Astria Suparak is an American artist and curator from Los Angeles, California. Suparak has curated events and exhibitions for Eyebeam,

The Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was foun ...

, PS1,

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, nati ...

, Museo Tamayo (Mexico City), Anthology Film Archives,

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and a number of alternative venues. Suparak was director of the Warehouse Gallery ( Syracuse University) from 2006-2007 and the Pratt Film Series ( Pratt Institute) from 1998-2000. Suparak was the director of Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University where she curated a number of exhibitions including

The Yes Men The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through various actions, the Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about problematic social and political issues. To date, t ...

’s first retrospective exhibition "Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with The Yes Men" and "Alien She," an exhibition on the impact of punk feminist movement Riot Grrrl on contemporary culture.

Selected works

Asian futures, without Asian (2020 - Current)

Asian futures, without Asians is a series of new multimedia presentation by Suparak, which asks: “What does it mean when so many white filmmakers envision futures inflected by Asian culture, but devoid of actual Asian people?” The work is a one-hour long illustrated lecture that examines nearly 50 years of American science fiction cinema through the lens of Asian appropriation and whitewashing. The research-creation project examines how Asian cultures have been mixed and matched to create an interchangeable “Asian-ness” within futuristic sci-fi. The performance lecture is includes images from dozens of futuristic movies and TV shows where she discusses the implications of not only borrowing heavily from Asian cultures, but at the same time decontextualizing and misrepresenting them. Her work also address the exclusion of Asian bodies in the imagination of high tech futures with Asian characteristics and architecture. She explores troupes such as Anglicized names, chopsticks, bastardization of traditional garments and head gears or hair styles and usage of Asian inspired architectures and interior spaces. Some films that Suparak criticizes in the work includes ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'', '' Flash Gordon'', '' Star Trek'', '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''

Soylent Green ''Soylent Green'' is a 1973 American ecological dystopian thriller film directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Edward G. Robinson in his final film role. It is loosely based on the 1966 science fict ...

'', '' Logan’s Run'', and the '' Star Wars'' franchise. The work has been presented at MoMa, Jacob Lawrence Gallery (

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

), The Wattis Institute (San Francisco) (presented with the launch of the publication, ''Why are they so afraid of the lotus?'' ISBN 978-3-95679-569-5, ICA LA (Los Angeles) (co-presented by GYOPO), Bard College (Annandale-On-Hudson, NY), George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (Vancouver, BC) and Spike Island,Reed College (Portland, OR)

Other Projects

*
Alien She
A major exhibition examining the lasting impact of the Riot Grrrl movement on contemporary artists and cultural producers, curated by Suparak and Ceci Moss. *
Whatever It Takes: Steelers Fan Collections, Rituals, and Obsessions
: Suparak and artist Jon Rubin curated the first exhibition that explored sports fan culture, based on the Pittsburgh football team, The Steelers. *
Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with The Yes Men
: This was the first solo exhibition and retrospective of

. * "Some Kind of Loving": This was a curated video compilation produced by Joanie 4 Jackie, a movie distribution project produced by artist

Miranda July Miranda July (born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger; February 15, 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, singer, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art. She w ...

, in 2000.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suparak, Astria American curators American women curators Living people Artists from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women