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, public and socially engaged art, and preservation and artistic legacy.
Winter/Spring 2026 Contemporary Art Topics Class | Art Objects: Found, Made, and the Everyday
What is the difference between an object, a thing, a sculpture, or a specimen? What purpose do these definitions serve, and how might we play with their meaning? What goes into the making of an object, and how does that impact our relationship to it?
The theme for this season of SI’s Contemporary Art Topics is centered on how we relate to objects, how objects relate to each other, how objects manifest, and how they can be interpreted based on their materiality and their placement in different environments. Through art making and close looking, we will experiment by observing objects in various “situations” (a term coined by the Mono-ha art movement), isolating them to study their unique qualities, and exploring our individual and collective associations connected to them. We will focus mainly on objects from nature, everyday objects, and raw materials.
We will look at a number of artists, including: Kishio Suga, Rachel Whiteread, David Hammons, Roni Horn, Larry Bell, Vija Celmins, Martin Wong, Tehching Tseih, among others. This course aims to center BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and multigenerational artists from various backgrounds and mediums.
Classes will meet between March 12 and May 7, 2026 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 is now open! Please complete this form to register.
If you have any questions, please email education@swissinstitute.net.