As I’ve been adapting to new parenthood and life as a freelancer it’s been really fulfilling to be able to work mostly in my neighborhood, which happens to be in close proximity to the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). It has been a decade since I curated Organize Your Own in the Kelly Writers House at Penn, and so it has been something of a return that this last academic year I’ve had the pleasure of a few different affiliations in and around Penn, including being a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Experimental Ethnography which involved teaching a new course “Grassroots Archiving & Curating Engagement”, and a Curator in Residence at Penn Press where I’m developing the book “Catalysts: A Timeline of Philadelphia’s Visual Art History” and Public Trust where I co-organized the Curating Engagement Retreat and co-edited the accompanying book with Abby Satinsky (of Wagner Foundation) and Aaron Levy (of Public Trust).
Alongside these overarching affiliations have been a number of projects over the last year that I wanted to share with you all. Those have included:
Curatorial
- Continuing with the Eco Social Series as an irregular gathering and preparing for a new multi-site exhibition called Eco-Social Realism opening in the Fall with Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery at Haverford College, Rowan University Museum of Contemporary Art, Street Road Artist Space, TILT Institute, Big Ramp and RAIR.
- Facilitating a curatorial committee for Mural Arts Philadelphia over the last 9 months.
- Preparing to chair my final Arts in Society conference in Athens this summer with James Bridle and Georgia Kotretsos and many others.
- Serving on Eastern State Penitentiary’s advisory committee for their new Revision Residency focused on supporting justice-impacted artists;
- Organizing “Crafting Kin” a lecture series with Paloma Checa-Gismero through the Engaged Humanities Studio at Swarthmore College which engaged current students as well as featured these speakers: Courtney Bowles and Mark Strandquist of People’s Paper Co-Op, Adela Goldbard, Tania Leon Lucas, Yvonne Lung, James McAnally, Jose Ortiz Pagan, Jackson Polys of New Red Order, Christopher Rogers, and Caroline Woolard.
- And co-organizing the Curating Engagement Retreat with Wagner Foundation and Public Trust.
Writing/Editing Projects
- Releasing the book “Beyond Glass Cases” with the Library Company through Common Ground Press (2025)
- Co-authored a contribution with Christa-Maria Lerm-Hayes (University of Amsterdam) for Art-based (un)learning (Valiz) Co-editors: Jeroen Lutters, Fabiola Camuti, Rahul K. Gairola – to be released in Summer 2026
- Continuing to release regular One Question Exhibitions through email newsletters with KADIST which has featured Ozge Ersoy, Jemma Desai, Denise Ryner, Marianna Dobkowska, David Ayala-Alfonso, Fereshteh Toosi, Nina Barnett, Amanda Gutierrez, Katarina Sevic, Hyejung Jang and Keg de Souza.
- Contributed writing to catalogs being released soon on the work of People’s Paper Co-op;
- And co-editing the Curating Engagement book with Wagner Foundation and Public Trust which was released in Chicago a few weeks back at ICI’s Curatorial Forum and will have a release in Philadelphia on May 14 at Public Trust.
Speaking/Press
- Earlier this year I went to the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture at UMBC for a “Social Strategies” panel about archiving and socially-engaged art alongside Chloë Bass, Jen de los Reyes, Pablo Helguera, Abigail Satinsky, and Dan S. Wang with Stephanie Smith, Rebecca Uchill and by Beth Saunders as introducers and moderators.
- ICI Curatorial Forum “Act Local” panel alongside Katie Pfohl and Ross Stanton Jordan;
- Newcity did an interview with the ICI leadership about the Curatorial Forum where they preview our panel and book release.
- In the fall I facilitated a discussion at Brandywine Museum of Art about the work of Jerrell Gibbs;
- Last month I spoke at Northwestern University for a reflection on the Eco Social Series as part of the Art, Community and Environment workshop organized by Rebecca Zorach, Hollyamber Kennedy, and Greg Ruffing.
- I enjoyed being interviewed by Portland State University MFA student Simeen Anjum for their Social Forums of Art Journal
- Hyperallergic released an excerpt by Ryan N. Dennis from our book Curating Engagement last month!
Certainly this has been a busy year doing lots of collaborations and re-learning how to be a freelancer after a decade in higher ed, but has been a real joy and allowed me to be deeply engaged with my son’s first years.
Please keep me posted on your goings on and keep in touch!
Sending my best,
Daniel
Daniel Tucker 