Artist Shana Moulton to speak at Humanities Decanted

Artist and UC Santa Barbara professor Shana Moultonbrings her surreal, hyper-saturated vision of wellness and everyday life to campus on April 21 as part of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center's (IHC) Humanities Decanted series.

Moulton will discuss her work, including "Meta/Physical Therapy," her 2024 The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York exhibition and performance series.

She will explore how she captures the banality and enormity of everyday life in performance, video and sculpture, how she developed her semi-autobiographical alter ego, Cynthia, and how she navigates personal choices and physical limitations.

"The Humanities Decanted series is a platform for UCSB faculty to present their newest research and creative projects. The format of each event is a dialogue in which our featured colleague offers perspectives on their new work," said Susan Derwin, IHC director and professor of German and comparative literature. "We are excited to welcome Professor Moulton to the IHC to engage in conversation with IHC Assistant Director Casey Haughin-Scasny. Professor Moulton is a multi-media performance artist with a wonderful narrative sensibility, and we look forward to learning from their dialogue about Professor Moulton's creative process and what it is like to perform her work for different audiences and in different spaces."

In the Humanities Decanted conversation, Moulton will present on her practice as well as her site-specific installation in the Kravis Studio, anextension of her Whispering Pinesseries, which began in 2002, as an examination of the aesthetics of pain, healing and wellness. Presented as a multi-chapter narrative, the installation was accompanied by a series of performances created in collaboration with composer Nick Hallett, bringing Cynthia's inner world to life.

"Shana Moulton's iconic performance persona, Cynthia, embodies the complexities of contemporary life. Emblematic of the deep-seated effects of mass consumption, Cynthia is bombarded with choices, confused by technology and motivated by advertising," said Erica Papernik-Shimizu, MoMA associate curator of media and performance, who organized the exhibition. "She exists in a state of perpetual searching - for physical wellness, knowledge, purpose. Allegedly simple tasks seem onerous and overwhelming, until her limitations kaleidoscopically open up into new realms of possibility."

A California-born and -based artist, Moulton holds a BA from UC Berkeley in art and anthropology and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University. Moulton has exhibited her work as a solo artist and in groups at major international museums, galleries and institutes. She has performed at sites including The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, The Getty, Los Angeles, and The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Moulton's work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, ArtReview, Art in America, Flash Art, Artpress, Metropolis M, BOMB Magazine, and Frieze.

"Humanities Decanted: Shana Moulton"will be held on April 12, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., in the McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB.

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