Modern Salon 1

June 25, 3-5 pm

Using essays from “The Anxiety of Photography” exhibition and catalogue as springboards for an ongoing discussion on photography both in and out of art, participants should read three texts by Matthew Thompson, Anne Ellegood, and Jenelle Porter considering how anxiety and desire relate to the fulfillment of photography.

“The Object Lost and Found,” Matthew Thompson
“The Photographic Paradox,” Anne Ellegood
“Why Red Cabbage?,” Jenelle Porter

Supplemental to this month’s readings, participants are encouraged to spend time with SFMOMA’s symposium “Is Photography Over?,” considering how anxiety and desire might become symptoms of a photographic condition, both in and out of art. Participants are also encouraged to visit the FOCUS: Mario García Torres exhibition before its June 28 closing. Torres’s work highlights the interdisciplinary nature of photography and how artists’ roles have become increasingly curatorial.

If interested, follow the procedure highlighted below to apply for this third session of Modern Salon: 1. To assure an intimate and meaningful exchange, each session is limited, so RSVP soon. Education staff will respond via e-mail with arrangements for receiving or locating the reading materials, access to the galleries, and other details concerning the session. Questions and concerns should be sent to the education department here with SALON QUESTION in the subject line.

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In support of the Modern’s role to promote life-long learning, Modern Salon is a gathering of interested parties to entertain curiosities and probe ideas surrounding a chosen topic. This new program strives to connect our community to ideas hosted by the Modern through exhibitions, acquisitions, and other generators of thought and discourse. The question is whether conversation, collective investigation, enthusiastic speculation, and celebratory realization shared within the context of a “salon” still has a place in our technological age of solitude, mediated thought, and virtual experience. If not, we will look for other means of connection, but if so, this program will thrive. We are eager to test the waters with our first Modern Salon.

Modern Salon meets on the last Thursday of each month, April through August 2015, from 3 to 5 pm.

These monthly salons are free to the public with the exception of occasional reading material costs. Participants should register each month by sending an e-mail to the education department here with SALON in the subject line. The week following each meeting, registration opens for the coming month’s Salon. Topics and readings will be announced on this page.  This allows approximately three weeks for interested parties to complete and collect thoughts about the reading for the next Salon. These gatherings are not accumulative and, therefore, participation can be occasional and sporadic according to interests and availability. Space is however limited, so early RSVPs are recommended and should be honored by attendance.

Topics and readings for July 30, and August 27 will be determined and announced on this page as the program proceeds.

Image credit: Mario García Torres,The Schlieren Plot, n.d. HD video and sound, 29 minutes. Image copyright: Courtesy of the Artist and Proyectos Monclova, Mexico