SI’s multigenerational class, Contemporary Art Topics (CAT), began in 2018 in partnership with the Educational Alliance Sirovich Center, a nearby center for older adults in the East Village. During the pandemic, SI embarked upon a new opportunity to engage adults of all ages, and connect the older adult students from Sirovich to a wider community through multigenerational classes.
Open to adults of all ages (18+), SI’s Contemporary Art Topics program is a unique discussion-based course designed to investigate current themes and issues being explored by living artists today. Thematically-based and artist-led, these two-hour classes introduce concepts and ideas in contemporary art through lectures, guest artist talks, class discussions, “slow looking” at art, individual and group activities, as well as opportunities to share student artwork.
Past program topics have included: the four elements in contemporary art, contemporary artists creating urban space interventions, regenerative life cycles in art making, materials and processes, use of color in contemporary art practice, history of color materiality and symbolism, wandering as art, craft and folk arts, ritual in art, the intersection of art and ecology, art as food/food as art, and public and socially engaged art.
Fall 2025 Contemporary Art Topics Class | Art Making and Preservation: Ecologies, Legacies, and Conservation
Preservation is a practice we all maintain, whether that applies to our bodies, the natural environment, or the objects we hold dear. Artists and conservators must contend with the question of preservation in their respective practices, whether in reference to the material preservation of physical artwork or the preservation of an artist’s legacy through education, documentation, and for the benefit of future generations. This season of Swiss Institute’s Contemporary Art Topics course “Art Making and Preservation: Ecologies, Legacies, and Conservation” broadly asks the questions: How much emphasis should we place on the permanence of an artwork throughout its lifetime and the ways it is shown? How do we preserve an artist’s legacy once they have passed? How do we maintain an artist’s wishes for how their work lives on, and how can practices of reciprocity and generosity support future generations of artists? Through art making, how do we explore what responsibilities we have in preserving and maintaining elements of the natural world, particularly in this era of climate change when material extraction is actively harming many communities domestically and abroad?
In line with the course’s theme, we will be visited by a guest art conservator. We will look at a number of artists, including: Sam Gilliam, Eva Hesse, On Kawara, Duane Linklater, Bagus Pandegal, Khvay Samnang, and Kishio Suga, among many others. This course aims to center BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and multigenerational artists from various backgrounds and mediums.
Classes will meet between October 16 and December 11, 2025 for 8 virtual sessions, plus 2 in-person trip in NYC for local students for a total of 10 classes.
CAT is always free!
This class is facilitated by Lead Educator, Julia Norton.
Registration for Fall 2025 is now open! Please complete this form to register.
If you have any questions, please email education@swissinstitute.net.