- WhenUpcoming
- Tues., Oct. 20, 2026, 5:30–7 p.m.
- Where
-
- CMU College of Fine Arts
- Kresge Theatre
- Tickets
- Free
Co-presented by Carnegie Museum of Art and the CMU School of Art
Join us for an evening with artist RJ Messineo as they share an in-depth look at their practice and the works featured in If the word we, 59th Carnegie International. This lecture is free and open to the public.
About the Artist
RJ Messineo (born 1980, Hartford, CT; lives in Greenfield, MA) makes paintings involving observation and abstraction. In the last six years, Messineo has developed an idiosyncratic device for making paintings that involves attaching thin wooden boards to the surfaces of their canvases with magnets. Messineo received an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles (2009) and a BFA from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2002). They have participated in exhibitions at Pace Gallery, New York; James Cohan Gallery, New York; Thomas Erben Gallery, New York; Ceysson & Bénétière, Koerich, Luxembourg; Night Gallery, Los Angeles; Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles; Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles; and REDCAT, Los Angeles. Messineo is a Shandaken: Paint School Fellow and completed the Fire Island Artist Residency in 2014. Their work is held in the permanent collection of the Dallas Museum of Art.
Finding Kresge Theatre
Kresge Theatre is located in the College of Fine Arts building on the south end of CMU’s campus (near the Hunt Library). To find the theatre, enter the College of Fine Arts building from the west (main) entrance closest to the College of Fine Arts Lawn. Street parking is available along Frew and Tech streets or in CMU’s East Campus Garage.
About If the word we, 59th Carnegie International
Organized every four years by Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie International is the longest-running exhibition of international art in North America. The 59th edition is the most collaborative and far-reaching to date — a clear expression of the museum’s founding commitment to the art and artists of our time, at once grounded in our locality and extending globally.
Titled If the word we, the 59th Carnegie International considers the first-person plural as an open and evolving proposition — one shaped by listening, translation, and transformation — bringing together artistic practices that engage shared experience, circulation, and worlds in transition. Drawing from a commissioned catalogue essay by writer Haytham el-Wardany, the exhibition approaches “we” not as a unified subject but as a complex and porous position, attentive to contradiction and change. Across a wide range of media, from painting, photography, and sculpture, to installation, video, performance, and theater, participating artists traverse cultural, political, intellectual, and spiritual geographies that extend beyond national boundaries. The projects emerge through everyday acts, materials, and environments, offering spatially expansive portraits of collective life in the present.
About the Visiting Artist Lecture Series
The Carnegie Mellon School of Art Lecture Series is made possible in part by Elizabeth (Thompson) and Thomas M. Cox (A’29) Distinguished Artists Funds, Robert L. Lepper Distinguished Lecture in Creative Inquiry, and Orville M. Winsand Lecture for Critical Studies.
Carnegie Mellon makes every effort to provide accessible facilities and programs for individuals with disabilities. This publication can be made available in an alternate format upon request. For accommodations, contact the School of Art at schoolofart@cmu.edu or 412.268.2409. Lecture and event details are subject to change or cancellation.
Part of → Carnegie Mellon University School of Art Visiting Artist Lecture Series
The School of Art’s Visiting Artist Lecture Series brings highly acclaimed international artists, writers, and critics to the school throughout the year. Each lecture is free and open to the public.