David Brooks with Dr. Julie Reiss

Artist David Brooks’ work considers the relationship between the individual and the built environment, considering how cultural concerns cannot be divorced from the natural world while questioning the terms under which nature is perceived and utilized. He has exhibited at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT; the Dallas Contemporary; Tang Museum, NY; Nouveau Musée National de Monaco; Sculpture Center, NYC; The Visual Arts Center, Austin; Nevada Museum of Art; and MoMA/PS1, among others. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards and grants including the Rome Prize, grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Coypu Foundation, and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Born in Brazil, Indiana, he currently lives and works between New York City and New Orleans.

Julie Reiss is an independent art historian and critic with a focus on contemporary art that addresses the climate crisis and the role artists play in social change. She is the editor of Art, Theory and Practice in the Anthropocene. She is also the author of From Margin to Center: The Spaces of Installation Art. Julie teaches courses on Art and Sustainability at Columbia University where she is also a Visiting Critic to the MFA department. She is Consulting Editor to the Harpo Foundation, working on an anthology of essays about its founder, artist and arts advocate Ed Levine.