Mary Patten (born 1951, Evanston, IL) is a Chicago artist and activist. Her works combine writing,

video installation Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art in the 1970s, it has ...

, performance, artists' books, drawing, photography,

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

, and activism. Her writing, lectures, videos, and

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

deal with the relationship between art and politics,

visual culture Visual culture is the aspect of culture expressed in visual images. Many academic fields study this subject, including cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, media studies, Deaf Studies, and anthropology. The field of ...

, queer theory, terrorism, prisons and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

. She has an MFA from

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

(1992) and a BFA from the

Kansas City Art Institute The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private art school in Kansas City, Missouri. The college was founded in 1885 and is an accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and Higher Learning Commission. It has approxi ...

. Her videos are distributed by the

Video Data Bank Video Data Bank (VDB) is an international video art distribution organization and resource in the United States for videos by and about contemporary artists. Located in Chicago, Illinois, VDB was founded at the School of the Art Institute of Chic ...

and she teaches at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

as an

Associate Professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

in the department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation. She also teaches in the Visual and Critical Studies department and is currently the Chair of the department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation (2016).

Recent exhibitions

* Organize Your Own: The Politics and Poetics of Self-Determination Movements, Averill and Bernard Leviton Gallery, 2016 * Mary Patten: Panel, Threewalls Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2013 * Whitewalls: Writings by Artists 1978–2008, Golden Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2012 * Opening the Blackbox: The Charge is Torture, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL, 2012 * The Archival Impulse, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL, 2011

Awards

* Maker Grant, 2013 * Illinois Arts Council Individual Project Grant, 2013 * Propeller Fund, 2013 * SAIC Faculty Enrichment Grant, 2010–11 * Artadia Award, 2002

Activism

Mary Patten was a member of DAGMAR (Dykes and Gay Men Against Racism and Repression) that began in 1984 and evolved to become CFAR (Chicago for AIDS Rights), an activist group addressing HIV/AIDS. Patten was one of the founders of

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

/Chicago. She is an organizer of the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM), aiming to seek justice for survivors of

Chicago Police The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind th ...

and their families. In addition to her work in the

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

communities, Patten has created and curated art for the feminist movement, such as the 2014 exhibit "Bad Girls: Video Program: She Laughed When She Saw It" at the

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sc ...

in New York City. Other projects of Patten include the Madame Binh Graphics Collective, Feel Tank Chicago, WhiteWalls, RIOT GRRRANDMAS!!!, and Bad Girls. She is also a member of the art/activist group Feel Tank Chicago.

References

External links and further reading

Mary Patten's Personal Web Page

Mary Patten's writing

Chicago Torture Justice Memorials

Video Data Bank Profile

Mary Patten's Faculty profile, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Feel Tank Chicago

Mary Patten on Bad at Sports

Review from Art in America Magazine by Danny Orendorff

ACT UP Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patten, Mary 1951 births American video artists American women writers Living people Members of ACT UP School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty American LGBT rights activists American women academics