Out in May is this labor of love collecting the letters Eduardo Costa and Scott Burton sent between NYC, Buenos Aires, & Rio in the 70s. Patrick Greaney & I have been working closely with Eduardo on this beautiful book about art life, queer life, and daily life. asterismbooks.com/product/magi...
05.03.2026 21:01
π 2
π 1
π¬ 0
π 0
Lecture alert! Wed. Feb 25th, I'll be giving a talk I've been working on for many months: "The Magic Hype: Andy Warhol and Trans Visibility in the 1970s" at the Dia Foundation in Chelsea. In coordination, Dia will have three days of screenings of Warhol films.
diaart.org/program/cale...
25.01.2026 22:57
π 17
π 5
π¬ 1
π 0
Fri 1/23/26 NYC: at the "Locating Downtown" conference (NYU+Whitney). I'll be talking about Stephen Varble's "Costume Tours of New York," returning to this research for my new book project on the queer street in 1970s performance. Registration required but free.
nyu.manifoldapp.org/projects/loc...
13.01.2026 12:44
π 9
π 2
π¬ 0
π 0
Lecture: David J. Getsy | Illegitimate Heirs: Queer Artistsβ Claims on the Modernist Canon | mumok
Later this month, I'll be in Vienna to give a few talks, including this one at MUMOK on the 29th of January, a research seminar for the University of Vienna, and a symposium for the Ludwig Foundation exhibition (event hosted by MUMOK).
www.mumok.at/en/calendar/...
www.mumok.at/en/calendar/...
08.01.2026 16:59
π 2
π 1
π¬ 0
π 0
Five Oberlin Alumni Earn 2025 Guggenheim Fellowships | Oberlin College and Conservatory
Five Oberlin alumni have been awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships.
Yay Oberlin! That place made me who I am, and I'm particularly honored to be alongside my fellow art history classmate (and Patricia Mathews mentee!) Libby Otto!
www.oberlin.edu/news/five-ob...
26.04.2025 03:12
π 6
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
I canβt tell you how much it means to me to be named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow! Thank you all #guggfellows2025
www.gf.org/stories/anno...
16.04.2025 13:49
π 6
π 0
π¬ 2
π 0
David Getsy: Unnatural RelationsβQueer Abstraction and the Intercourse of Forms in Contemporary Art
YouTube video by Power Institute
Recording of Dec 2024 talk at the MCA Australia on 3 artists Iβve been thinking about for a long time re: #queerabstraction: Harmony Hammond, Lula Mae Blocton, & Felix Gonzalez-Torres. They've featured in my surveys before, but here I go into depth on key works. Plus some Australian examples!
28.01.2025 18:23
π 3
π 0
π¬ 1
π 1
David J. Getsy and Tom Burr on Scott Burton
RSVP This conversation highlights convergences and differences in queer understandings of artist Scott Burtonβs (1939β1989) writing, performance, and sculpture from the late 1960s through the late ...
Next month, on Feb 27, I will be with the fabulous TOM BURR at SculptureCenter in NYC, where we will have a public conversation about cruising as method, Scott Burton, Γlvaro Urbano's exhibition, and of course Tom's beautiful and sharp work.
www.sculpture-center.org/events/14266...
24.01.2025 15:51
π 8
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
Scott Burtonβs Civic Engagement and Eroticism Merge at the Pulitzer
Paradigm-shifter for public art in the β80s, groundbreaking (and openly queer) performance artist in the β70s, Burton showed new ways of connecting.
Good @nytimes.com review of #scottburton exh, but it misquotes my claim that the "sculptures perform as furniture." (inverted in the review) There is a difference. Maybe this just matters to me, but it's key to the works' complexity and their roots in queer experience
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/a...
09.01.2025 14:39
π 5
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
Unnatural relations: Queer abstraction and the intercourse of forms in contemporary art | The Power Institute
December 13th in Sydney, I'll be giving a talk for the Power Institute and the MCA Australia. With Julie Mehretu exhibition on view, I'll be revisiting some of my work on queer abstraction (but with a focus on artists like Lula Mae Blocton and Harmony Hammond)
powerinstitute.org.au/events/unnat...
15.11.2024 16:03
π 5
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
Dr. David J. Getsy Lecture on Scott Burton
The Pulitzer welcomes Dr. David J. Getsy for a public lecture on Scott Burtonβs Public Sculpture and the Knowledge of AIDS. Known for his sculptures and groundbreaking performance art, Scott Burtonβs ...
If you are in St. Louis next week (on 11/20), I'll be giving a talk at the Pulitzer Foundation in relation to the exhibition "Scott Burton: Shape Shift." My focus will be on how Burton's sculptures thematized key experiences of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. pulitzerarts.org/events/david...
12.11.2024 19:15
π 5
π 0
π¬ 0
π 2
Scott Burton Left His Legacy to MoMA. Todayβs Heβs Almost Forgotten.
Scott Burton, one of Americaβs leading sculptors, entrusted his estate to the museum in 1989, when he was sick with AIDS, to ensure his place in art history. It turned out to be a bad idea.
I've always wanted to be part of a band... "Decades later, an unlikely band of curators, scholars, and artists β many of whom never knew Burton personally β have become so invested in him that they are refusing to let his work fade into obscurity." #scottburton
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/a...
29.10.2024 18:08
π 5
π 1
π¬ 0
π 0
Double entendre β Centre Clark
Defiantly, public sex breaks norms and laws, offering to its participants an encounter with desire and connection. It is a queer activity, oneβ¦
On 6/13, I'll be in MontrΓ©al for a public dialogue with ThΓ©o Bignon about his fantastic exhibition at the Centre CLARK, featuring meticulously embroidered memory-images of queer connections, cruising sites, and the residue of the possibility of others. centreclark.com/en/exhibitio...
30.05.2024 16:44
π 0
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
NYC Friday 12/15, 7pm, at Artists Space NYC I'll be giving a talk in recognition of the Dedalus Foundation's Robert Motherwell Book Award for 'Queer Behavior: Scott Burton and Performance Art' (Chicago, 2022). Free and open to public.
artistsspace.org/programs/lec...
12.12.2023 16:40
π 1
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
art.as.virginia.edu/mapping-art-...
On Mon, 12/4, I'll be doing a public interview of the always charming and ever insightful Steven Nelson at the Lindner Center for Art History at UVA. (regionals: it's worth the trip!) We'll be talking about what motivates writingβand the field.
28.11.2023 01:07
π 1
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
In recognition of the Robert Motherwell Book Award for my "Queer Behavior: Scott Burton and Performance Art," I'll be giving a lecture at Artists Space in NYC on December 15th at 7pm. Sponsored by Dedalus Foundation.
15.11.2023 18:01
π 1
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0
'll be giving a talk at Stanford on Thursday 11/17 if you're in the San Francisco area and so inclined... art.stanford.edu/events/weint...
15.11.2023 03:45
π 3
π 0
π¬ 0
π 0