Candidate’s Statement for the Role of Vice-President/President Elect, PCA/ACA
Dr. Royce W. Smith, Director, School of Art & Design, Wichita State University
Since 2012, I have served on the governing board of PCA/ACA; since 2007, I have served as the
long-standing chair of the Visual Culture area of the Association and have more than
quadrupled the number of participants who contribute to the area. In that capacity, I have
encouraged the leadership of my co-chair and have actively promoted interdisciplinary
dialogues between popular arts, art history, and contemporary visual culture. In my
administrative role as Director of the School of Art and Design at Wichita State University, I
have shown leadership in strategic and tactical planning, internationalization of our program,
budget management and reshaping, budget area auditing, community relations, departmental
and interdepartmental personnel management, multicultural and diversity training, and—quite
importantly—fundraising. These skills will prove extremely useful as our organization confronts
questions germane to its future: How do we maintain the intellectual rigor and quality of our
endeavors as we continue to grow? How do we reinvigorate the organization—at all levels from
the Executive Council to the workings of area chairs—with a renewed focus on the examples we
set, the tones we maintain, and the inclusivity we encourage through our words, our actions,
and our research?
Presidents of PCA/ACA must inculcate a sense of internal trust so that they may, in turn, get on
with the challenges of external advocacy, fundraising for scholarships and research
opportunities, and better employing the strengths of the organization’s Board not just to
grow—but to grow with focus, purpose, direction, and academic integrity.
Please let me know if you require any additional information.
Kindly,
Royce
Dr. Royce W. Smith
Director - School of Art, Design and Creative Industries
Associate Professor, Contemporary Art History
Wichita State University
School of Art & Design, Box 67
1845 Fairmount
Wichita, KS 67260-0067 UNITED STATES
Phone: (+1) 316-978-7713
Fax: (+1) 316-978-5418
Web: http://www.wichita.edu/roycewsmith
List of Contributions to the PCA/ACA
(a) Member of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association since 2007
(b) Area Chair of the Visual Culture Area since 2007
(c) Have presided over a quadrupling in size of the Visual Culture Area since 2007
(d) Service on the PCA/ACA Governing Board since 2012
(e) Service on the PCA/ACA Ad Hoc Committee appointed by the President to address travel
policies and procedures in 2013
(f) Service on the PCA/ACA Ad Hoc Committee appointed by the President to address
governance procedures and Robert's Rules of Order in 2014-15
(g) Nomination of and assistance with the coordination of the 2015 PCA/ACA Eminent Scholar
Award recipient, Dan Cameron
(h) Intervention through formal channels to address specific incidents of non-adherence to bylaws, election irregularities, and poor practices in workplace/employee management--a process
which was recognized by a PCA/ACA investigating committee as having been critical to the
reforms to policies, procedures and by-laws now being undertaken by the organization. For
example, through my own work and investigation, I helped the PCA/ACA Board understand
misinformation that had been communicated to it--a process which resulted in the full
reinstatement of Kathy Merlock Jackson as Editor of the Journal of American Culture. I believe
this point demonstrates my adherence to ethical workplace standards and my use of integrity
and sound judgment in matters of fair and transparent governance--all of which are expected
of Presidents of this organization.
University Contact Details:
Wichita State University
School of Art & Design #67
1845 Fairmount
Wichita, KS 67260-0067 USA
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (+1) 316-978-7713
Fax: (+1) 316-978-5418
Home Contact Details:
1014 North Roosevelt Street
Wichita, KS 67208-2943 USA
Phone: (+1) 316-260-5776
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Royce W. Smith
Education
2000 – 2005
University of Queensland; Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Ph.D. by Dissertation and Exhibition, Contemporary Art History and Theory
1999
University of Queensland; Brisbane, QLD, Australia
M.A., Contemporary Art History and Theory
1997 – 1998; 2000
M.A., English
Purdue University; West Lafayette, IN, USA
1992 – 1994; 1995-1996
Wabash College; Crawfordsville, IN, USA
A.B. (Summa Cum Laude) with majors in English, Spanish, and Humanities/Fine
Arts and a minor in Secondary Education
Professional
Experience
2005 – present
Director (2013-) and Associate Professor, Modern & Contemporary Art
History, Wichita State University; Wichita, KS, USA (tenured 2011)
Courses taught:
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Survey of Western Art II (Gothic to Contemporary); 18 - and 19 -Century European Art; Art since
1945; Twentieth-Century Art, 1900-1945; Art since 1990; Contemporary Art from Asia and the Pacific
Rim; Contemporary Art of the Americas; Theories of Art History & Culture; Contemporary Theory &
Criticism; Contemporary Festivals, Biennales, and Documentas; Contemporary Arts and Culture of
Cuba
Course collaborations and professional contributions to courses:
Advanced Drawing; Art Education and Aesthetic Inquiry; Professional Practices in Studio Art;
Technology, Art, and Sound by Design
2012-2015
Creative Director, 2015 Bienal Internacional de Artes Visuales de
Paraguay– Asunción, Paraguay
Theme and conceptual premise:
“El Primer Grito de Libertad / The First Cry of Liberty” – This biennale’s debut will focus on a
reorientation of global discourse by assuming a more regional focus on the artistic cultures of the
Americas. By showcasing contemporary art produced in North, Central, and South America, this
biennale will explore how contemporaneity need not be a function of cosmopolitanism and
established museum cultures. Staged across a variety of venues in Asunción, this exhibition will
showcase Paraguay’s artistic, aesthetic, political, and cultural relationships with the notion of
“Americanness” and the myriad ways in which the spectrum of American identities is articulated
through contemporary art.
2013
Visiting Professor, Contemporary Art History and Criticism, Instituto
Superior de Artes (ISA); Havana, Cuba (invitation extended from the Cuban
Ministry of Culture)
Courses to be taught:
Contemporary Art and Globalization; The History of Contemporary Biennales
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2008
Visiting Professor, Contemporary Art History and Theory, University of
Auckland; Auckland, New Zealand
Courses taught:
Art in Context/Study Abroad: Contemporary Festivals and the 2008 Sydney Biennale
2003 – 2005
Associate Lecturer, Art History and Theory, College of Fine Arts, University of New
South Wales; Sydney, NSW, Australia
Courses taught:
Theories of Color in Art, Design, and Culture; Theories of the Image; Mapping the Postmodern;
Eurocentered Visions: Grand Narratives of Western Art; Art and the Cultures of Everyday Life;
Theories of Art History & Culture; Advanced Design History/Theory; Art since 1990; Topics in Art and
Design: Dance Party Culture
2002 – 2003
Tutor and Lecturer of Australian and Cultural Studies, Social Sciences, and Art and
Design, University of the Sunshine Coast; Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia
Courses taught:
Died Young: How Australians Create Heroes; Introduction to Cultural Studies; Writing and Communication
(Arts); Visualization and the Digital Image
Selected
Presentations and
Lectures
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“De Aquí Para Allá: La Bienal de la Habana, la Bienal de Asunción, y las
Posibilidades de Bienales (Latino)Americanas” (May 2014, 30th Anniversary
Celebration of the Bienal de la Habana, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes/Centro de
Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam; May 2014, invited lecturer and panel organizer)
“Americanismo/Latinoamericanismo: El Arte Contemporáneo y la Globalización en
Nuestro Barrio Regional” (May 2013, Instituto Superior de Artes; Havana, Cuba)
“El Arte Contemporáneo, la Globalización, y el Americanismo” (series of 5
seminars presented in Spanish, October 2012, Centro Cultural Paraguayo
Americano/Kansas-Partners; Asunción, Paraguay [by invitation])
“‘Para-Pavilions’, Relationalisms, and the Hope for Mega-Exhibition Dialogues:
Reflections on the 2011 Venice Biennale” (July 2012, South African Visual Arts
Historians Annual Conference, National University of South Africa; Pretoria, South
Africa)
“Curating with Accents: The Evolution of Global Perspectives in the Age of the
Contemporary Biennale” (July 2012, International Association of Art Critics [AICA]
Annual Congress; Zurich, Switzerland)
“Too Big to Fail?: Excess, Crisis, and the Contemporary Mega-Exhibition” (invited
lecturer, 2011 International Association of Art Critics [AICA] Annual Congress;
Asunción, Paraguay)
“Africa, Africanness, and the Contemporary Biennale” (panel chair and presenter,
2011 Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art [CIHA] and South African Visual Arts
Historians [SAVAH] Colloquium, University of Witwatersrand; Johannesburg,
South Africa)
“Attaining ‘Glocality’: Collaboration, Globalization, and the Contemporary
Biennale” (April 2010, Association of Art Historians Annual Conference; University
of Glasgow, Scotland)
“African Orientalisms, African Occidentalisms: Reflections on the Curatorial
Premises of the 2008 Gwangju Biennale” (July 2009, South African Visual Arts
Historians Annual Conference; University of Pretoria, South Africa)
“A Quarantine of (Radical) Feminism?: Uneasy Relationships between Activist Art,
the Contemporary Biennale, and the Guerrilla Girls” (April 2009, Popular Cultural
Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference; New Orleans, LA)
“(Dis)connectedness and (In)commensurability: Speculations about Museum, MegaExhibition, and Art History Futures” (December 2008, Art Association of Australia
and New Zealand; Gallery of Modern Art; Brisbane, Australia)
“Post-Biennale?: Rethinking ‘Africanness’ in the Age of the Contemporary MegaExhibition” (September 2008, South African Visual Arts Historians Annual
Conference; University of Stellenbosch, South Africa)
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Curated Exhibitions
“Multiculturalism, Migration, and the Mega-Exhibition: Considering the Impacts of
Contemporary Festivals, Biennales, and Documentas”; Panel Chair; Tate Modern and
Tate Britain Symposium (April 2008, Association of Art Historians Annual
Conference; London, United Kingdom)
“Contesting Everydayness: Situations of Art and the Quotidian”; Panel Chair
(February 2008, College Art Association Annual Conference; Dallas, Texas)
“‘We are all Americans’, but are we all Americans?: The Cinematographic
Responses to 9/11 in Alain Brigand’s 11’9”01,” Getty Institute Panel (April 2007,
Association of Art Historians Annual Conference; University of Ulster; Belfast,
Northern Ireland)
“Imag(in)ing and Queering the Aboriginal Body in the Art of Destiny Deacon” (April
2007, Popular Cultural Association/American Culture Association Annual
Conference; Boston, MA)
“Eugenics and Endangerment: Transmogrifications of the ‘Real’ in the Art of Patricia
Piccinini” (October 2006, TRANS: A Visual Culture Conference; University of
Wisconsin, Madison)
“Exhibition and Globalization: Contemporary Art Festivals and Illusions of
‘Multiculturalism’” (September 2006, South African Visual Arts Historians Annual
Conference; Vaal University; Vanderbijlpark, South Africa)
“‘What Attracts You to Dark Things?’: Imaging Urban Queerscapes in the Art of
David Wojnarowicz” (May 2006, Art and the City: Postwar Interactions with the
Urban Realm Conference; University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
“Local Responses, Global Pandemic: The Visual AIDS Archive” (April 2006,
Association of Art Historians Annual Conference; University of Leeds, United
Kingdom)
“Unsettled Australian Landscapes: The Contemporary Photography of Rosemary
Laing” (March 2006, “In Light of the Pacific: Photography from the Pacific Rim
Symposium,” California State University, Sacramento)
“The New Cultural Unilateralism: An Analysis of Contemporary Festival and
Biennale Programs” (October 2005, Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts Annual
Conference; University of Oregon, Eugene)
“Lukas Samaras: (Re-)productions of Masculinity” (December 2004, Art Association
of Australia and New Zealand; University of Auckland)
“Distortion as Documentation: How to have an Archive in an Epidemic” (April 2004,
Association of Art Historians Annual Conference; University of Nottingham, United
Kingdom)
“Ekphrasis, Contemporary Art and the Homoerotic Secret” (December 2003, Art
Association of Australia and New Zealand, Canberra)
“Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Interstitial Semiotics and the Re-conceptualisation of the
Queer Body” (December 2003, Curtin University of Technology; Perth, Australia)
“Ut Pictura Conflictio: A Contentious Ekphrasis in Contemporary Art” (October
2003, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales; Sydney, Australia)
2012 “Response to Provocation: Living Memoirs of the Culture Wars – Nan Goldin,
Felix González-Torres, David Wojnarowicz,” Wichita State University
2010 “Left Overs: Recent Works by Jens Kull,” WSU Shift Space Gallery, Wichita State
University
2002 “With and Without You: Re-visitations of Art in the Age of AIDS,” Ivan
Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Opened by Her
Excellency, The Governor of New South Wales, Dr Marie Bashir.
2001 “Forgetting is Quite Difficult Work, Really: AIDS, Art and Family in Southeast
Asia,” Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, Melbourne. Opened by Her
Majesty, The Queen of Brunei.
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Publications and
Reviews
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Awards and Grants
Africa, ‘Africanness’, and the Contemporary Biennale. New York & London: I.B.
Tauris, 2014 (contracted and forthcoming, edited collection).
Biennale!: Representation, Crisis, and the Contemporary Mega-Exhibition. New
York & London: I.B. Tauris, 2014 (contracted and forthcoming).
“Reflection on the South African Visual Arts Historians and the Comité
International d’Histoire de l’Art (or What Happens when Art History Collides with
the Global South and Vasari’s Lives of the Artists),” in De Arte 83 (2011): pp. 72-76.
“A Crisis of Super-Sized Proportions (or Why the Next Great Art Biennial Should
not be Curated by an Über-Platinum Frequent Flyer),” in X-TRA: Journal of
Contemporary Art 11:4 (Summer 2010): pp. 4-18. Feature article.
“Intemperie: The 2009 Biennial of the End of the World,” in X-TRA: Journal of
Contemporary Art 11:5 (Winter 2009): pp. 41-48.
“In Living Contact: The 2008 São Paulo Bienal,” in X-TRA: Journal of
Contemporary Art 11:4 (Summer 2009): pp. 22-29.
“Local Responses, Global Pandemic: The Visual AIDS Archive,” in Global and
Local Art Histories, eds. Celina Jeffery and Gregory Minissale. London: Cambridge
Scholars Press, 2007.
“Photography,” in Michael Flood, Judith Kegan Gardiner, et al., eds. The
Routledge International Encyclopaedia of Men and Masculinities. London &
New York: Routledge, 2007.
“Cultural Development? Cultural Unilateralism?: An Analysis of
Contemporary Festival and Biennale Programs,” in Journal of Arts
Management, Law, and Society 36:4 (Winter 2007): pp. 259-272.
“Sculptures by Ron Mueck,” in Review. Kansas City: Review Publishing,
Inc., October 2007, pp. 44-45.
“Book from the Sky to Book from the Ground: Xu Bing’s Book Work,” in Review.
Kansas City: Review Publishing, Inc., August 2007, pp. 42-43.
“Hug: Recent Work by Patricia Piccinini,” in Review. Kansas City: Review Publishing,
Inc., April 2007, pp. 42-45.
“weather: Recent Work by Rosemary Laing,” in Review. Kansas City:
Review Publishing, Inc., April 2007, p. 48.
“Love is a Battlefield,” in Review. Kansas City: Review Publishing, Inc., February
2007, pp. 36-37.
“Sheetrock Substrates and Inadvertent Arsonists: Patrick Duegaw’s Character
Studies,” in Review. Kansas City: Review Publishing, Inc., February 2007, pp. 42-43.
“How (not) to Live Together: The 2006 São Paulo Bienal,” in Review. Kansas City:
Review Publishing, Inc., January 2007, pp. 64-67.
“Julian Dashper: Towards an Oceanic (Post-)Modernism?” in Review. Kansas City:
Review Publishing, Inc., November 2006, pp. 51-57.
“Conflicted Organicism: Fisch Haus Invitational,” in Review. Kansas City: Review
Publishing, Inc., October 2006, pp. 52-55.
“The Image is Dying: Visualisation in Catastrophic Times,” in m/c: A
Journal of Media and Culture (Australia), 2003.
“Contemporary Art and the Epidemiological Constructions/Falsifications of
Gender” (Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, 2002).
“Art in the New Millennium” (in Semper, University of Queensland Press, 2000).
“Fin-de-Millénaire Explorations of “The End”: Artistic Representation and the
AIDS Epidemic” (in Pre/dictions: The role of art at the end of the millennium.
Wellington: Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, 2000).
2012
2012
2010
2007
2006
Kansas-Paraguay Partners Travel and Research Award ($2,500)
Wichita State University Young Faculty Scholar Award ($2,500)
Wichita State University Academy for Effective Teaching Award ($2,000 per
annum added to base salary)
Wichita State University Award for Research and Creative Projects in
Summer ($4000)
Wichita State University Research/Creative Activity Award ($4500)
Wichita State University College of Fine Arts Excellence in Creative and
Scholarly Activity Award ($500)
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2005-2006 Australian Research Council (ARC) and University of New South Wales
Faculty Research Grant ($7,500)
1999-2005 Commonwealth of Australia International Postgraduate Research Fellowship
($125,000)
1999-2005 University of Queensland International Postgraduate Research Fellowship
($100,000)
1998-1999 Rotary International Ambassadorial Postgraduate Research Fellowship
($35,000)
1997
State of Indiana Caleb Mills Excellence in Teaching Award
1995-1996 Walter L. Fertig Outstanding Student of English and Humanities,
Wabash College
1996
Phi Sigma Iota Honor Society for Excellence in Modern Languages
Professional
Memberships
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International Association of Art Critics (AICA) – invited and peer-reviewed
membership
Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ)
Association of Art Historians, United Kingdom (AAH)
College Art Association (CAA)
South African Association of Visual Arts Historians (SAVAH)
Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association (PCA/ACA); Area
Chair of Visual Culture
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Visual AIDS Archive Project, New York City, USA; External Consultant
Languages
Fluent: English, Spanish.
Reading level: Portuguese, Italian, German, French.
Service
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City of Wichita Arts Council (2010-2012)
Chair, College of Fine Arts Tenure & Promotion Committee (2011-2013)
Wichita State University Tenure & Promotion Committee (2011-2013)
Chair, College of Fine Arts Faculty Committee and Strategic Planning Committee
(2005-2011)
School of Art & Design Strategic Planning Committee, Wichita State University
(chair: 2009-2010; membership: 2009-2010; 2012-)
Wichita State University Center for Faculty Development and Student Success
(2006-2010)
Ulrich Museum of Art Collections/Acquisitions Committee (2005-present)
School of Art and Design Galleries and Crit-o-Rama Visiting Artist Series Planning
Committee (2005-present)
Ulrich Museum of Art docent training (2005-present)
Visual Culture Area Chair and International Board Member, Popular Culture
Association & American Culture Association (area chair: 2007-present; board
membership: 2012-present)
International Liaison and Executive Board Member, South African Visual Arts
Historians (2008-present; 2010-present in advisory capacity)
ArtAID Advisor for community fundraising efforts to support HIV/AIDS
needs at the community level; Wichita, KS (2005-present)
Papua New Guinea/Solomon Islands Medical Relief Project and On-Site Rebuilding
Campaign (2000-2005)
“Day Without Art” Organizer, Purdue University (1999-2000)
Purdue University Staff Liaison for Tippecanoe County Family Resource Center;
responsibilities included overseeing English Department participation and student
involvement in fundraising (1999-2000)
Camp Quality Staff Counsellor and Organisational Assistant (1999-2005)
Rotary International Ambassadorial Speaker – District 9600; Brisbane, Australia
(1999-2005)
“Two Cultures, One Cause” Fundraising Organiser and Coordinator; campaign
involved bicycling from Brisbane to Sydney raising funds for the Australian Red
Cross (1999)
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References
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Elizabeth Stevenson, Co-Director, Fisch Haus, 524 S. Commerce, Wichita, KS
67202. Phone: (+1) 316 200 5200. E-mail: [email protected].
Levente Sulyok, Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing, Wichita State
University, Wichita, KS 67260, USA. Phone: (+1) 316 708 8382. Fax: (+1) 316 978
5418. E-mail: [email protected].
Bob Workman, Director, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita,
KS 67260, USA. Work phone: (+1) 479 202 3201. E-mail:
[email protected].
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