identity, and personal relationships with artists and curators have played in shaping Harris Norton’s visionary collecting practice. Offering deep insight into the act and impact of collecting, Destiny Is a Rose is a tribute to Harris Norton’s ongoing role as a vital agent of change and growth within the contemporary art world.

Carnegie Museum of Art has presented its International since 1896—just a year after the first Venice Biennale. Inaugurated by museum founder, Andrew Carnegie, to inspire local audiences and artists, the exhibition was intended to position Pittsburgh as a center of not only industry but modern culture. The 57th iteration of the exhibition is organized by Ingrid Schaffner, a curatorial innovator—and Pittsburgh native—known for her intensely researched and widely accessible exhibitions.The Guide imparts rich and varied information for traveling through the exhibition, the museum and the city of Pittsburgh through both fact and legend. A series of five commissioned travelogues opens the process of Schaffner's research for the exhibition as she embarked with her curatorial companions on journeys across the globe.