Instructure

Instructure investigates the notion of the body as a "learning machine." Through the works of Bruce Nauman, Vito Acconci, Valie Export, Mel Bochner, and others, the exhibition explores how physical, architectural, and societal impositions become engrained in human consciousness through the medium of the body, often without the mind being conscious of the process. The exhibition proposes that codes and messages become effective only when they circulate through the body: instructions, expectations, prescriptions, and structures (both spatial and societal) do not need to be imposed, simply experienced.

Curated by first-year students in the Center's graduate program, Tairone Bastien, Mayumi Hirano, Caroline Knebelsberger, Steven Matijcio, and Yasmine Nessa, the exhibitions will present works from the Marieluise Hessel Collection, on permanent loan to the Center.

Programs at the Center, including the first-year exhibitions, are supported by the Friends of the Center for Curatorial Studies and by the Center's annual benefit for student scholarships and exhibitions.