[-empyre-] Welcome to March with moderators Sarah Watson and Lola Martinez

[Renate Ferro]

Hello –empyre- subscribers, 
I am thrilled to introduce the guest moderators for our March discussion on –empyre-soft-skinned space, Sarah Watson and Lola Martinez. 

Tim Murray and I met Sarah several years ago during the early preparation and planning for the curatorial project that Sarah and Tim jointly curated of several artists who had been affiliated with the Experimental Television Center called, “The Experimental Television Center: A History, Etc...” in the autumn of 2015.  During those early preparations, I came to know Sarah as an insightful curator who managed several projects at one time.  Perhaps that is what all curators do successfully, but Sarah is an extraordinary thinker from my point of view who is always playing her hunches about future shows but at the same time seeing to the minute and thankless details of launching and maintaining both galleries at Hunter, uptown and downtown.  
 
Needless to say, I was thrilled when she contacted me just a few weeks ago with an idea to co-moderate a topic for March inspired by a multi-platform project called “Refiguring the Future.”  Taking the form of a conference, workshops, and an exhibition all curated by REFRESH members Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Dorothy R. Santos and organized by Eyebeam and REFRESH in collaboration with Sarah at Hunter.  
 
Tim Murray and I were able to visit Sarah and her co-moderator this month, Lola Martinez at the downtown Hunter College Art Galleries 205 Hudson Gallery in New York two weeks ago.  Lola and Sarah showed us around the expansive exhibit which I I know they and their guests will talk about.  We were also able to chat extensively with both of them about this deep project and how it has emerged over the last several months. 
 
Welcome Lola and Sarah.  I am looking so forward to this month’s discussion and I invite all of our subscribers to join in this first discussion of 2019.  Below are both Lola and Sarah’s biographies and a heartfelt thanks to both of you. 
Best.  Renate

Lola Martinez is a Cuban-American curator and researcher working at the intersection of art and technology. Recent curatorial projects include the Refiguring the Future Conference, Kaye Playhouse and Knockdown Center, NY (2019), los contenedores (no) son mejores vacíos, WXBC and The Hessel Museum of Art, NY (2017), aCCeSsions, Knockdown Center (2017), We are the Margins, P! and Beverly’s, NY (2017), amongst others. Their current research project, Tropical Hardware focuses on the geopolitics of sub-tropical and tropical zones to trace how perceptions of tropicality are reconfigured by the development and implementation of digital media and technology. Martinez is the inaugural Eyebeam/REFRESH Curatorial and Engagement Fellow and holds a M.A. from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. 

Sarah Watson is Director of Exhibitions & Chief Curator of the Hunter College Art Galleries. Focusing primarily on time-based work including sound, video, performance, and poetry,  Watson’s curatorial projects center on creating experimental sites for education, collaboration, and action. Recent exhibitions include Acts of Art and Rebuttal in 1971 and The School of Survival: Learning with Juan Downey. In addition to overseeing the exhibitions and programming of the Hunter College Art Galleries, Watson runs the gallery component of the Advanced Certificate in Curatorial Studies at Hunter College. Watson holds an M.A. in Art History from Hunter College.

Renate Ferro
Visiting Associate Professor, art and technology
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Art
Tjaden Hall 306
rferro at cornell.edu