User:Kirby Gookin

Kirby Gookin is an art historian (New York University and School of Visual Arts), critic, curator and public artist. His studies focus on the role art plays in addressing or supporting human and civil rights, bioethics and community activism. He has contributed articles and reviews to Artforum, Artscribe, Arts Magazine, Interview, and Parkett as well as to museum and gallery publications. He recently wrote a critical history of the New York public arts organization Creative Time: 33 Years  (Princeton Architectural Press) and chaired a panel at Left Forum (CUNY) titled Art as a Weapon in Western Sahara: New Strategies in the Fight for Independence (2011). His blog WesternSaharaResourceCenter provides quick links to websites and information in English regarding the 37 year conflict between Western Sahara and Morocco.

Gookin’s study of the perfectibility of the human form in the history of Western art has led him into the field of bioethics and the influences aesthetics has on human genetic engineering. During his tenure as a member of the Global Academy (founded by Megatrends author John Naisbit—with the goal of examining the cultural impact of emerging genetic technologies), he presented his research conferences at Peking University, the California Academy of Sciences (SF), and in John Nasibit’s book High Tech-High Touch, as well as the College Art Association (US), and the Association of Art Historians (UK), and on MoMA's WPS1 radio.

As curator, Gookin works primarily in collaboration with his partner Robin Kahn to produce exhibitions that explore and challenge the commodification of art (Disappearing Act, Free Show, Holiday Shopping, VendorBar, et al). In addition he recently curated …pero si sólo estaba acutando (…but I was only acting!), an exhibition of video works by young emerging talent at the Museo Nacionales Centro de Arte, Reina Sofia, Madrid.

Kirby Gookin has served as guest professor or visiting artist/critic in graduate and undergraduate programs at: University of Hawaii, Columbia University; University of New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania, Parsons School of Design, Facultad de Bellas Artes (Cuenca, Spain), Cranbrook Academy of Art, CalArts (Valencia CA), and The Pasadena Arts Center (CA).