About the Event

About Making Without Objects Conversation

For several years now, renowned contemporary artist Rirkrit Tiravanija has been teaching his students at Columbia College of the Arts in New York a course titled "Making Without Objects." According to Tiravanija, this undergraduate sculpture course does not teach students to produce anything. It is, for him, a way to explore how a young artist in an art school experiences what is happening in the world at large. Students, as part of the course, have made films for YouTube, done projects on Instagram, and Tiravanija even rented a plot in Second Life, inviting them to create sculptures virtually. He says, "I am more interested in encouraging my students to think conceptually and create things in their heads than in any material." This pedagogic approach is in close alignment with his multidimensional approach to art that emphasizes the conditions and relations art could potentially generate rather than an object-oriented outcome.

In this conversation, Rirkrit Tiravanija will discuss with Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi how his approach to art influences his teaching practice and vice versa.

About Rirkrit Tiravanija

Rirkrit Tiravanija is a leading contemporary artist based between New York, Chiang Mai, and Berlin. Tiravanija's practice is renowned for its ability to create situations, platforms, and concepts that fuel a variety of public engagements. He is the recipient of the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize. He has had several solo exhibitions with MoMA PS1, MoMA, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, among several others. He was part of the Venice, Whitney, Sao Paulo Biennales, and the Paris Triennale. His works are in the collection of MoMA, Tate, Walker Art Center, MCA Los Angeles, among others.

About Makers and Teachers (Conversation Series)

Makers and Teachers is a conversation series that brings together artists, architects, designers, filmmakers, and other creative practitioners who have spent a significant part of their careers as teachers, to lead the next generation of creators. The series unpacks how these visionaries approach teaching and making, and how each of these methods informs the other.

The Makers and Teachers conversation series is conceptualized by Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, Curator of Visual Arts at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.