Skip to Content
Frost Art Museum FIU presents pioneering activist artist Mel Chin during Green Critics’ Lecture Series
Image courtesy of the artist.

Frost Art Museum FIU presents pioneering activist artist Mel Chin during Green Critics’ Lecture Series

March 14, 2022 at 10:00am

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum FIU will host Mel Chin as part of the Steven & Dorothea Green Critics’ Lecture Series.

Chin insinuates art into unlikely places, including destroyed homes, toxic landfills and even popular television, investigating how art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility. He is the recipient of many awards, grants, and honorary degrees including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2019 and four honorary doctorates.

“Mel Chin is one of the leading artists of our time who has defined the term ‘activism’ through his multi-disciplinary, collaborative work and socially relevant art practice,” said Jordana Pomeroy, director of the Frost Art Museum.

The program will be held at the museum on Sunday, March 26, from 3-5 p.m. and live streamed on Facebook Live. To attend in person, visit frost.fiu.edu to register. A reception will follow the lecture.
 
Born in Houston, Texas in 1951, Chin creates work that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. He developed Revival Field, a project that pioneered the field of “green remediation,” the use of plants to remove toxic, heavy metals from the soil. Another project, Fundred Dollar Bill/Operation Paydirt, focused on national prevention of childhood lead-poisoning. Chin’s iconic sculptures often address the importance of memory and collective identity.
 
Chin’s proposal for a New World Trade Center was part of the American representation at the 2002 Venice Biennale of Architecture. Chin’s exhibition, All Over the Place, a 40-year survey at the Queens Museum, was named by Hyperallergic as the best NYC exhibition of 2018.
 
His work is found in the collections of several major museums including:
  • High Museum of Art, Atlanta
  • Museum of Fine Art (MFAH), Houston
  • Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Walker Art Center Minneapolis
  • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Since 1981, the Steven & Dorothea Green Critics’ Lecture Series has introduced internationally renowned artists, museum curators, scholars and critics to the South Florida Community. These speakers have shaped art history through their scholarly, creative and leadership contributions. They have inspired us to think critically, investigate further, and consider the discourses and practices that shape the world of art.