Constantina Zavitsanos
Constantina Zavitsanos is a conceptual artist.[1] Their works are organized around themes of planning, contingency, debt, dependency and care.[2] Zavitsanos is a part of disability community as a care provider and recipient. They live in New York City and teach at The New School.
Constantina Zavitsano | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Awards | Wynn Newhouse Award (2015) |
Education
Zavitsanos is a graduate of Millersville University, where they received a B.F.A., and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where they received an M.F.A.[3]
Career
Zavitsanos has had many exhibitions. These include:
- Coop Fund, Amalle Dublon & Constantina Zavitsanos, Devin Kenny, John Neff. Artists Space. New York, 2018.[4]
- Challenge 3. The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial. Philadelphia, PA, 2009.[3]
Zavitsanos has participated in several artist residencies. In March–September 2015, Zavitsanos held a residency at The New Museum, where they curated a series of collaborative events with artists Reina Gossett, Park McArthur, Caroline Key, and Soyoung Yoon, and academics Stefano Harney, Fred Moten, and Denise Ferreira da Silva.[5] In 2017, they and collaborator Amalle Dubon participated in the Engaged Social Justice Residency Program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.[6]
They are a recipient of the 2015 Wynn Newhouse Award presented to disabled artists.[7]
Notable works
- It was what I wanted now was nearly invisible (2013) is a stack of papers next to a wall. Four- and five-digit-long numbers are printed on the paper tracking Zavitsanos’ projected student loan debt over the next 25 years and the minimum income necessary to make monthly loan payments. Corinna Kirsch of ArtFCity has described the work as a strong statement with limited means. As Kirsch put it, "if a loan officer handed me thousands of pages showing my future indebtedness, I might’ve rethought signing away my future."[8]
- Sweepstakes (2015) Zavitsanos was a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit brought against the New York Police Department for wrongful arrest during the 2004 GOP convention in New York. New York City settled the case in 2015. Zavitsanos incorporated her settlement into the art work "Sweepstakes" at the New Museum where viewers were given a portion of the settlement on a daily basis.[9]
References
- Priscilla Frank, "'Body Utopia' Explores The Explosive Beauty Of Nonconforming Bodies" Huffington Post, 4 September 2015
- "R&D Season: SPECULATION Spring 2015" e-flux, 2015
- "Fleisher Art Memorial Features Artists Johanna Inman, Yvonne Lung and Constantina Zavitsanos". artdaily.com. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- "Coop Fund, Amalle Dublon & Constantina Zavitsanos, Devin Kenny, John Neff, Artists Space, New York •". Mousse Magazine (in Italian). 21 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- "New Museum: Spring 2015 R&D Season: SPECULATION"
- "The Social Justice Institute". grsj.arts.ubc.ca. In-Residence @ UBC. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- Constantina Zavitsanos, Wynn Newhouse Award
- Corinna Kirsch, "Looking at Our Financial Future: The 2013 Whitney ISP Studio Exhibition" Art F City, JUNE 14, 2013.
- "Constantina Zavitsanos, Sweepstakes, 2015", New Museum Tublr blog 2015