Artist Talk: BPL Artist-in-Residence Marisa Morán Jahn

Join us for an engaging artist talk with Brooklyn Public Library’s 2022 Katowitz Radin Artist-in-Residence, Marisa Morán Jahn, as she immerses us in her broad and socially-minded artistic practice, with projects ranging from Carehaus, the U.S.’ first intergenerational care-based co-housing project, to Bibliobandido (the Story Eater), an initiative she has enlivened at library branches this summer across the borough.

Jahn is welcomed by guest curator Amy Rosenblum-Martín. Following her presentation, she will be in dialogue with Carmen Hermo, Associate Curator. Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum and Cyra Levenson, Deputy Director and Gail Engelberg Director of Education and Public Engagement, Guggenheim Museum.

We are very excited to have you back at our events and would like to remind you that we are still in the midst of the pandemic. Please be considerate of your fellow guests and stay home if you’re feeling unwell. Also, consider wearing a mask when attending indoor BPL Presents events. You’ll be doing your part to help keep yourself and everyone healthy and safe.

ABOUT

Marisa Morán Jahn’s art and films redistribute power, “exemplifying the possibilities of art as social practice”(ArtForum). Codesigned with youth, new immigrants, and working families, Jahn’s work has engaged millions through venues such as the Tribeca Film Festival, Obama’s White House, the United Nations, PBS, The New York Times, CNN, the BBC, Univision Global, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Her key works include Bibliobandido, a story-eating bandit whose fame in Honduras rivals Santa Claus; two mobile studios (NannyVan, CareForce One) and a Sundance-supported PBS film amplifying the voices of caregivers; and Carehaus, the U.S.’s first care-based co-housing project designed with architect Rafi Segal. She has taught at Teachers College at Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (her alma mater),and Parsons/The New School where she is the Director of Integrated Design. In 2022, she was a Fellow at Sundance and MIT. marisajahn.com @marisa_jahn

For more information about her exhibition at BPL click here 

Carmen Hermo is the Associate Curator for the Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. She curated "Baseera Khan: I Am An Archive" (2021-22), "Kameelah Janan Rasheed: Are We Reading Closely?" (2020), and "Roots of The Dinner Party: History in the Making" (2017) and formed part of the curatorial collective for the critically-acclaimed "Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall" (2019). Carmen co-curated numerous exhibitions, including "Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection" (2018–19), and organized the Brooklyn presentations of "Andy Warhol: Revelation" (2021-22), "Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985" (2018) among others, and in addition to work building the collection and support for feminist art at the museum.

Cyra Levenson: Guggenheim Museum's Deputy Director and Gail Engelberg Director of Education and Public Engagement

As head of the Guggenheim’s Education and Public Engagement Department Cyra Levenson leads the museum’s efforts to reach a broad audience through programming, content development, academic partnerships and community engagement.   Levenson has a significant role in partnering across the foundation’s international network.   Prior to joining the Guggenheim Museum in March 2020, Levenson was the Deputy Director and Head of Public and Academic Engagement at Cleveland Museum of Art, where she had worked since 2016.  In this role, she was responsible for leading all aspects of public and academic engagement, including public programming, academic affairs, interpretation of the collection and exhibitions, and community engagement. In Cleveland she also established a community participation process for capital projects and led efforts to implement the museum’s diversity, equity, and inclusion plan.

Previously, Levenson served as the Curator of Education and Academic Outreach at the Yale Center for British Art. She was also the Co-executive Secretary of the Yale-Smithsonian Partnership and was responsible for developing and leading the academic and public engagement initiative between the two institutions. Levenson has also held positions in the museum education field at The Rubin Museum of Art, The Heritage School in New York, and Seattle Art Museum.

She holds a Master of Education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College. She has published on topics including creativity and cognition, visual literacy, and critical pedagogy.

Amy Rosenblum-Martín: Formerly a staff curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Bronx Museum, she has also worked for the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MCA Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Portrait Gallery (London), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), and other museums. Her exhibition Ana Mendieta: Thinking About Children’s Thinking (2017) at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum in Harlem was an Artforum Critic’s Pick. Currently, she is curating the large-scale survey Swagger and Tenderness: The South Bronx Portraits by John Ahearn & Rigoberto Torres at the Bronx Museum.