Cindy Smith has been making interdisciplinary, project-based work since the 1990s that explores the role of gender in American history and popular culture. Filtered through a mixture of “real” and “contrived” documentary tropes, Smith’s installations and interventions use video, sound, and found and fabricated objects. She received her MA in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Her investigations have been manifested in installations, museum exhibitions, curatorial projects, writings, lectures and publications throughout the United States and Europe. Smith’s projects have been exhibited at institutions including The New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Wexner Center, White Columns, PS1 Center for Contemporary Art, the Irish Museum of Modern Modern Art, Accademia Filarmonica Romana (Rome, Italy,) Ben Maltz Gallery-Otis College of Art (Los Angeles), and the Pedagogical Museum in Belgrade. She lives and works in NYC and South Windham, VT.
ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Hideout, Lavomatique, Paris, May-June 2014.
Teach-in, The Pedagogical Museum, Belgrade, Serbia, December-January 2008/2009.
The Moral Museum, Otis College of Art and Design, Ben Maltz Gallery, Los Angeles,California, January-March 2007.
Setting the Scene: Homage À, Commission for Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Rome, Italy, May/June 2006.
Selections from the Bick Archive, Seneca Falls Heritage Area Visitor’s Center, Seneca Falls, New York, 2002.
Camera Oscura, San Casciano dei Bagni, Italy, July 2002.
Public Project, Seneca Falls, New York, 2001.
Three Mistakes: Fragments from a Dublin Residence, 1921, Project Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland, 1999.
Toward a Bibliography of Homosexuality, Silverstein Gallery, Project Room, New York,New York February, 1997.
After the Well, Richard Heller Gallery, Project Room, Santa Monica, California, May 1996.
Evidence, The Art Library Gallery, The University of Rochester, Rochester, New York,January 1991.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Heavy Equipment, Hudson, NY, July-September, 2013.
Protest, Care of Milan, February, Milan, Italy, 2010.
e-flux video rental project, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy, curator Adrienne Drake, 2010.
The Buffer Zone, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, April 3 – June 3, 2009.
The Absence of Birds, Vistamare Gallery, Pescara, Italy, June 20 – September 20, 2008.
The Unfair Fair, 1:1 Projects, Loto Arte Via Civinini, 41, Rome, Italy, February 29 – March 3, 2008. (catalogue)
Cabaret [Tribunale], Judson Memorial Church, New York, New York and PLEX Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, September – November 2007. (catalogue)
Ocho y Medio, El Museo de Ciudad, Quito, Ecuador, January 2007
Romantic Detachment, P.S. 1, Long Island City, New York, October/November 2004.
Definitively Provisional (a library), Whitechapel Project Space, London, England, 2003.
Interpretation, Printed Matter Inc., New York, New York, 2002.
Women Beyond Borders, 1999 – 2000 (roving installation).
Bibliomania, Data/DillonsWaterstones bookstores in Britain, summer 1999. (catalogue)
The Farm Show, CSPS/Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 19 – May 2, 1999.
Seneca Falls, Part I, Violet Bick, Printed Matter bulletin board installation, Printed Matter, New York, New York, December 4, 1998 – January 8, 1999.
Flash, Joyce Goldstein Gallery, New York, New York, December 7 – January 11, 1999.
Heaven, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, October 29 – February 1, 1998.
Intellectual Property, Silverstein Gallery, New York, New York, January 1997.
Notions of the Nineteenth Century, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, California, October 4 – November 16, 1997. (catalogue)
Codpiece, Griffin Linton Contemporary Exhibitions, Costa Mesa, California, December 1, 1996– January 18, 1997.
Group Hanging, Griffin Linton Contemporary Exhibitions, Costa Mesa, California, February 10 – March 16, 1996.
December Twentieth, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, December 20, 1995– January 13, 1996.
Bibliovertigo, Northern Illinois University Museum, Dekalb, Illinois, November 2 – December 16, 1995. (catalogue)
The Winter of Love, P.S. 1 Museum, Long Island City, New York, October 13, 1994 – January 8, 1995.
Stonewall 25: Imaginings of the Gay Past–Imagining the Gay Future, White Columns,New York, New York, June 9 – July 23, 1994.
Bad Girls, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, New York, January 16 –February 27, 1994. (catalogue)
Re:Framing Cartoons, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, June 28 – September 13, 1992.
Frame Show, Panorama, Brooklyn, New York, November 30 – January 3, 1992.
The Neurotic Art Show II: The Return of the Repressed, Artists Space, New York, New York, May 1992.
The Fetish of Knowledge, AC Project Room, New York, New York, February 26 – March 25,1992.
The Library of Babel, Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York, April 6 – May 31, 1992 and White Columns, New York, New York, October 1991. (catalogue).
BIBLIOGRAPHY/CONFERENCES/LECTURES
Smith, Cindy. “Twilight” and the Half-dead Infant Monster: American Teens under the Spell of Supernatural Family Values in Nelson, E., Burcar, J. and Priest, H. (eds.) Discovering Monstrosity: Myths & Metaphors of Enduring Evil. Volume 96: At the Interface, Oxford, 2010.
College Art Association, 2010 Conference Panelist, paper title: Alter Ego as Consumer, Theorist and Producer, Chicago, IL. February 2010.
Oxford University, “Monsters and the Monstrous” Interdisciplinary Conference Panelist, paper title: “Twilight” and the Half-dead Infant Monster: American Teens under the Spell of Supernatural Family Values, Oxford, England, September 2009.
Virginia Commonwealth University, guest lecturer, March 2009.
Neel, Tucker. “Cindy Smith” Artillery Magazine, (Vol.1, no. 5, May 2007): pgs.34-35.
Willis, Holly. “The Moral Museum: Selections from the Bick Archive,” L.A. Weekly, (February 2, 2007) pg. 92.
Conversation with Yvonne Rainer, Otis Speaks Lecture, Otis College of Art, Los Angeles, California, February 26, 2007.
Otis College of Art, MFA Critiques and guest lecturer, January 2007.
Istituto Universitario Architettura Venezia, Venice, Italy, lecture, May 2006.
Cornelia Lauf, Camera Oscura (Vienna: Schlebrugge, 2004).
Simon Morris, ed. Bibliomania, (York: information as material, 2002).“Undisciplined Procedures: Some Challenges Posed by Project-Based Work” Simon Morris, ed. Interpretation 2(York: information as material, 2002).
“Undisciplined Procedures: Some Challenges Posed by Project-Based Work” in Documentary and Presentational Strategies, College Art Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 2001.
Smith, Cindy. “The Moral Museum,” Finger no. 6 (March 2000): pg. 1-3.
Courtney, Cathy. “Bibliomania and a Coat.” Art Monthly. (December 1999): pg. 40.
Simon Morris and Helen Sacoor, ed. Bibliomania, (London: Simon Morris and Helen Sacoor,1999).
Blast, Documenta, 1997.
Atkins, Robert. “Queer for You.” The Village Voice, (June 28, 1994): pg. 101.
Glueck, Grace. “A Broader View of Feminism.” New York Observer, (February 7, 1994).
Hess, Elizabeth. “And Everything Nice?” The Village Voice (February 1, 1994): pg. 83.
Zimmerman, David. “A Good time with ‘Bad Girls’: Gender politics with humor.” USA Today, (February 27, 1994).
North East Modern Languages Association, Panel Chairman, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 1994.
“I Love a Girl in Uniform: The Lesbian Police Procedural,” On Our Backs (November/December, 1993): pg. 36.
Blast: Remaking Civilization, The X–Art Foundation, New York, New York, fall 1993.
North East Modern Languages Association, Panelist, Buffalo, New York, April 1992.
Whitewalls: A Journal of Language and Art, Chicago, Illinois, fall 1991.
Fifth Annual Lesbian and Gay Studies Conference, Panelist – Rutgers University, Rutgers, New Jersey, November 1991.
The Society of Photographic Education, National Conference, Women’s Caucus, Panelist –“Love in the Margins,” New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1991.
AWARDS/GRANTS
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, residency, June – September 1999
Art Matters Inc., spring 1990.
CURATED EXHIBITIONS
Mice: Haim Steinbach/Julia Wiest, Two Chairs, New York, New York, March-April 2014.
Things are gonna change I can feel it: Cultural Studies as Art Practice, Screening at the Dedalus Foundation for College Art Association Conference, New York, New York, February 14, 2013.
post-, hyper-, anti-, alter- at the Bonaventure, co-curated with Ken Gonzalez-Day for theCollege Art Association Centennial Conference, Los Angeles, California, February 22–25, 2012
Chapter 3: Gaslit!, C. Bass International Fine Arts Co., Beacon, New York, March 19 – April 30, 2011.
Chapter 2: Boredom and Fear and Anger….Jonathan Livingston Seagull, C. Bass International Fine Arts Co., Beacon, New York, January 22 – March 5, 2011.
Joseph Kosuth: A Short History of ‘Text/Context’, 1977 – 1979, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York, January 15 – March 5, 2011.
Chapter 1: Ever After, C. Bass International Fine Arts Co., Beacon, New York, November 13– December 29, 2010.
All Grown–Up, The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York, October 1991.
From Perversity to Diversity, The University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, February 1991.
Expense/Account: Figuring the Damage, The Hartnett Gallery, The University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, March 1990. (catalogue)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Artist/Teacher, Vermont College of Fine Arts low residency MFA Program, Montpelier,Vermont, 2010 – present.
Adjunct Professor, The University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.
Painting 1, fall 1991, Advanced Painting (Painting 2 and 3) spring 1992.
High School Programs, Gallery Lecturer: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, New York, Spring 1992 – spring 1994.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
2010 – 2013 CAA Services to Artists Committee.
1993 – present College Art Association, New York, New York.
2006 – present DCTV independent non-profit media center, New York, New York
EDUCATION
MA in Visual and Cultural Studies, The University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.
The Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program, New York, New York.
BA, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York.
smithmcindy@gmail.com 917-596-8620