ATLANTA, GEORGIA.- CAA (the College Art Association) announced that their 93rd annual conference would be held in Atlanta, Georgia, from February 16–19, 2005, at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and Hilton Atlanta hotels. The annual conference, which constitutes the world’s largest meeting for professionals in the visual arts, revolves around a three-day program of major events including: a job fair for scholars and artists, which is the only national event of its kind; a book and trade fair, which is the most comprehensive in the visual arts field; and, a series of special exhibitions, lectures and panel discussions.

The annual CAA conference returns in 2005 with a renewed energy, programs and a commitment to its members and the visual arts community as a whole. Reflecting the most current trends and discourse in art scholarship, and in accordance with CAA’s mission to act as a platform for contemporary thinking, several sessions will be devoted to the interaction of politics and art. Artist and curator Coco Fusco will explore the impact of recent legislation, including the Patriot Act, on the entire arts field in a panel that will gather representatives from the ACLU, PEN American Center, the Association of American University Professors, and others. Other lectures and workshops devoted to the crucial topics of freedom of _expression, the links between geopolitics and art, and the role of artists in politics will make the 2005 annual conference one of the most politically-engaged in recent years.

Another key aspect of this year’s annual conference will be the emphasis on topics relevant to the African-American community and the exploration of the art of the South. Beyond the retrospective exhibition of Romare Bearden’s work, which will be on view at the High Museum, and other events at the Spellman College and Clark Atlanta University, two historically black institutions, several sessions will be held about themes that range from Collecting African and African-American art to Visual Culture in the Struggle for Civil Rights. Furthermore, Lowery Strokes Sims Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, will receive an award from the Committee on Women in the Arts for her outstanding career, her contributions to redefining the canon of modern art, and her seminal work on twentieth-century African, Latino and Asian-American artists.

Career enhancement opportunities will expand in 2005 with a new all-day pre-conference professional development workshop, organized by the New York Foundation for the Arts, held on Tuesday, February 16. Mentoring workshops will help students, emerging artists and scholars, and mid-career professionals to develop professional résumés and portfolios during one-on-one consultations, while CAA’s Online Career Center will return as a tool for job seekers and interviewers to connect electronically as well as face to face.

Special events will start with the opening night celebration, which will take place at the High Museum of Art. Michael Shapiro, Director of the Museum, will host a reception at its famous modernist building designed by Richard Meier. A hardhat tour of the new addition by Renzo Piano to the existing building, which is about to be completed and will open in the Spring of 2005, will be organized during the annual conference. The annual CAA members’ exhibition will take place at The Contemporary, while the annual MFA exhibition, organized by the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art (LDSA) will be held at the Lowe Gallery. This year’s members’ exhibition curated by Helena Reckitt, Director of Exhibitions & Education at The Contemporary is titled What Business Are You In? and will display acclaimed international artists whose work examines the complex relationship that artists experience with corporate and academic worlds. Featured artists include Michael Aurbach, Alex Bag, Matthieu Laurette, Adrian Piper and Carey Young. Among other events will be panels, demonstrations, and talks of interest to artists, as well as the annual Artists’ Interviews, this year with Willie Cole and Lesley Dill, the Arts Exchange, and the New Media Exchange at ARTspace.

One of CAA’s most anticipated events, CAA’s annual Awards for Distinction, will be presented to outstanding artists, teachers, scholars, and critics. The awards will be announced during the opening night at Convocation. Past recipients include Vernon Fisher, Robert Blackburn, Roberta Smith, Peter Halley, Carol Herselle Krinsky among many others.