Michelle Yeonho Hyun makes exhibitions and events with artists and others. She reads, writes, and talks about art and other things. She is the director/curator of the Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU Shanghai.She was previously a curator for the Shanghai Project, Gwangju Biennale 20th anniversary exhibition, and the University of California San Diego University Art Gallery. She has organized projects for the New Museum, Creative Time, and What, How & for Whom (WHW).

11.26 What Do Artists Know?

What do artists know? The metamorphosis of plants. A rainforest in the museum. One very large egg. How and why should we frame the work of artists as research? Where is the mutual but unstable territory shared amongst the faculties? In thinking through what to do with the gallery at NYU Shanghai, and more broadly, the purpose of a university art gallery, I've returned to a now decade old debate concerning artistic research in the academy and the contested position of artistic thinking, knowing, and making in life itself. I propose a few thought figures and scenarios through which to think about these questions, but primarily one: What do artists know?