Thomas Looser

Synopsis of Research in Shanghai (June 17 - June 28) :

Professor Looser’s reasons for requesting GRI support to be in Shanghai are twofold: In part, he intends to complete a chapter-length work that he was requested to write as a follow-up to an earlier work of his on the “global image.” This has to do with the ways in which digital art and, in some cases, street art circulate and eventually converge within galleries and art museums in global cities. Shanghai is part of this circulation. Several years ago, Professor Looser visited art museums and galleries, and met with artists and scholars there, as part of an NYU-supported global arts exchange group. He has also continued to be in touch with Francesca Dal Lago, who teaches at NYU Shanghai, about the art world in Shanghai. Completing this while in Shanghai, to verify his ideas in person, is the most ideal. Secondly, Professor Looser has long wished to develop an Asian Cities research group, or program, within NYU--  perhaps as a subset of NYU’s developing urban studies initiatives. He have spoken in the past with Lena Scheen (NYU Shanghai) about this, and would like to finally explore the possibilities for this in more concrete detail with other faculty at NYU Shanghai (Lena Scheen, Anna Greenspan, and others—and perhaps linking up with the Port Cities project that Tansen Sen is helping to direct).