# Legacy Russell

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Legacy_Russell
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Legacy_Russell.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_Russell
> Source revision: 1349725442
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|American curator and writer}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Legacy Russell
| image              = 
| alt                = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption            = 
| birth_date         = <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per [WP:DOB](/source/WP%3ADOB). For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. -->
| birth_place        = New York City
| alma_mater         = [Macalester College](/source/Macalester_College) {{small|([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts))}}<ref name="2021 Artforum Kitchen">{{cite web |title=Legacy Russell named Executive Director of the Kitchen |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/legacy-russell-named-executive-director-of-the-kitchen-86075 |website=Artforum |access-date=22 August 2021 |date=8 June 2021}}</ref><br />[Goldsmiths, University of London](/source/Goldsmiths%2C_University_of_London) {{small|([MRes](/source/Master_of_Research))}}<ref name="2019 Thoma Foundation">{{cite web |title=Legacy Russell, Emerging Digital Arts Writer |url=https://grants.thomafoundation.org/previous-recipients/legacy-russel-emerging-writer/ |website=Thoma Foundation |access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref>
| occupation         = Executive director and chief curator<ref name="2021 NYT Kitchen">{{cite web |last1=Mitter |first1=Siddhartha |title=Legacy Russell Is Named Next Leader of the Kitchen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/08/arts/design/legacy-russell-the-kitchen-executive-director.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=22 August 2021 |date=8 June 2021}}</ref>
| employer           = 
| organization       = [The Kitchen](/source/The_Kitchen_(performance_venue))<ref name="2021 Artnet Kitchen">{{cite web |last1=Goldstein |first1=Caroline |title=Rising Star Curator Legacy Russell Has Been Named Director of the Kitchen, New York's Influential Performance Art Space |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/legacy-russell-the-kitchen-1977835 |website=Artnet News |access-date=22 August 2021 |date=8 June 2021}}</ref>
| years_active       = 
| notable_works      = ''Glitch Feminism''<ref name="2020 NYT Best Art Books">{{cite web |title=Best Art Books of 2020 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/arts/design/best-art-books-2020.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=22 August 2021 |date=26 November 2020}}</ref>
| predecessor        = 
| website            = {{URL|legacyrussell.com}}
}}

'''Legacy Russell''' is an American curator, writer, and author of ''Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto'', published by [Verso Books](/source/Verso_Books) in 2020<ref name="2020 NYT Best Art Books" />, ''Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us'', also with Verso Books in 2024<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-15 |title=How the Black Meme Turns a Trope Into a Trap |url=https://hyperallergic.com/legacy-russell-how-the-black-meme-turns-a-trope-into-a-trap/ |access-date=2026-04-18 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en}}</ref>, and ''Gay Pompeii'' with [GenderFail](/source/GenderFail) and the Pompeii Commitment<ref>{{Cite web |title=Legacy Russell, with GenderFail. Gay Pompeii 79 A.D. |url=https://pompeiicommitment.org/en/commitment/legacy-russell/ |access-date=2026-04-18 |website=Pompeii Commitment |language=en-US}}</ref> in 2025. In 2021, the performance and experimental art institution [The Kitchen](/source/The_Kitchen_(performance_venue)) announced Russell as the organization's next executive director and chief curator. From 2018 to 2021, she was the associate curator of exhibitions at the [Studio Museum in Harlem](/source/Studio_Museum_in_Harlem).

== Early life and education ==
Russell was born in New York City and grew up in the [East Village](/source/East_Village%2C_Manhattan). She is the daughter of Harlem-born photographer and technologist Ernest Russell and Kamala Mottl, a community gerontologist. She is the great-granddaughter of Nolle Smith, Black cowboy, engineer, and Hawaii statesman.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gugliotta|first=Bobette|date=1971|title=Nolle Smith: Cowboy, Engineer, Statesman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5mzxAAAAMAAJ|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|publisher=Dodd, Mead |isbn=9780396063902 }}</ref> She attended [Friends Seminary](/source/Friends_Seminary), a Quaker school in Manhattan.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2019-01-25|title=Legacy Russell on Glitch Feminism, Curating and the Upside of Growing Up in New York|url=https://www.culturedmag.com/legacy-russell-studio-museum/|access-date=2020-06-17|website=Cultured Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref> Russell holds a dual-major [BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) from [Macalester College](/source/Macalester_College) in Studio Art and Art History and English & Creative Writing,<ref name="2019 Thoma Foundation" /> as well as an [MRes](/source/Master_of_Research) in Art History and Visual Culture with distinction from [Goldsmiths, University of London](/source/Goldsmiths%2C_University_of_London).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> Her graduate dissertation focused on the notion of "re-performing reality" and shared research on artists such as [Devin Kenny](/source/Devin_Kenny), [Ann Hirsch](/source/Ann_Hirsch), [Awol Erizku](/source/Awol_Erizku).<ref>{{Cite web|date=|title=Prayer? Or Practice? Social Shrines and the Ritualized Performance of Reality in Contemporary Art|url=https://www.academia.edu/31094638|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Academia.edu|last1=Russell|first1=Legacy}}</ref>

==Career==
Russell worked at the online platform [Artsy](/source/Artsy_(website)), expanding the company's gallery relations across Europe.<ref name=":5" /> She has worked at The [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), [The Whitney Museum of Art](/source/Whitney_Museum), [the Brooklyn Museum](/source/Brooklyn_Museum), and [CREATIVE TIME.](/source/Creative_Time)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Valentine |first=Victoria L. |date=2021-06-25 |title=Legacy Russell Appointed Executive Director and Chief Curator at The Kitchen, an Experimental Interdisciplinary Art Space in New York |url=https://www.culturetype.com/2021/06/25/legacy-russell-appointed-executive-director-and-chief-curator-at-the-kitchen-an-experimental-interdiscipinary-art-space-in-new-york/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Culture Type |language=en-US}}</ref> She is a contributing editor at [BOMB Magazine](/source/BOMB_Magazine).<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Armstrong|first=Annie|date=2018-08-09|title=Studio Museum in Harlem Names Legacy Russell Associate Curator|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/studio-museum-harlem-names-legacy-russell-associate-curator-10791/|access-date=2020-06-17|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Writing ===
Russell writes about art, gender, race, and technology, particularly as they intersect with histories of [cyberculture](/source/Internet_culture). In 2012, Russell coined the term "Glitch Feminism",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=Ben |title='I Say Tear It All Down': Curator Legacy Russell on How 'Glitch Feminism' Can Be a Tool to Radically Reimagine the World |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/legacy-russell-glitch-feminism-a-manifesto-1910221 |website=Artnet |access-date=22 August 2021 |date=28 September 2020}}</ref> which Russell says "embod[ies] error as a disruption to gender binary, as a resistance to the normative".<ref name="Frieze Interview">{{Cite web|last=Lavender|first=Pandora|title=7 Questions: Legacy Russell|url=https://frieze.com/article/7-questions-legacy-russell|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Frieze|date=15 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

In 2019, The [Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation](/source/Carl_%26_Marilynn_Thoma_Art_Foundation) awarded Russell the Arts Writing Award in Digital Arts, which offers awardees a spot in the Rauschenberg Residency fellowship.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Legacy Russell wins 2019 Arts Writing Award in Digital Arts|url=https://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/legacy-russell-wins-2019-arts-writing-award-in-digital-arts/|access-date=2020-06-17|website=Contemporary And|language=de}}</ref>

Her first book, ''Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto'', was published in September 2020 by [Verso Books](/source/Verso_Books).<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Frieze Interview" /> A Forbes review stated, "''Glitch Feminism'' is a rallying cry, a recapturing of cyberfeminism oriented to include and spotlight the many queer and non-white voices who in their practice live out the awesome potential of an enmeshed digital feminism: the glitch."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Damiani|first=Jesse|title=On Embodying The Ecstatic And Catastrophic Error Of Glitch Feminism: Book Review|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessedamiani/2020/10/15/on-embodying-the-ecstatic-and-catastrophic-error-of-glitch-feminism-book-review/|access-date=2021-01-11|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref> The ''New York Times'' stated the book is "Grounded in theory... but a fast, percussive read".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Roberta |last2=Cotter |first2=Holland |last3=Farago |first3=Jason |last4=Mitter |first4=Siddhartha |title=Best Art Books of 2020 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/arts/design/best-art-books-2020.html |access-date=1 August 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=26 November 2020}}</ref>

In May 2024, Russell published her second book, ''Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us'', with Verso Books.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Legacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWr7EAAAQBAJ |title=Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us |date=2024-05-07 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-83976-282-6 |language=en}}</ref> According to Russell's website, ''Black Meme'', "explores the impact of Blackness, Black life, and Black social death on contemporary conceptions of virality borne in the age of the Internet".<ref>{{cite web |title=Black Meme |url=https://www.legacyrussell.com/BLACK-MEME |website=legacyrussell.com |access-date=1 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref> ''Black Meme'' was awarded a [Creative Capital](/source/Creative_Capital) Award in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Black Meme|url=https://creative-capital.org/projects/black-meme/|access-date=2021-01-10|website=Creative Capital|language=en}}</ref>

=== Curation and academic research ===
Russell's curatorial and academic work focuses on queer histories, blackness in visual culture, Internet culture, feminism, and new media. As a curator she has done work around her originating concept of Glitch Feminism. Russell has curated exhibitions and projects at the [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art),<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-11-02|title=Answering the Colonizers of Modernism|url=https://hyperallergic.com/526153/projects-110-michael-armitage-at-the-museum-of-modern-art/|access-date=2020-06-17|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US}}</ref> [MoMA PS1](/source/MoMA_PS1),<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-12-10|title=Best of 2019: Our Top NYC Art Shows|url=https://hyperallergic.com/532296/best-of-2019-our-top-nyc-art-shows-and-more/|access-date=2020-06-17|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US}}</ref> [Institute of Contemporary Art, London](/source/Institute_of_Contemporary_Arts),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Next: 28 Art Curators to Watch Who Took on New Appointments in 2018|date=30 December 2018 |url=https://www.culturetype.com/2018/12/29/next-28-art-curators-to-watch-who-took-on-new-appointments-in-2018/|access-date=2020-06-17|language=en-US}}</ref> [Performa](/source/Performa_(performance_festival))'s Radical Broadcast,<ref>{{Cite web|title=PERFORMA|url=https://performa-arts.org/lean-curated-by-legacy-russell-associate-curator|access-date=2021-06-06|website=performa-arts.org}}</ref> [Kunsthall Stavanger](/source/Kunsthall_Stavanger)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lean |url=https://kunsthallstavanger.no/en/exhibitions/lean-curated-by-legacy-russell |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Kunsthall Stavanger |language=en}}</ref> in Norway, and [The Studio Museum in Harlem](/source/Studio_Museum_in_Harlem).<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mitter|first=Siddhartha|date=2019-07-10|title=Studio Museum in Harlem Names Artists in Residence|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/arts/design/studio-museum-harlem-artists-in-residence.html|access-date=2020-06-17|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Russell was associate curator of exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem from 2018 to 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Editorial|first=Artsy|date=2020-02-20|title=4 Curators on the Artists They're Celebrating This Black History Month|url=https://www.artsy.net/article/casey-lesser-4-curators-artists-celebrating-black-history-month|access-date=2020-06-17|website=Artsy|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Artforum.com|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/studio-museum-in-harlem-names-legacy-russell-associate-curator-exhibitions-76161|access-date=2020-06-17|website=www.artforum.com|date=9 August 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2021, [The Kitchen](/source/The_Kitchen_(performance_venue)) announced that Russell would succeed [Tim Griffin](/source/Tim_Griffin_(curator)) as the institution's next executive director and chief curator; she is the first Black person to hold the position of executive director and chief curator at The Kitchen since its founding in 1971.<ref name="2021 NYT Kitchen"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Legacy}}
Category:Living people
Category:American art curators
Category:American women curators
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:Macalester College alumni
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:African-American curators
Category:21st-century African-American women writers
Category:21st-century African-American writers

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Legacy Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_Russell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_Russell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.