This February, writer, curator, and cultural theorist Lucy Cotter stopped by the MFA studios and gallery to visit with current 1st-year students Alonzo Pantoja and Emma Beatrez, and 2nd-year student Cassandra Cook. Pantoja, Beatrez, and Cook welcomed Cotter into their studios to discuss their work and learn more about Cotter’s practice and experiences

“Lucy Cotter (Ireland, 1973) trained as an artist and exhibited internationally before turning to writing and curatorial practice. She holds an M.A. in History of Art from the University of Southampton and a PhD in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam. Her doctoral dissertation examined the wider cultural agency of curatorial practice in a postcolonial context and proposed new strategies for (national) curatorial representations. She was curator of the Dutch pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale 2017, collaborating with artist Wendelien van Oldenborgh on a project entitled Cinema Olanda. An extensive parallel programme in The Netherlands included exhibitions and events at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and EYE Film Museum, Amsterdam (all 2017). The accompanying catalogue published by Hatje Cantz, edited by Lucy Cotter, featured a series of commissioned interdisciplinary essays.

“Cotter developed and led the newly founded Master Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Art and Royal Conservatoire, The Hague from 2010-2015, developing an experimental educational programme and initiating over 25 exhibitions with venues nation-wide. She has previously lectured at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam and on the PhDArts doctoral programme at the University of the Arts, The Hague. She currently works in an independent advisory capacity for a number of institutions.”