Graduate Student Talk: Léa Miranda

Join Léa Miranda, a PhD student in the MIT History, Theory + Criticism of Art and Architecture program for a conversation around Performing Conditions: Artistic Labor and Dependency as Form.

In this talk, Léa Miranda will discuss the relationships between property, labor, capital, and artistic production which have long influenced the history of art, through the specific example of photography. She will engage with Sophia Giovannitti's work on contractual structures to explore possible ways in which the commodifying regime of visual experiences can be broken down. In light of this, she will discuss how we—artists, patrons, historians, and viewers—can negotiate, resist, and rethink these power dynamics.

This event is free, but please register through the Eventbrite link in advance.

About the Speaker

Léa Miranda is a doctoral student in the History, Theory + Criticism of Art and Architecture program at MIT. Her research explores the history of photographic archives, examining how the shifting status of photography in the nineteenth century shaped archival practices and preservation, and how these biases continue to influence photographic history and collections today. She has worked as an independent researcher for the French Ministry of Culture and at various cultural institutions in France and the United States. Léa Miranda holds an M.A. in Art History and Law from the Sorbonne. 

Graduate Student Talks

MIT graduate students explore current exhibitions at the List Center through the lens of their own research, background, and interests. Join us for this interdisciplinary lecture series where we dive into how art and research are overlapping on MIT’s campus.