Constantina Zavitsanos

Constantina Zavitsanos is a conceptual artist.[1] Their works are organized around themes of planning, contingency, debt, dependency and care.[2] Zavitsanos is a part of disability community as a care provider and recipient. They live in New York City and teach at The New School.

Constantina Zavitsano
NationalityAmerican
AwardsWynn Newhouse Award (2015)

Education

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Zavitsanos is a graduate of Millersville University, where they received a B.F.A., and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where they received an M.F.A.[3]

Career

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Zavitsanos has had many exhibitions[4][5] including:

  • Coop Fund, Amalle Dublon & Constantina Zavitsanos, Devin Kenny, John Neff. Artists Space. New York, 2018.[6]
  • Challenge 3. The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial. Philadelphia, PA, 2009.[3]

Zavitsanos has participated in several artist residencies. In March–September 2015, Zavitsanos held a residency at The New Museum, where they curated a series of collaborative events with artists Reina Gossett, Park McArthur, Caroline Key, and Soyoung Yoon, and academics Stefano Harney, Fred Moten, and Denise Ferreira da Silva.[7] In 2017, they and collaborator Amalle Dubon participated in the Engaged Social Justice Residency Program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.[8]

They are a recipient of the 2015 Wynn Newhouse Award presented to disabled artists.[9] They received the 2021 Roy Lichtenstein Award.[10] Zavitsanos was also the 2021-22 Keith Haring Fellow.[11][12]

Notable works

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  • It was what I wanted now was nearly invisible (2013) is a stack of papers next to a wall. Four- and five-digit-long numbers are printed on the paper tracking Zavitsanos’ projected student loan debt over the next 25 years and the minimum income necessary to make monthly loan payments. Corinna Kirsch of ArtFCity has described the work as a strong statement with limited means. As Kirsch put it, "if a loan officer handed me thousands of pages showing my future indebtedness, I might’ve rethought signing away my future."[13]
  • Sweepstakes (2015) Zavitsanos was a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit brought against the New York Police Department for wrongful arrest during the 2004 GOP convention in New York. New York City settled the case in 2015. Zavitsanos incorporated her settlement into the art work "Sweepstakes" at the New Museum where viewers were given a portion of the settlement on a daily basis.[14]

Partial Bibliography

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  • “Other Forms of Conviviality” with Park McArthur for Women and Performance: a journal of feminist theory (2013)[4][15]
  • “The Guild of the Brave Poor Things” with Park McArthur in Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility (MIT Press, 2018)[4][16]

References

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  1. ^ Frank, Priscilla (4 September 2015). "'Body Utopia' Explores The Explosive Beauty Of Nonconforming Bodies". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Announcements - Spring 2015 R&D Season: SPECULATION - New Museum". e-flux. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Fleisher Art Memorial Features Artists Johanna Inman, Yvonne Lung and Constantina Zavitsanos". Artdaily. 6 May 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Cassell, Dessane Lopez (13 April 2020). "Meet the NYC Art Community: Constantina Zavitsanos Wants Us to 'Care for One Another and IDGAF How Silly That Sounds'". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Constantina Zavitsanos". The Center for the Humanities. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  6. ^ Iadarola, Alexander (21 March 2018). "Coop Fund, Amalle Dublon & Constantina Zavitsanos, Devin Kenny, John Neff, Artists Space, New York". Mousse Magazine. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Spring 2015 R&D Season: SPECULATION". New Museum. 2015. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  8. ^ "In-Residence @ UBC - Engaged Social Justice Residency Program". The Social Justice Institute. University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019. Previous Residents: Amalle Dubon & Constantina Zavitsanos (Winter 2017)
  9. ^ "Constantina Zavitsanos". Wynn Newhouse Award. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Constantina Zavitsanos | FCA Grant Recipient". Foundation for Contemporary Arts. 2021. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  11. ^ "The Keith Haring Lecture in Art and Activism: Constantina Zavitsanos". Center for Curatorial Studies. Bard College. 2022. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  12. ^ "Artist Constantina Zavitsanos Appointed as 2021–22 Keith Haring Fellow in Art and Activism at Bard College". Bard College. 27 September 2021. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  13. ^ Kirsch, Corinna (14 June 2013). "Looking at Our Financial Future: The 2013 Whitney ISP Studio Exhibition". ArtFCity. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Constantina Zavitsanos, Sweepstakes, 2015". New Museum. 4 July 2015. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2024 – via Tumblr.
  15. ^ McArthur, Park; Zavitsanos, Constantina (March 2013). "Other forms of conviviality: The best and least of which is our daily care and the host of which is our collaborative work". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 23 (1): 126–132. doi:10.1080/0740770X.2013.827376. ISSN 0740-770X. OCLC 5149560918.
  16. ^ McArthur, Park; Zavitsanos, Constantina (2018). "The Guild of the Brave Poor Things". In Tourmaline; Stanley, Eric A.; Burton, Johanna (eds.). Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 235–254. ISBN 9780262036603. OCLC 1408114984.