EVENT

Rirkrit Tiravanija

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rirkrit Tiravanija was raised in Thailand, Ethiopia, and Canada. He studied art in Canada and the United States. Tiravanija is widely recognized as one of the most influential artists of his generation. His work defies media-based description, as his practice combines traditional object making, public and private performances, teaching, and other forms of public service and social action. Winner of the 2005 Hugo Boss Prize awarded by the Guggenheim Museum, Tiravanija was also awarded the Benesse by the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum in Japan and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lucelia Artist Award. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum of New York, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Luma Foundation in Arles, and at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam before being presented in Paris and London. Tiravanija is a member of the faculty of the School of the Arts at Columbia University and is a founding member and curator of Utopia Station, a collective project of artists, art historians, and curators. Tiravanija is also co-founder of an educational-ecological project known as the land, located in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Melissa Karmen Lee (Ph. D.)

Melissa Karmen Lee (Ph. D.) 李林嘉敏 was born on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories in Vancouver, Canada. She currently holds the appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver, British Columbia. From 2019 to 2022, she was the Director of Education and Public Programs at the Vancouver Art Gallery. From 2016 to 2019, she was on the founding team that opened the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Art, Hong Kong, serving as the Education and Public Programs Curator.