UMKC Sponsors Visiting Lecturer at Nelson Atkins Museum

Author and MIT Professor Caroline Jones will examine the art motif of the “blind guide” at the world’s fairs, major international shows and biennials from the modern to the contemporary period. Dr. Jones’ presentation will be in Atkins Auditorium at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art on Thursday, March 12, from 6-7 p.m.

This lecture, entitled “The Blindman, or How to See a World Exhibition,” focuses on the notion of the ‘blind’ male guide, the ideal visitor to world’s fairs. This blind guide is enchanted by an encounter with the hall of machines. It is through other sensory experiences, not sight, that the blind man perceives the wonders of the fair.

An art and architectural historian, Jones has written extensively on the critical reception of Abstract Expressionism, transformations in studio art practices, the global biennial culture, sensorial engagement, and new media. She has contributed to prestigious art magazines and journals such as Artforum, Critical Inquiry, Res, Science in Context, Art Papers and Cahiers du Musée national d’art modern, and has several books to her credit. One publication, “Machine in the Studio: Constructing the Postwar American Artist,” won the Charles Eldredge Prize from the Smithsonian Institution.

Admission to the talk is free, but tickets should be reserved through the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. For more information, contact UMKC’s Department of Art and Art History, 816-235-1501, http://info.umkc.edu/art/, or email art@umkc.edu.

Jones’ appearance is provided by the Bernardin Haskell Fund of the UMKC College of Arts and Sciences.