Faculty Fellow
Professor, Department of Art & Public Policy, Tisch
Artist as Historical Recorder
Karen Finley is an artist, performer, and author. She is an interdisciplinary artist working in performance, text, sound, music, poetics, film and video, installation, public and social practice art. Born in Chicago, she received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her raw and transgressive performances have brought debate, censorship and controversy. Finley was the named plaintiff for the Supreme Court case Finley v. NEA that challenged the decency provision in government grants to artists through the National Endowment for the Arts. Her performances and visual art have been presented internationally at such venues as the Barbican in London, Lincoln Center, MoMA, and the Bobino in Paris, amongst others. Finley is interested in freedom of expression concerns, social justice, gender and sexuality, visual culture, art education, metaphysics. She lectures and gives workshops widely. Finley is the author of nine books, including her latest, Grabbing Pussy (OR Books, 2018), the 25th anniversary edition of Shock Treatment (City Lights, 2015), and The Reality Shows (Feminist Press, 2010). A recipient of many awards and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, she is an arts professor in Art and Public Policy at New York University. Follow her on Instagram @the_yam_mam