Smith (they/them) is an independent curator and writer with an artistic and academic practice. They received their BA in Art History from Skidmore College (2017) and MA in Aesthetics & Politics from the CalArts School of Critical Studies (2021). They served as the Exhibitions and Programs Manager at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture (2021-2023). They're the recipient of curatorial internships and fellowships at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2017), Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum (2018), Hauser & Wirth, New York (2019), Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles (2021), and the REEF (2023).



"Katie Couric Reflects on her Colonoscopy and Excremental Philosophy in Contemporary Feminist New Materialist Live Body Art - A Performative Lecture" Homework Fair, 1950 S Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles, November 18, 2023. Produced by Holly Harrell & Bryan Morello. Photo courtesy of Holly Harrell.

2023 CalArts REEF Residency
Hungry Bottom: On Cloacal Thinking
Thursday, August 24th, 2023 - Sunday, September 10, 2023
The REEF, 1933 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007, CalArts Studio, 12th Floor
Press Release

EXHIBITION & EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY

I am a body of holes. Dripping, mucousy, bloody... - Amelia Jones, "Holy Body," 2006

Hungry Bottom: On Cloacal Thinking is a psycho-somatic curatorial study on queer relationships with the gut, on view Thursday, August 24th, through Sunday, September 10th, as a part of the 2023 CalArts REEF Residency. A mise-en-scene that serves as both a bathroom and dining room exhibits works by artists C Bain, Patty Chang, Caleb Craig, Dallas Havoc, Elizabeth Herring, stephanie mei huang, Annika Klein, White Male Artist AKA Cassils, and Zenaido Zamora.



A.C. Smith, Curatorial Proposal, March 2023

Inspired by the lesbians in my life with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), I propose a psycho-somatic curatorial study on queerness and the gut - where gastrointestinal maladies are a biological consequence of psychological experiences. The "gut," in the case of this proposal, is defined by the digestive system and systems in which it shares a transactional relationship: the mouth, throat, stomach, large intestine, pelvic muscular structure (the perineum, urinary, genital, and lower intestinal tracts), and finally the colon and anus. I define the "gut" utilizing Shannon Sullivan's "cloacal thinking" from The Physiology of Sexist and Racist Oppression (2015) which "treats the gut and pelvic floor as psychosomatically integrated" (19).

Approaching the gut (crawling on my knees, anus exposed), I expand on work from my 2021 MA Critical Studies Aesthetics & Politics thesis that utilizes the colonoscopic procedure as a critical strategy to document and assess corporeal performance, function, and affect. In this approach, I make the argument that all anorectal (and therefore gastrointestinal) conditions are queer based on two primary properties: 1.) Every "body" has one, and 2.) They are non-reproductive.

Considering queerness and queer topics/theories on the gut, I am interested in embodied experiences of the LGBTQ+ community and their relationships with gastrointestinal maintenance; however, I also want to highlight the queer properties of the gut as a non-gendered (+ non-human) hole running through every "body" - queering heteronormative narratives of digestion and absorption - where the gut represents “the most significant place 'inside' the body with which the 'outside' world comes into contact." (Sullivan, 65). My proposal highlights non-binary approaches to healthy and sick, sanitary and septic, biology and neurology, and boundaries between organs within/outside the body. Topics for example may include but are not limited to: excremental art and philosophy, gastrointestinal maladies and medicines (IBS, Crohn's Disease, etc.), the "bottoming" experience, oral fixations, etc...

Hungry Bottom is an effort to continue my post-graduate curatorial work focused on building out a "bottom theory" - employing the colonoscopy as a tool to gain a POV of/from the bottom. By opening up a bottom theory, my proposal aims to integrate queer corporealities into a new material gut feminism that reorients the gaze off of heteronormative functions of gut and onto queer relationships with our butts (ie. Sullivan does not address anal sex). Hungry Bottom fosters the "viewing" and "representation" of/from the bottom through exhibition, eating, shitting, and performance - promoting the production, consumption, and shitting of emerging and queer art, artists, and topics.



Photo credit Caleb Craig, courtesy of AC Smith, 2023.

CalArts Critical Studies Residency
Hauser & Wirth, Los Angles
26 June - 1 August 2021
Press Release

Allison C Smith presents
(self-portraits as) neither donkey nor horse
stephanie mei huang

The CalArts Critical Studies Residency re-imagines the Book & Printed Matter Lab as a space for developing critical research and curatorial investigations. In this presentation, resident Allison C Smith, recent graduate from CalArts' School of Critical Studies MA program in Aesthetics & Politics, curates a solo exhibition of work by stephanie mei huang. Smith draws from their academic thesis work on queer theory, parasitical drag, and feminist new materialisms in contemporary southern Californian performance studies. They focus on huang's new and recent works regarding racial melancholia and grief as explored through a cowboy drag avatarism of the (Asian) American West. The tall and true tale of Stirrup Steph-the youngest and first woman to be inaugurated into the Cowboy Artists of America (CAA), a brotherhood dedicated to conserving the culture and history of the old west-and huang's splitting avatars, begs the question: could 'cowboy drag,' a form of racialized, gendered, affective drag, not unlike code-switching, provide a mimetic form of deception and self-preservation?

Building upon Hauser & Wirth's curatorial and publishing activities, the Book & Printed Matter Lab presents thematic installations, displays, and programming that invite reflection, creative thinking, and further conversation about the world of printed matter and its connection to artists' ideas and objectives.

Publication Release
MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Schindler House
19 July 2021, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Essays by AC Smith, stephanie mei huang, Lucas Baisch, Michael Ned Holte, and Ling Tiong. Featuring a collaboration with stephanie mei huang, Julie Tolentino, and sound artist Amma Ateria.



Photo credit stephanie mei huang, courtesy of AC Smith, 2021.

Katie Couric Gets A Colonoscopy | TODAY
Hungry Bottom: On Cloacal Thinking, Soft Opening Reception
The REEF, 1933 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007, CalArts Studio, 12th Floor
Thursday, August 24, 2023, 7:00 PM
Celebrity Colonoscopies

A reenactment of Katie Couric's televised colonoscopy that first aired on NBC's The TODAY show in the year 2000. Couric received the procedure following her first husband's death from colorectal cancer two years earlier. This historic event set off a trend of celebrities televising their colonoscopies or publicizing their colonoscopies over the following two decades.

While Couric is under anesthesia and receiving her colonoscopy from Dr. Ford an inception-like-dream-inside-a-dream unfolds in the style of a late night talk show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Featuring guests Heidi Klum, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. The latter three roles are read improvisationally in a type of table-read by randomly selected members of the audience. Dialogue is directly plagiarized and parodied from news articles, personal sexts, and celebrity interviews on colonoscopies arranged by AC Smith, with written interventions and script supervision by C Bain. Presented on the occation of the soft opening reception for Hungry Bottom: On Cloacal Thinking, as a part of the 2023 CalArts REEF Residency.



Stills from videography by Martina Mattar, courtesy of AC Smith, 2023.

The City of West Hollywood Pride 2023 LGBTQ Arts Festival
Queers Performing Tricks presented by AC Smith
Fiesta Hall at Plummer Park
7377 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046
Thursday, June 22, 2023, 06:30 PM
Event Handout

AC Smith curates a night of short digital and live body performance works and tricks by non-binary and trans artists. Hosted by C. Bain and presenting Caleb Craig, stephanie mei huang, Vaughan Larsen, WAWY WUS TUB (Dallas Havoc, Kate Renshaw-Lewis, and Arius Ziaee), and a non-magical elf. Featuring Shy Ronnie’s West Hollywood drag king debut. This program compliments a separately organized series of Silverlake Queer Animated Shorts and is presented as a part of The City of West Hollywood Pride 2023 LGBTQ Arts Festival.



Photo credit Jared Powell, courtesy of The City of West Hollywood Pride 2023 LGBTQ Arts Festival.