Dr. Carrie Lambert Beatty

Biography

Carrie Lambert-Beatty is a contemporary art historian and professor at Harvard University, where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of Art, Film, Visual Studies. Lambert-Beatty is known for her award-winning book, “Make Believe: Parafiction Plausibility” published by MIT Press in 2008. Her current research focuses on the intersection of fiction and fact in contemporary art, investigating how artworks can deceive audiences and what these deceptions teach us about the nature of knowledge in a post-truth era. She teaches courses that explore political art from the 1960s to the present, aesthetics of deception, and the evolving meanings within contemporary art. Her pedagogical approach emphasizes the importance of audience experience and the impact of new media ecologies, social dynamics of neoliberalism, and ongoing dialogues around post-colonial challenges, gender, and race. Lambert-Beatty is proactive in examining the role of contemporary art in fostering an epistemic framework capable of resisting the cultural tendencies toward order in an era characterized by post-truth sensibilities.

Research Interests