Artists + Climate Change Talk at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

Join artist Katie Kehoe at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on Friday, December 20 at 4pm as she discusses how her artistic practice encourages dialogue about sea level rise and climate change. This program will begin with a brief introductory performance inspired by Harbinger, a performance organized by Kehoe that took place around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC on October 20, 2019. The performative introduction will begin in the museum’s lobby at 4pm and move to the Lerner Room, on the third floor. It will be followed by a conversation between Kehoe and Blair Murphy, AAC’s Curator of Exhibitions, focused on the artist’s use of performance and public engagement in her practice. The program will conclude with an opportunity for audience members to experience Kehoe’s approach to cultivating dialogue in public spaces.

Performers who will participating in the performance and engagement portions of Artists + Climate Change include Jorge Banales, Amanda Banks, Heloisa Escudero, Joe Haley, Amanda Jarvis, Sisc Johnson, Frank McCauley, Caroline Meyers, Wendy Sittner, Michelle Smith, and Bud Wilkinsen.

Katie Kehoe creates object-based performances and site-specific installations, often incorporating duration, social engagement, and adaptive reuse of materials. Embracing the absurd to engage the everyday, Kehoe produces scenarios that invite conversation and dialogue with the public. Her performance series Provisions for Buoyancy: on the East Coast, involved producing eighteen durational performances in ten US states and two Canadian provinces, drawing attention to areas that would be flooded if sea levels rise by six feet. Raised in Cape Breton, NS and currently living in Fredericksburg, VA, Kehoe teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University. Her work has been exhibited across the US and Canada, highlights include: The Contemporary Museum (Baltimore, MD), Center for Maine Contemporary Art (Rockland, ME), RedLine Contemporary (Denver, CO), Emerge Art Fair (Washington, DC), SummerWorks Festival – LiveArt Series (Toronto, ON) as well as solo exhibitions at VisArts (Rockville, MD), Verso Gallery and Type Books Gallery (Toronto, CAN). Kehoe holds an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD) and a BA Hons from Saint Mary’s University (Halifax, NS).