About the 2027 Symposium
Artists have always pushed the boundaries of perception. Often this means they trudge past the familiar into bizarre, strange, and weird territories. Some tape bananas to walls (Maurizio Cattelan), some will turn a urinal on its side, sign it, and call it Art (Marcel Duchamp), and others will gnaw on a 600-pound block of lard (Janine Antoni). This year’s Annual Art Symposium explores the Weird World of Art. Join us as we talk about strange happenings in art history and the contemporary art world and the drive in artists to move society past the status quo, to be representatives of a society’s ability to perceive the world around them.
Presenters
 Brandon Benner is a wet plate photographer, founder of Keystone Tintypes and a student of the US Civil War Era. His talk will illuminate how 160 years ago, the exciting new art of photography collided with the spectral world of spiritualism and paranormal phenomena. Were the ghostly images that appeared in “spirit photography” portraits just a trick to make a quick buck – or something more haunting? |
 Betsy Johnson is an Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Her research specialties include conceptual art, performance art, photography, and modern/contemporary Japanese art. Her talk will focus on artworks that explore impulses that might be considered strange/unconventional/counter-cultural by female artists, including Carolee Schneeman’s Infinity Kisses, 2008, Janine Antoni’s Inhabit, 2009, Moriah Evan’s Be My Muse, 2016 and more. |
 J.F. Martel writes about art, culture, and philosophy. His essays have appeared in numerous publications and print anthologies. He is the author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice. Martel co-hosts the Weird Studies podcast, a series of conversations with musicologist Phil Ford on the intersections of philosophy, the arts, and the weird. He will discuss how art and philosophy open the perception to the natural state of the weird in our everyday experiences. |
 Noah McWilliams is a sculptor and video artist from Frederick, Maryland, whose work explores themes of brutality and loss of control. He will discuss the evolution of his sculptural and video practice, exploring how fantasy, material experimentation, and bodily vulnerability have shaped his work over time. Through recent projects, he will examine how ideas develop through making and how familiar forms can become simultaneously comforting, uncanny, and unsettling. |
Schedule
8–9 am: Coffee and light breakfast
9–9:15 am: Welcome remarks
9:15–11:30 am: Two talks with Q/A
11:30 am–12:30 pm: Lunch
12:30–1 pm: Activity
1–3 pm: Two talks with Q/A
Fee Includes
Continental breakfast and lunch are included with registration.