Utterly Precarious

Slought and The College of Physicians of Philadelphia are pleased to present Utterly Precarious: Carolee Schneemann in 5 Parts, beginning April 24, 2012 and continuing through May 2012. The project consists of a 5 part engagement with the artist Carolee Schneemann, whose work has profoundly shaped contemporary discourses on the body, sexuality, and gender since the 1960s. Probing the precariousness of nature, art, and life, Schneemann has continually foregrounded the relationship between the body of the artist and the social body. The project encompasses the following: an exhibition of her film works, a public conversation, a Master Class with students, a celebratory party for the artist's cat companions, and a museum tour.

Archives
Seminal films from the 1960s, at Slought. Acquisitions by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries and the Cinema Studies Program have enabled Slought to screen five works by Schneemann: Meat Joy (1964-2010); Fuses (1964-66), Water Light/Water Needle (1966), Body Collage (1967), and Viet-flakes (1965) will be on display April 26 through the end of May 2012.

Conversation (April 24, 2012, 6:30pm)
An evening lecture by Schneemann on the dais of historic Mitchell Hall at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, surrounded by paintings of the College's founding Fellows. After, Schneemann's conversants include Christine Poggi of the University of Pennsylvania and Aaron Levy of Slought Foundation.

Master class (April 25, 2012, 3:00pm)
The artist engages freshmen from the Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania in a private, filmed discussion within the Mütter Museum, where her father took her as a child. The filmed discussion may be shown at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia once the editing is done!

Party (April 26, 2012, 6:30pm)
Cat celebration at Slought Foundation in honor of Carolee's major cat companions (Kitch, Cluny, Vesper and Minos). Your pet cat is invited to participate in a gathering with other cats within a sheltered environment of leaves and fish. Cats must RSVP to kitch@sloughtfoundation.org

Tour (April 27, 2012, noon)
Schneemann will lead young people who are unfamiliar with the many galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on a tour. She will reflect on her first art classes there, which inspired her artistic proclivities. The DVD of the performance Up To and Including her Limits (1976) as edited by Schneemann is now part of the Museum's permanent collection and will be continuously screened to coincide with the artist's visit to Philadelphia.