Robert Rauschenberg, Crucifixion and Reflection, ca. 1950. The Menil Collection, Houston. © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
UT doctoral candidate in Art History and this year’s Vivian L. Smith Foundation Fellow, Jessamine Batario, will be the symposium moderator for the Vivian L. Smith Foundation Symposium. Broadly speaking Batario’s interests lie in modern and byzantine art, phenomenology and mid-twentieth century art criticism.
The symposium poses the question “how does the definition of transgression shift from the physical act of crossing boundaries to the conceptual territory of moral violations?” As artworks accumulate different meanings over time, some interpretations vary radically from the artwork’s original context. Robert Rauschenberg’s Curcifixion and Relfection will be discussed in relation to the symposium’s theme of considering the balance between interpretive freedom and historical responsibility.
The symposium will be held Friday, April 13th from 7 - 9pm. For more information on the symposium, please visit the Menil Facebook page.