Brianne Cohen Southeast Asia research

Eyeing environmental issues through a camera lens

June 6, 2023

For Brianne Cohen, assistant professor of contemporary art history at the University of Colorado Boulder, art is much more than an aesthetic: It can offer powerful commentary on the issues of the day and galvanize public opinion. "There is a question of compassion fatigue. If we’re barraged with all these images of atrocity and war and so forth, can we actually move as a public to effect change? So, that’s the big question for me. Can they do that? I think that (the images) can.”

Brianne Cohen book

How art can mobilize ‘preventive publics’ against barbarism

April 27, 2023

In her upcoming book, "Don't Look Away: Art, Nonviolence, and Preventive Publics in Contemporary Europe" (Duke University Press, May 2023) University of Colorado Boulder Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Brianne Cohen delves deeply into the role that art can play in creating public commitment to curbing structural violence in Europe.

A multimedia installation, titled Dioramas for Tanjong Rimau, by Zarina Muhammad, Joel Tan and Zachary Chan that was featured as part of Brianne Cohen's research.

AAUW awards grants, fellowships to four CU Boulder scholars

Oct. 21, 2022

The funding will allow the scholars to pursue projects related to artists documenting ecological devastation in Southeast Asia and geopolitics in Iran, as well as for career development. Brianne Cohen, the recipient of the American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship, who researches art history and criticism. AAUW awarded Cohen funds for her project, titled: The Emphatic Lens: Contemporary Art, Ecology and Kinship in Southeast Asia.

Tyler Wilde installs the final letter on the marquee of the Cody Theater as part of the "We Are Coming" display Wednes Sept. 21, 2022. Stephen Dow

'We are coming' highlights Filipinos in the American West

Sept. 21, 2022

Professors’ conceptual art shines spotlight on those who existed at the margins of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows

cam nelson

Art scholar wants to make CU Boulder stand out in African diasporic studies

Sept. 9, 2022

For cam nelson, a new assistant professor of art history at the University of Colorado Boulder who is comfortable with both she/her and they/them pronouns, it’s important that their work, rather than their persona, take center stage.

Albert Chong, Winged Evocations, 1998 (detail), bronze masks, steel armatures, pinecone-embellished suits, rawhide, duck feathers, gearmotors, and motion sensors; installation view, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, commissioned and produced by Oberlin College. Photo: © John Seyfried, courtesy the artist

Receptacles of Memory

May 22, 2022

Lara Mashayekh speaks with artist Albert Chong and scholar Marci Kwon about the role of the archive and mysticism, their lived experiences as professionals in the art world, and their forthcoming endeavors.

Glenn Ligon’s “Rückenfigur” (2009), one of the artist’s trademark neon sculptures. Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, ICA Boston. © Glenn Ligon. Courtesy of the artist; Hauser & Wirth, New York; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Thomas Dane Gallery, London; and Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris

Glenn Ligon, article written by Megan O'Grady

Oct. 17, 2021

"For over 30 years, the artist has been making work that speaks to American history — ambiguous, open-ended, existentially observant. At a time in which the fundamentals of fact and fiction are being questioned, his art captures the truth of a culture in decline." Written by Megan O'Grady, Assistant Professor of Critical and Curatorial Studies for the New York Times Style Magazine.

A rally, organized in part by Decolonize This Place, outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019.Credit...Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

The Artists Bringing Activism Into and Beyond Gallery Spaces

Oct. 1, 2021

At a time when the basic power structures of the art world are being questioned, collectives and individuals are fighting against the very institutions funding and displaying their work. Article written by Megan O'Grady, Assistant Professor of Critical and Curatorial Studies.

Victoria Cantons’s “T̶r̶a̶n̶s̶g̶e̶n̶d̶e̶r Woman No. 2” (2021).Credit...Courtesy of the artist

These Literary Memoirs Take a Different Tack

Sept. 29, 2021

This article featured in the New York Times Style Magazine is written by Megan O'Grady, Assistant Professor of Critical and Curatorial Studies. "Rather than prioritizing confession and catharsis, today’s authors are focusing on the question of who gets to share their version of things and interrogating the form, along with themselves."

Dr. George Rivera

Artnauts celebrate 25th anniversary with new exhibition

Sept. 24, 2021

For its 25th anniversary exhibition this year, Dr. George Rivera and the Artnauts decided to exhibit in a country where they saw a major crisis of contention: the United States. With increasing tensions surrounding COVID and race relations, the exhibition titled Uncanny Times aims to address the discord that divides and alienates us. Artists were asked to explore this theme using whatever medium they wished.

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