Join us for a Discussion on Propaganda co-presented by Smack Mellon and Hyperallergic!

What differentiates propaganda from art? This conversation will probe historic propaganda imagery, its connection to today, and the role it plays in raising social consciousness and awareness for issues often overlooked by governments, institutions, and society. Moderated by Hyperallergic’s editor-in-chief and cofounder, Hrag Vartanian, the conversation will feature Miriam M. Basilio, associate professor of art history and museum studies at NYU; artist Daniel Bejar, who is included in Smack Mellon’s current exhibition, Of the People; and artist Sue Schaffner, part of public-art duo DYKE ACTION MACHINE! (DAM!).

This talk is part of the public programming for Of the people, on view at Smack Mellon through July 31. See full details here: http://hyperallergic.com/311235/hyperallergic-and-smack-mellon-present-art-and-propaganda-on-july-27-7pm/

Miriam M. Basilio is the Associate Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at NYU who specializes in Spanish Civil War-era propaganda, and she wrote ‘Visual Propaganda, Exhibitions, and the Spanish Civil War.’

Daniel Bejar is an interdisciplinary artist living in Brooklyn. He is currently a 2015 fellow in Interdisciplinary Work from the New York Foundation for the Arts, while also participating in the Abrons AIRspace residency program and The Drawing Center’s Open Sessions program.

Sue Schaffner is a New York City–based photographer and part of the public-art duo DYKE ACTION MACHINE! (DAM!), which she founded with painter Carrie Moyer in 1991. DAM! has participated in over 40 exhibitions throughout the US and Europe. Two DAM! projects, “Lesbian Americans: Don’t Sell Out” and “Do You Love The Dyke In Your Life?,” are included in Agitprop! currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Schaffner’s photography work has been widely published under the alias GIRL RAY and has appeared in Fortune, Entertainment Weekly, People, Esquire, Wired, and Glamour, among others. She was one of the first recipients of the Creative Capital Foundation grant and regularly serves as an artist consultant in their professional development workshops.

Hrag Vartanian is the editor-in-chief and cofounder of Hyperallergic. He has lectured about contemporary art, performance, postcolonialism, politics, and visual culture at art museums and colleges across the country.