Debra Riley Parr M.A., Ph.D., Boston University, May 1994
Administrative Positions, Columbia College Chicago
· Coordinator, Art History Program, Art and Art History Department, 2017-present
· Chair, Fashion Studies Department, Fall 2011-2015
· Associate Dean, School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2010-2011
· Associate Chair, Art + Design Department, Fall 2005-2010
Selected Publications
· “Prosthetic Aura: Thinking about Scent in Fashion,” The Routledge Companion to Fashion Studies, Veronica Manlow (ed.),Routledge, 2022.
· Olfactory Art and the Political in an Age of Resistance, edited with Gwenn-Aël Lynn, Routledge, 2021.
· “Disability and Modern Chemical Sensitivities,” Making Disability Modern: Design Histories, Bess Williamson & Elizabeth Guffey, editors, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.
· “The Smell of Books: Freud’s Gardenia and Other Ephemeral Scents,” Brad Freeman (ed.), The Journal of Artist Books, Spring 2020, 47/48.
· “Ideas Have No Smell: Paul Nougé, Paul Colinet, Louis Scutenaire, Ugly Duckling Presse,” Review in The Journal of Artists Books, Brad Freeman (ed.), Spring 2020, 47/48.
· “In a Cloud, In a Wall, In a Chair: Six Modernists in Mexico at Mid-Century,” Review in The Brooklyn Rail, Winter 2019.
· “Headspace and Indeterminate Ecologies of Scent.” Designing with Smell: Practices, Techniques and Challenges, Victoria Henshaw (ed.), (pp. 259–269). London, UK: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Designing-with-Smell-Practices-Techniques-and-Challenges/Henshaw-McLean-Medway-Perkins-Warnaby/p/book/9781138955547
· “Scent and Affect: An Interview with Artist Brian Goeltzenleuchter,” ODOU Magazine, London, UK, Issue 3, October 2014.
· “Fragrance—Something You Can Take with You: An Interview with D.S. & Durga,” ODOU Magazine, London, UK, Issue 2, May 2014.
· “Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects,” Art Papers, March/April 2013.
· “Indestructible Youth,” Exhibition essay for Kunz, Vis, Gonzales, Chicago, Sept 2010.
· “Illusion, Representation, Abstraction: 25 Observations about Perfume and Scent,” Exhibition essay for Kunz, Vis, Gonzales, Chicago, June 2010.
· “DIY: Patterns of Production.” Merge: Sound, Thought, Image.” Fall 2007.
· “The Cute Factor in Jay Ryan’s Posters, “100 Posters, 134 Squirrels,” Punk Planet Press, 2005.
· “Jay Ryan’s Posters,” Merge: Sound, Thought, Image, Winter, 2005.
· “Thick Design 05,” exhibition essay, Betty Rymer Gallery, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2005.
· “Fledgling Artform: A Brief History of Artists Books,” Fiberarts, Summer, 2005.
· “Altered Books: sidebar,” Fiberarts, Summer, 2005.
· “All Cute Things Must Die,” Merge: Sound, Thought, Image, Spring, 2005.
· “Interior Motives: Artists Exit White Walls to Erect Dry Wall,” Ten by Ten: Space for Visual Culture,” Mar/Apr 2005.
· “Campanas:” book review, Ten by Ten: Space for Visual Culture,” Mar/Apr 2005.
· “The Fake Design of Erich Ginder,” Ten by Ten: Space for Visual Culture, December, 2004
· “Fiona Macdonald’s Art Soap Opera,” Eyeline Magazine, Summer, 2004.
· “Back to School: Crafting Young Consumers,” The Business of Holidays, Maud Lavin, ed., Monacelli Press, 2004.
· “A Quick Turn-On,” Ten by Ten: Space for Visual Culture, Romance Issue, 2004.
· “Afternoon Delight, Chlorine Included,” Ten by Ten: Space for Visual Culture, Romance Issue, 2004.
· “Judy Natal’s Hocus Pocus,” Contact Sheet Light Work Annual, 2003.
· “Modernists 20: Wright Auction Review,” Art and Auction, November, 2003.
· “Defective Forms,” Merge: Sound, Thought, Image, Volume 11, Winter, 2002.
· “Totally Gothic: The Technological Conditions of the American Gothic Look,” Merge: Sound, Thought, Image, Volume 10, Winter, 2002.
· “Simparch’s Sound Art at the Renaissance Society,” New Art Examiner, February, 2001.
· “Transpolyblu,” New Art Examiner, July/ August, 2001.
· “Sounds Like Fun: The Return of the Repressed in Design,” Merge: Sound, Thought, Image, Volume 10, Spring, 2000.
· “Simparch and the Skate Bowl, Free Basin,” New Art Examiner, November, 2000.
· “Michiko Itatani,” Gallery 210 exhibition catalogue essay, 2000.
· “Design Culture Now at the Cooper Hewitt Museum,” New Art Examiner, September, 2000.
· "On View: Saint Louis," New Art Examiner, February, 1997.
· “Sixteen Words: Edgar Heap of Birds & Contemporary Aboriginal Artists,” Art and Asiapacific, May 1996.
· “City Focus: Saint Louis,” Artnews, March 1996.
· Joseph Beuys: Drawings, Objects & Prints. St. Louis: Forum for Contemporary Art, 1994.
· Video Icons and Values. Co-edited with Alan M. Olson and Christopher Parr. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.
· ‘Beyond Lamentation’: Chapter 10 in Video Icons & Values.
· “‘To Strategize and Not Literally Have To Do It’: John Baldessari’s Various (Male) Responses to Nature (Near and Far).” Photofile, 31,1990.
Selected Exhibitions
· Curator, VOLATILE!, an exhibition of scent and poetry, The Poetry Foundation, December 2015-February 2016.
· Parr, D. R., & Freeman, B.). Book = Book, an exhibition, School of the Art Institute Flaxman Library, March 12–30, 2018: http://flaxman.omeka.net/items/show/201
· Parr, D. R., & Santisi, M. Evernia Prunastri Terrain Biennial: Installation in Chicago, IL. 2017, October 1–November 30). https://www.terrainexhibitions.com/2526nridgeway
Selected Conference Papers + Visiting Lectures
· “The Smell of Whiteness,” Panel presentation, Uncommon Senses Conference, Centre for Sensory Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, 2021.
Cripping Modern Design,” Panelist, Environmental Design UC Berkeley, February 8, 2021.
· “Becoming Animal and the Olfactory Unconscious,” Panel Chair & Respondent, College Art Association National Conference, Chicago, February 2020.
· ”Bring Me My Bow: Perfume as Protection,” invited lecture Fashion Department, School of the Art Institute, November 19, 2019.
· “The Politics of Scent,” Respondent paper for Olfactory Art and the Political in an Age of Resistance, College Art Association, Los Angeles, February 2018.
· “Olfactory Art and the Political in an Age of Resistance,” Panel Co-chair with Gwenn-Aël Lynn,College Art Association National Conference, Los Angeles, February 2018.
· “Remembering Franca Sozzani, Vogue Italia Editor,Panelist at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, March 6, 2017.
· “The Beauty of a Social Problem: Critics meet Author,” Cultural Studies Association National Conference, Villanova University, June 4, 2016.
· “The Wildest Sense,” Columbia College Art & Art History Department Brown Bag lecture series, December 2, 2015.
· “Perfume: Fashionable and Everyday Atmospheres,” Invited lecture at the Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum, August 27, 2015.
· “Fashion and the Olfactory Imaginary,” ModaCult Institute Fashion Tales 2015 Conference, Milan, June 2015.
· “Prosthetic Aura: Thinking about Scent in Fashion,” Fashion Thinking: History, Theory, Practice Conference, University of Southern Denmark, October 30, 2014.
· “The Wildest Sense,” Salon presentation, Arts Club of Chicago, October 14, 2014.
· “Headspace and Indeterminate Ecologies of Scent,” Cultural Studies Association National Conference, May 2014.
· “Glitter and Rubble: Chaos to Couture (and Back Again) in Late Capitalist Fashion and Art Industries,” College Art Association Panel, February 2014.
· “Fashion Studies as an Emerging Field of Intellectual Inquiry,” Seminar Director, Cultural Studies Association Conference, May 2013.
· “What is a Discipline For?: Scent as an Emerging Field,” Plenary address, Cultural Studies Association Conference, May 2013.
· “Scent: the Body and Design,” Graduate seminar lecture, SAIC, Fall 2012.
· “Inhale: Scent and the Experience Economy,” Cultural Studies Colloquium, Columbia College, Fall, 2012.
· “With You I’m Everything,” invited lecture Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, March 2011.
· “Social Economies: Enterprise and a New Cultural Geography,” Co-Author, AIGA Educators Conference: New Contexts/New Practices, October 2010.
· "Joy in the Age of Climate Change and Economic Collapse,” DesignInquiry Residency/Workshop, June 2010.
· “The Intersections of Art + Design,” Panel Chair, College Art Association, February 2010.
· “Research: The Next Generation,” Panel facilitator, Claiming Creativity Conference, ELIA, April 2010.
· “Punk and Post-punk Design,” invited lecture Cultural Studies Colloquium, Columbia College, March 2009.
· “Art and Consciousness: Andre Breton’s Nadja: Intersections Lecture Series, Columbia College, Spring 2009.
· “Art + Design: the Impact of Design on Contemporary Art, invited lecture Sotheby’s, New York, November 2009.
· “Pretty Authentic: Youth Culture + Design,” invited lecture School of the Art Institute, Spring, 2006.
· “Skatebowls and Bars: What Happens When Artists Become Designers,” Design Studies Forum Panel: Amateur: The Challenge to Professional Design, Gerry Beegan, chair. College Art Association National Conference, Chicago, 2006. [peer-reviewed]
· “Cute Graphic Design: the Posters of Jay Ryan,” Chicago Art Critics Association Lecture, October 1, 2005.
· “Ecstasy by Design,” invited lecture, Cranbrook Academy, Print Media Department, May 2002.
· “Art + Entertainment: Clement Greenberg’s Nightmare,” invited lecture University of New Mexico, Spring 2001.
· “Hip Hop Design: Speaking through the Commodity,” for panel entitled Visual Culture and Mass Distribution, Maud Lavin, chair, College Art Association National conference, Chicago, 2001.
· “Writing Art,” California Institute of the Arts, invited lecture, September 1999.
· “Tactical Apocalypse,” California Institute of the Arts, invited lecture, February 1999.
· “Intersections of Graphic Design, Popular Culture & Contemporary Art,” Maryland Institute College of Art, April 1998.
· “Graphing the Difference in Contemporary Art & Design, “ East Tennessee State University, April 1998.
· “Folk Art, Popular Culture, and Contemporary Art: When Does Speaking in the Vernacular Suck, or When is it Cool?," University of Missouri, St. Louis, Symposium on Folk Art, Contemporary Art and Popular Culture, April 1998.
· “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Manipulation,” invited lecture at The Computer and Contemporary Art Conference, Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis University, November 1997.
· “Video Art/Video Culture,” Art Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, June 1997.
· “Copying the Jersey Landscape: Deterritorialization & William Carlos Williams' Paterson,” Twentieth Century Literature Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, February 1997.
· “The Landscape and Ideology of Arcadia,” Symposium on Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, Center for the Humanities, University of Missouri, St. Louis, February, 1997.
· “Speeding Backwards to the Apocalypse in a Dada Dance with Death,” American Academy of Religion, November 1996.
· “Desire/Body/Language: Intertextualities in Julia Kristeva’s ‘Stabat Mater’ and Mary Kelly’s Post Partum Document,” American Academy of Religion, November 1993.
· “‘Champagne Shoulders’ & ‘Rocket Legs’: Some Poetic & Visual Fragments of the 20th Century Female Body,” invited lecture, Webster University's Women's Studies Lecture Series, September 1993.
· “Information, Texture, and Text: Toward a Synthesis of Media & Teaching,” invited seminar & workshop, The Center for Teaching Excellence at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, February 1993.
· “The Figure in Contemporary Narrative Art,” invited lecture/discussion at the Atrium Gallery, St. Louis, February 1993.
· “Pertinent Dissimilarities: The Figure,” invited panel respondent for The Figure in Contemporary Art Symposium at Webster University, St. Louis, September 1992.
· “Feminism and Postmodern Visual and Poetic Pleasures,” invited lecture at Massachusetts College of Art, March 1991.
· “Sacredness of the Word, Proscription of the Image: American Ethics of Censorship,” New England American Academy of Religion, March 1991.
· “Power, Sexuality, and Discourse in Henry Miller’s Tropic of Capricorn,” invited lecture at Boston University, February 1990.
· “Disneyland: ‘Religious Reveling in Real America,’” multimedia lecture presented at
§ American Academy of Religion panel on Fantasy, Anaheim, November, 1989.
§ Society of Arts Religion and Culture conference on ‘Mickey myths: Disney's Symbolic Urbanism,’ New York City, May1990.
§ New Langton Arts Center Series on Popular Culture, San Francisco, August 1990.
§ Indiana University of Pennsylvania, February, 1993.
§ Webster University General Studies Lecture Series, September 1993.
· “William S. Burroughs and the Junk of American Culture,” The Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, February 1990.
· ‘Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense,’ 1988. Script for 20-minute video tape(with Robyn McKenzie and Virginia Trioli), Produced by Fiona Macdonald, exhibited at Gertrude Street Artists Space, Melbourne, June 1988, and the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, July-August, 1988.
· “Stormy Weather: Perspective and Research in The Tempest and Ian Wedde’s Symmes Hole,” Presented at Auckland University English Department Faculty and Graduate Student Seminar, Auckland, New Zealand, March 1988.