Elia Alba
Sara Reisman
Lecturer
she/her
Contact
Bio
Sara Reisman is a New York City-based curator, educator, and writer whose work focuses on socially engaged art, the history of exhibition making, and the intersections between art and social change. Reisman has held leadership roles including chief curator at the National Academy of Design (2021–2025), executive and artistic director of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation (2014–2021), and Director of New York City’s Percent for Art program (2008–2014). She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, the State University of New York—Purchase College, and the School of Visual Arts. Recent curatorial work includes “The Useful Life of Objects” (Materials for the Arts, NYC), “Rumor de la Tierra” (Q Galería, Quito, Ecuador), “When Thoughts Are Free” (601Artspace, NYC), and “Stephen Antonakos: Vectors of Time and Space” (B&M Theocharakis Foundation, Athens, Greece).
Publications
2026 Interview with James McAnally, founder of the Counterpublic Triennial in St. Louis, published by Hyperallergic, September 2026; “Art as Infrastructure at the Medina Triennial,” review published by Hyperallergic, August 2026; “Vector as Gesture, Postscript as Notation,” curatorial essay for Stephen Antonakos: Vectors of Time and Space, edited by Stelios Vassilakis, book published by the B.&.M. Theocharakis Foundation, Athens; “When Thoughts Are Free,” curatorial essay for exhibition brochure, 601Artspace, NYC; “The Useful Life of Objects,” exhibition essay written with co-curator Kendal Henry, Materials for the Arts, NYC
2025 “Culture not style,” interview with Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds for BOMB Magazine; “The Essence of the Word,” contribution to The Glass Mosque, edited by Yasmeen Siddiqui, published by Minerva Projects; “Atmospheric Incursions,” contribution to Vahap Avşar: 2011-2024, edited by Lexy Funk, published by ESPAS; "Memorializing Stories," interview with Dor Guez for BOMB Magazine
2024 "The Means to Move Freely," brochure essay for Past as Prologue: A Historical Acknowledgment Part II, National Academy of Design, NYC; "The Storm We Call Progress," brochure essay for Past as Prologue: A Historical Acknowledgment Part I, National Academy of Design, NYC; “Holding the Future,” brochure essay for Sites of Impermanence, National Academy of Design, NYC; “Academy Style,” catalogue essay for 191st Annual: Academy Style, National Academy of Design / KOPA Books
2023 “Drawing a Line,” brochure essay for Drawing as Practice, National Academy of Design, NYC; “Double Consciousness: A Conversation with National Academician Nari Ward,” National Academy of Design, NYC
2022 “Naming Opportunity” essay for Contemporary / Unconscious, for artist Ana Hoffner’s monograph, organized by Kunsthalle Wien, published by Sternberg Press; “Proto Sensory: Brianna Bass and Ivelisse Jimenez” catalogue essay for Image Schema exhibition at LatchKey Gallery, NYC “Some stories never end,” essay for Surface Tension: Maria Rapicavoli, monograph, Mousse, Milan
2021 “On the Abolishment of Borders,” An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art, author and co-editor, Hirmer Verlag, Munich, Germany and The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, NYC; “Portfolio - Jane Benson: Sculptural works that investigate nature, color, and sound,” BOMB Magazine; “Do It Yourself: an introduction to the cardboard slave kits,” exhibition essay (brochure) for Roberto Visani’s solo exhibition at Geary Contemporary, NYC
2020 “Perspectives: Open Access,” op-ed for ARTnews on disability justice, December 2020.
Exhibitions
Stephen Antonakos: Vectors of Time and Space, B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation, Athens, Greece, March 18–July 31, 2026; When Thoughts Are Free, 601Artspace, New York, NY, March 7–May 17, 2026; The Useful Life of Objects, Materials for the Arts, Long Island City, NY, January 15–March 12, 2026; Rumor de la Tierra: Ecuador | Jamaica | China, Q Galeria, National University, Quito, Ecuador, January 21–February 11, 2026; Past as Prologue: A Historical Acknowledgment, Part I (Landscape and Territory) and Part II (Identity), National Academy of Design, New York, NY, October 17, 2024–April 26, 2025; Sites of Impermanence, National Academy of Design, New York, NY, February 8–May 11, 2024; Mladen Miljanovic: Holiday of Discomfort, Gallery MC, New York, NY, May 20–June 1, 2024; Drawing as Practice, National Academy of Design, New York, NY, September 14–December 16, 2023; Two Grains of Wheat, 601Artspace, New York, NY, April 21–June 30, 2023