Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani Joins ICP as Inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow in Visual Culture
The International Center of Photography (ICP), the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture, today announces its inaugural ICP Postdoctoral Fellow, Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani. A New York-based artist and urbanist, Dr. Bendiner-Viani joins Director of Content and Public Programming Paul Rogers in efforts to build and strengthen public programming for the Institution. This fellowship is made possible by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
“We’re thrilled to kick off our ICP Post-doctoral fellowship in Visual Culture with Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, whose work explores photography as a catalyst for community-based dialogue toward social justice,” says Mark Lubell, Executive Director of ICP. “She’s the perfect addition to our recently created Center for Visual Culture and will help establish programming that will enhance the conversations about the ways in which photography can help drive social change —an essential part of ICP’s history and future.”
Bendiner-Viani will be working as part of the Center for Visual Culture team on developing innovative ways of engaging the public with images. In particular, she will focus on ways in which images can be used to stimulate conversations about social change, something particularly important in this political moment. Her work will culminate in curating a symposium this fall, and throughout the year Bendiner-Viani will be giving public lectures and acting as guest critic in ICP School classes. An accomplished scholar and public artist, Bendiner-Viani holds a PhD from the Graduate Center, CUNY and is the recipient of awards from the New York Council on the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Her book “In the Same Room without Screaming,” on exhibitions, visual culture and contested cities, will be published in 2018.
“As a native New Yorker, I’ve been a fan of ICP’s work for a long time; it has been a formidable part of my evolution as a photographer, teacher and curator,” says Bendiner-Viani. “I’m excited to work on ideas of the intersection of visual culture and social justice in an institution in which that intersection is core to its mission and founding. I value ICP’s interest in experimentation and their focus on photography as part of—and supporting—public dialogue on social justice in such a critical time.”
About the Center for Visual Culture
Established with a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Center for Visual Culture will strengthen public humanities programming and content development at ICP. The Center will bring together diverse communities—museumgoers, students, alumni, faculty, and members—and lead cross-disciplinary discourse and public engagement about the ever-transforming photographic practice and the impact of visual culture in today’s society.
About ICP
The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Cornell Capa founded ICP in 1974 to preserve the legacy of “concerned photography”—the creation of socially and politically minded images that have the potential to educate and change the world—and the center’s mission endures today, even as the photographic medium and imagemaking practices have evolved. Through its exhibitions, school, public programs, and community outreach, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the role that photographs, videos, and new media play in our society. To date, it has presented more than 700 exhibitions and offered thousands of classes at every level. ICP brings together photographers, artists, students, and scholars to create and interpret the realm of the image. Here, members of this unique community are encouraged to explore photography and visual culture as mediums of empowerment and as catalysts for wide-reaching social change. Visit icp.org/concerned to learn more.
For more information: Meryl Cooper, 917.974.0022, press@icp.org