DISCUSSION WITH CASSIE THORNTON

Join artist Cassie Thornton in a conversation about the value and values of an education in art. In art school we make art and debt, but the debt is invisible and private. What are we really contributing to when we get an MFA? What happens when we look at art as the by-product of debt?

This discussion is part of To Have And To Owe, an ongoing platform for thinking about debt taking place at EFA Project Space through October 27th.

Join artist Cassie Thornton in a conversation about the value and values of an education in art. In art school we make art and debt, but the debt is invisible and private. What are we really contributing to when we get an MFA? What happens when we look at art as the by-product of debt?

This discussion is part of To Have And To Owe, an ongoing platform for thinking about debt taking place at EFA Project Space through October 27th. For a complete list of related events visit

http://www.efanyc.org/to-have-and-to-owe/ and follow @tohaveandtoowe.

Cassandra Thornton may be found standing behind things and smiling. The smile may be misinterpreted as a sign of enthusiasm but it is in actuality a carefully implemented tactic developed to deter attention from her disappointment and skepticism about popular understanding of the limitations presented by reality. This life-long frustration inspired a curiosity about the unknown and a series of projects that question or interact with what seems to be the regulating bodies of reality: institutions. If an institution is a place, rhythm or habit that an individual subject and others can return to, then it creates many types of structures for Thornton to lurk behind. Thornton is adept at the detached observation of how systems resonate in the unconscious of the individual and the collective. She has investigated aspects of the impact of debt through the assignation of physical shape and form, and most recently published interpretations of the manifestations of debt as related by contemporaries at the California College of the Arts. Learn more about her work at: www.cassiethornton.com, www.debt-visualizations.tumblr.com, www.physical-debt.tumblr.com, & www.physical-audit.tumblr.com.