Persisting Matters: Film Screening and Discussion

The Cooper Union and the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA) host a screening and discussion around five short documentaries developed by CIMA that showcase the variety of approaches that contemporary artists embrace in order to address pressing questions related to identity, social issues, history, and the active role of art in public discourse. The first documentary presents the exhibition on Italian artist Corrado Cagli (1910-1976), curated by Cooper Union Professor of Art History Raffaele Bedarida, which served as the background for a project with contemporary artists Leslie Hewitt, Kambui Olujimi, Sheila Pepe, Juan Sanchez, and Bea Scaccia; it was developed with a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The following four shorts feature interviews with each of the artists recorded in their respective studios over the course of Fall 2023 about their practice and various questions related to art, society, and community. Each screening will be accompanied by conversation among the artists and art historians Raffaele Bedarida and Dr. Ksenia M. Soboleva.