Wilderson performing with Penelope Hearne as part of “We Become Each Other’s Unmakers” in the C33 Gallery.

Julynn Wilderson, first year Media MFA student, received the Rosenblum Award to present a paper at the “Singulier/Pluriel: Collectivity, Community, and Engagement” conference at Concordia University in Montréal in early March. The theme of this year’s conference, hosted by the Art History Graduate Student Association, drew its theme from Jean-Luc Nancy’s “Being Singular Plural,” which explores the dichotomous social reality of being one and being many from the perspective of social practice, community engagement, and collectivity for artists and arts institutions.

Wilderson’s paper, “To Become Our Own Unmakers: Growth through Destruction and Community through Conflict,” focused on the “Unmakers” gallery at the C33 Gallery at Columbia College Chicago. Drawing from democratic theory and agonistic politics, her paper explores the politics of creating within the framework of “becoming each others unmakers,” asking about the theoretical and practical stakes of relinquishing authoritative practices associated with creation for and curation of gallery spaces such as authority, ownership, and singularity.