On June 17, the New York Arts Practicum met with artist Pablo Helguera, at his studio in the Elizabeth Foundation of The Arts. Helguera, who is also an educator at the Museum of Modern Art, interstices his trans-disciplinary practice with his interest in pedagogy. During the Practicum’s visit, the artist shared a keynote presentation on his work and recent projects. These included: The Dead Languages Conservatory (2004–present) —where Helguera travels, finds, records, and presents languages that are currently dying. Further, the artist presented video documentation of Lyra Kilston–This is Not a Panel Discussion (2009), a subversive performance that occurred at the Kansas City Art Museum. Helguera, camouflaged as a fictional artist (Lyra Kilston), generated both artworks for exhibition, and a panel discussion on Kilston —the discussion eventually broke down into an argument between actors; posing as curators, gallerists, lovers, and historians.
From sculpture to installation, drawing, photography and lecturing, Helguera presented a variety of works, meant to engage the Practicum on a dialogue surrounding current practices of the participants. During this time, the artist continued to share his interests in the merging of language, history and artistic production.