Sculpture Lecture Series: Matthew Coolidge

The Sculpture Area of NSCAD University and the Contemporary Art Projects Society are pleased to present a public talk by Matthew Coolidge, founder and Director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation. The talk will take place on Wednesday 19 March at 7:30 pm in room HA19 at Dalhousie’s School of Architecture, located at 5410 Spring Garden Road. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

In his talk titled "Anthropogeomorphology Now: Current Programs and Projects of the Center for Land Use Interpretation", Coolidge will present some of the research and public programs currently and recently conducted by the organization, spanning and recontextualizing the landscape of the USA.

Based in Los Angeles, the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) is, “dedicated to the increase and diffusion of information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived.” Their activities include organizing temporary exhibitions, which have been presented throughout the United States and internationally, publishing and maintaining an extensive online database of sites ranging from field test facilities, transportation systems, industrially altered landscapes and a comprehensive listing of Land Art locations. The CLUI also operates a residence program located in a former Air Force airbase in Wendover, Utah.

Matthew Coolidge serves as a project director, photographer and curator for CLUI exhibitions, and has written several books published by the CLUI including, "Overlook: Exploring the Internal Fringes of America with the Center for Land Use Interpretation", "The Nevada Test Site: A Guide to America’s Nuclear Proving Ground", and "Upriver: Points of Interest on the Hudson from the Battery to Troy". He lectures widely in the United States and Europe on contemporary landscape matters, and is a faculty member in the Curatorial Practice Program at the California College of the Arts, where he teaches a class about nowhere. Coolidge received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in 2004.

This is the first of three public presentations by internationally known speakers that focus on the topic of site in contemporary art. Artist Krzysztof Wodiczko will deliver a talk on Monday 31 March at 7:30 pm that will also take place in room HA19 at Dalhousie’s School of Architecture. Martha Rosler will give a talk in the Fall of 2014 (date and location TBA). This series has received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.