PANELISTS:
Jeff Hnilicka, FEAST; Caroll Taveras; Carol Taveras Studio; Francisca Caporali, Artist
and curator; Joshua Smith and Denise Kupferschmidt, co-founders of Apartment Show with moderator Suzan Sherman, NYFA

DESCRIPTIONS:
This panel discussion aims to identify ways in which artists can navigate, and possibly re-position themselves and their practice during this changing economy. The question of “what’s next?” looms on the horizon as the economic and social structure of the art world shifts beneath our feet. But what exactly are we standing upon, and is it worthwhile for artists to maintain?

BIOS:
Francisca Caporali is a Brazilian artist based in Brooklyn. She has a MA from MECAD – ESDI in Barcelona- Spain, and she is a MFA candidate at Hunter College - Integrated Media Arts in NYC. She has received the AAUW International Fellowship 2007/08, a 2008 LMCC Swing Space residency in NYC and the 1st OpenArt Residency in Greece during the summer of 2008. Francisca’s work has been shown in many festivals and exhibitions as: Goethe Institute, SCOPE, SmartSpace, The Anthology Film Archive and Orchard47 in NYC; UnionDoc in Brooklyn; Jeu de Paume in Paris; Gandy Gallery in Slovakia; Break 2.4 Festival in Slovenia; VideoBrasil, Wide World Film festival in Toronto and the Flaherty Seminar in Hamilton. Francisca's main interest is the collaborative process of art making, she has worked with many artists for different projects and since 2007 she is part of the Urban Homesteading Project – a collective that builds temporary living spaces in public areas out of discarded, donated and exchanged materials, as a means to create positive social interactions within a community. In the past years she has also explored the organizer role; having curated and produced shows, events, discussion panels and artist residencies.

Jeff Hnilicka is one of the founders of FEAST - Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics. He currently serves as Company Manager for J Mandle Performance, a Brooklyn-based non-profit performance art company. Before coming to New York, Jeff worked at the Walker Art Center and MASS MoCA. Jeff is a regular contributor to Culturebot and the Walker Art Center blog. He is a founding member of the Revolting Queers, and hosts REALLY? - a queer night in Bushwick.

Born in Houston, Texas, Joshua Smith received his B.F.A. from The College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. His work has been featured in various group exhibitions in Berlin, London, New York, Paris, Vienna, and more, and his most recent solo show, “If By Whiskey,” appeared at John Connelly presents in 2007. He is co-organizer with Denise Kupferschmidt, of "Apartment Show" a series of roving group shows featuring young artists. Smith lives and works in Brooklyn.

Denise Kupferschmidt was born in Princeton, NJ, received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and is now living in Brooklyn. She has participated in numerous exhibitions around the US between New York, Providence, Chicago, Miami, and has had solo exhibitions in Chicago and Boston. Her work was recently the focus of a guerilla performative project hosted by Cleopatra's a New York alternative space, to coincide with the Miami Beach Basel art fair in Miami. She also recently participated in "Cleopatra's: Trade Secrets" at John Connelly Presents. She is co-organizer, with Joshua Smith, of "Apartment Show", a series of roving group shows featuring young artists.

Caroll Taveras is a Brooklyn based artist, native New Yorker. She received her Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Purchase College and came to photography while studying theater at Purchase after a childhood spent acting and performing. She was featured as one of ten Photographers in the 2006 International photography festival in Hyères. She was also awarded first prize in the Px3 fine art competition in Paris. In addition to her own Photography projects and editorial work Caroll also has been making collages for 16 years now. She has accumulated her extensive body of collage work into a self published book entitled “Surrender”. Her work has been featured in the Guardian weekend magazine, The New York Times magazine and Wallpaper.

MODERATOR:
Suzan Sherman is Editor of NYFA Current, the New York Foundation for the Arts’ online arts magazine. She is also a former NYFA Fellow in Fiction (2004) and served on the NYFA Fiction Fellowship panel in 2008. She has written on art and culture for The New York Times, The New York Observer, BOOKFORUM, the Forward, and is a former editor at BOMB. Suzan has taught English at Parsons School of Design and creative writing at New York University. Her fiction has appeared in American Short Fiction, BOMB, and The Mississippi Review, and the fiction anthology Lost Tribe: Jewish Writers on the Edge (HarperCollins). She has been awarded artists’ residencies from the Ucross Foundation, Fundacion Valparaiso, The Edward Albee Foundation, and Ledig House, as well as a Travel and Study Grant from the Jerome Foundation. She has just completed her first novel.

Organized by the New York Foundation for the Arts, the conferences are made possible by a generous grant from McGraw-Hill. Additional support is provided by the Department of Art and Art Professions, New York University Steinhardt School of Education.