Astria Suparak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Astria Suparak is an American artist, writer, and curator based in Oakland, California, known for her cross-disciplinary projects that address urgent political and cultural issues such as institutionalized racism, feminism, and colonialism through the lens of popular culture. Her work often takes the form of multimedia presentations, exhibitions, and publicly accessible tools and databases that document subcultures and perspectives omitted from mainstream narratives. Suparak’s projects have been exhibited at prominent institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Walker Art Center, and she has curated for the Liverpool Biennial, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, Yale University, Eyebeam, The Kitchen, PS1, and Expo Chicago, as well as unconventional spaces like roller-skating rinks and sports bars.[1]
One of her most notable recent works is “Asian Futures, Without Asians”, a multimedia research project and performance lecture series that critiques the appropriation and misrepresentation of Asian cultures in American science fiction cinema over the last 50 years. This work examines the paradox of Asian-inspired aesthetics being utilized in futuristic narratives devoid of Asian people, highlighting films such as Blade Runner, Star Trek, and the Star Wars franchise. The project has been critically acclaimed and presented at venues including the Museum of Modern Art, the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, and the ICA LA.
Suparak has also explored themes like sports fandom as cultural production in “Whatever It Takes: Steelers Fan Collections, Rituals, and Obsessions”, and feminist punk movements in “Alien She,”[2] a traveling exhibition co-curated with Ceci Moss, which examined the impact of the Riot Grrrl movement. Her work has been featured in publications like Artforum, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times, and she was awarded the 2022 San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Award.
Previously, Suparak served as the director and curator of the Warehouse Gallery (Syracuse University) from 2006 to 2007 and the Pratt Film Series (Pratt Institute) from 1998 to 2000. Suparak was the director of Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, and has taught at the California College of the Arts, and University of San Francisco.[3]
