The Schoolhouse and the Bus: Mobility, Pedgogy, and engagement

Suzanne Lacy & Pablo Helguera  pairs for the first time the work of two of the leading practitioners of the Public Practice movement. Suzanne Lacy, born in 1945 in Wasco, CA and based in Los Angeles, has played a key role in Public Practice since the 1970s, addressing political matters such as the women’s and civil rights movements through performance-based art that engaged the public and advocated for change or questioned societal norms. Pablo Helguera, born in 1971 in Mexico City and based in New York City, represents the next generation of socially engaged artists and is deeply influenced by Lacy. Through his performances, installations, exhibitions, and writings he addresses history, pedagogy, sociolinguistics, ethnography, and memory. This exhibition will juxtapose key examples of the artists’ works and incorporate installation, photography, drawing, and performance, alongside archival documentation which will serve to highlight overlapping themes in their practices including immigration, pedagogy, race, populism or social organizing, and theatricality. Following its presentation at the AD&A Museum, Suzanne Lacy & Pablo Helguera will travel to The 8th Floor, co-organizer of the exhibition, in New York.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.