Tinworks Art: In Conversation brings together artists, writers, scientists, and creative thinkers from various fields to discuss the topics of our time. Monthly from March through June, Tinworks will convene thought leaders from the region and beyond for a pilot series On Food and Farming. The conversations have been developed in consideration of artist Agnes Denes’ new work, Wheatfield—An Inspiration. The seed is in the ground, presented at Tinworks for the 2024 exhibition season, and in collaboration with Mary Stein, a community leader in sustainable food systems endeavors and recently retired program leader of the Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems degree program at Montana State University.

Lauren O’Neill-Butler is a New York-based writer, editor, and educator whose research includes feminism, artistic labor, class politics, and collaborative practices. A cofounder of the nonprofit magazine November and a former Senior Editor of Artforum magazine, she has also contributed to Aperture, Art Journal, Bookforum, and The New York Times. In 2020 O’Neill-Butler received a Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant and in 2023 she received the Beverley Art Writers Travel Grant. She holds graduate degrees in art history and philosophy, and has been a visiting critic at Cooper Union, Stony Brook University, USC, Rutgers, Yale, and the University of Chicago. O’Neill-Butler is currently a part-time faculty member at Hunter College and the New School and has previously taught courses at the School of Visual Arts and RISD. She is the author of Let’s Have a Talk: Conversations with Women on Art and Culture and is currently writing The War of Art about artist-led activism.

Jenny Moore is the inaugural Director of Tinworks Art. From 2013 to 2022, she was Director of the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. Under her Directorship, Chinati completed Robert Irwin’s monumental permanent installation Untitled (dawn to dusk), organized and made public its institutional archive, and completed restoration of the John Chamberlain Building. She has championed the work of female artists, scholars, and professionals, including Charlotte Posenenske, Bridget Riley, and Solange and received a $1.25M grant from #StartSmall to provide professional development opportunities for women, and particularly women of color, in far west Texas and the broader arts community. Moore held curatorial positions at the New Museum (NYC), the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (NYC), Exit Art (NYC) and the 8th Gwangju Biennale (South Korea). She received an M.A. from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, NY, and a B.A., cum laude, in cultural anthropology from Wake Forest University, NC.