Celebrating the launch of the CARE SYLLABUS module I Can’t: Feeling Through Burdens of Care, this virtual event brought together the writer Maggie Nelson and MASS MoCA exhibiting artist Marc Swanson for a night of conversation following the recent publication of Nelson’s book, On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint (Graywolf Press, 2021), and Swanson’s new exhibition, A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco.

This event was live-streamed on MASS MoCA’s YouTube channel and is free for all.

With anecdotes from art and life, this conversation draws attention to the particularities of care as they arise in nuanced relation to the labors and limits of artistic creation and interpretation. When the rally cry of care sounds far and wide, where do we focus our energies? What role, if any, might art—and artistic engagement—play in navigating our capacities to give and receive care? In their discussion, Nelson and Swanson will touch on shared investments evident in their recent works, which explore connections between queer experience, alternative understandings of time, and climate crisis.

About CARE SYLLABUS
Launched by MCLA and MASS MoCA, CARE SYLLABUS is a justice-oriented public education and community resource featuring original text, visual media, recordings, and virtual events by activists, artists, and academics. For more information about CARE SYLLABUS head to caresyllabus.org.

CARE SYLLABUS is a project of THE MIND’S EYE—a research and praxis initiative of MCLA in collaboration with MASS MoCA.