FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 22, 2019
WCMA Summer Break Series ‘Ologies’ Continues With ‘Fortunology’

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) will continue its popular summer series, “Ologies,” on Thursday, July 25.

“Ologies” is a playful riff on the academic experience in which artists take on unexpected fields of study in a series of hour-long interventions. This summer, because WCMA’s main galleries in Lawrence Hall are closed for renovations, programs will be held in locations across the Williams College campus and will be followed by receptions at WCMA Summer Space, located at 76 Spring St. Both the programs and receptions are free and open to the public.

The July 25 program will focus on “Fortunology.” Artist Paul Ramírez Jonas will give a participatory talk on prediction, futurology, gambling and value in Griffin Hall at 844 Main St.

Ramírez Jonas was born in Pomona, Calif., in 1965 and raised in Honduras. Educated at Brown University (BA, 1987) and Rhode Island School of Design (MFA,1989), he currently lives and works in Brooklyn. Over the last twenty-five years, he has created works that range from large-scale public installations and monumental sculptures to intimate drawings, performances and videos. Through his practice, he seeks to challenge the definitions of art and the public and to engineer active audience participation and exchange.

He is currently an associate professor at Hunter College, where he has been since 2007, and is represented by Galeria Nara Roesler in Sao Paulo.

The program begins at 5:30 p.m. in Griffin Hall, located on Main Street directly across from the permanent museum building. Visitors can park in the museum driveway, behind Griffin, on Spring Street or in the municipal parking lot at the foot of Spring Street and head right to Griffin, or join a group that will walk from Summer Space to Griffin at 5:10 p.m. Maps of building and parking locations can be found online at wcma.williams.edu.

After the program, visitors are invited to sip, snack and socialize at a reception at 6:30 p.m. at WCMA Summer Space.

“Ologies” will run weekly through Aug. 15. Future topics sonology (the study of sound) and eschatology (the study of the end of the world). For up-to-date information and maps, visit wcma.williams.edu.

The main WCMA galleries in Lawrence Hall will reopen Friday, Sept. 6, with an exciting lineup featuring Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A., a critically acclaimed exhibition co-curated by Williams College professor C. Ondine Chavoya.