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Wednesday, May 66:00 PM
Join us as we pull back the show curtain and turn the spotlights towards our star-studded panel featuring Andrew Norman (Norm) Wilson (artist/author), Dr. Donald Sturz (President of the Westminster Kennel Club), and moderator Jess Bergman (Harper’s senior editor).
The evening will begin with a reading from Norm’s fiction feature “That Telltale Tingle” from the March issue of Harper’s Magazine. From there, the panel will dive into a conversation about what’s really happening behind the scenes at a dog show and the unexpected moments that make this world so compelling. “That Telltale Tingle” offers a fictionalized glimpse into Westminster through the eyes of an artist and estranged insider, while Dr. Donald Sturz brings firsthand experience as a former Westminster Junior Showmanship Champion and current President of Westminster. Moderated by Jess Bergman, the discussion will also explore the surprising parallels between dog shows and the art world, where performance and passion collide, sometimes tumultuously.
You’ll leave with answers to questions you never knew you had about dog shows and the remarkable people who bring them to life.
🐶 This is a dog-friendly event, and guests are invited to stay after the panel for a meet-and-greet with the participants.
Weren’t able to attend in person? Listen to the recording below!
Andrew Norman Wilson is a writer, director, and artist based in New York. His first work of video art, Workers Leaving the Googleplex, went viral upon its release and was recently exhibited in MoMA’s main collection gallery for over two years. His first narrative short, In the Air Tonight, went viral upon its release and premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. His first magazine essay, “It’s Not What the World Needs Right Now,” went viral upon its release and led to his signing with CAA.His films have premiered at Sundance, the New York Film Festival, and Rotterdam. His work is in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Getty Museum, and The Centre Pompidou, and he has exhibited at LUMA Arles, MoMA PS1, and the Gwangju and Berlin Biennials. He has taught at UCLA, SAIC, and Cooper Union, and lectured at Oxford University, Cambridge University, Harvard University, and Yale University. His work has been featured in Artforum, ArtReview, BOMB, Frieze, The New Yorker, and Wired, and he has published writing in Harper’s, The Baffler, and the Paris Review.
In 2021, he was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine. His films have won awards at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. He has participated in the Oxbelly Director’s Lab and the Locarno Filmmakers Academy. He has served on the juries of the Palm Springs Film Festival and the Tabor Film Festival. He has directed music videos for U2 and Oneohtrix Point Never, and directed campaigns for Google and MCM.
He is currently in pre-production on a commercial film titled Interlaken, a romantic thriller set in the Swiss Alps. He is also authoring a book-length memoir based on his 2024 Baffler article “It’s Not What the World Needs Right Now.”
COLLECTIONS Museum of Modern Art New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Centre Pompidou, The Getty Museum, The Hammer Museum, Centre national des arts plastiques France, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, the Stolbun Collection, Seven Gravity Collection, Polyeco Contemporary Art Initiative, Collection Lambert, and the Kadist Foundation.
Dr. Donald Sturz began participating in the sport of dogs as a child. As a highly successful Junior Handler, he was selected as a Junior Showmanship Finalist three years at Westminster, beginning with his first time entering at the age of ten. During his Junior Showmanship career, he was ranked as the number one Junior Handler in the U.S. for three consecutive years.
While growing up in the sport, Dr. Sturz trained and exhibited dogs in various American Kennel Club events, including conformation, obedience, and field trials, earning numerous awards and titles. A long-time breeder and handler, he has bred, owned, and handled All-Breed and Specialty Best in Show winners and nationally ranked dogs in Golden Retrievers, Miniature Poodles, Pembroke Welsh Corgis and Pekingese. He currently owns two Pekingese and a Bull Terrier.
Dr. Sturz began judging in 1990 and has adjudicated at major dog shows worldwide, including Best in Show at Westminster in 2022. In 2020, he was voted Judge of the Year at the Purina Pro Plan® Show Dogs of the Year award ceremony. Additionally, Dr. Sturz was a co-host for the Fox Sports telecast of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and the Westminster Kennel Club Highlights Show.
He currently serves as the President of the Westminster Kennel Club, and is also a member of the Westchester Kennel Club, the Poodle Club of America, the Pekingese Club of America and the Bull Terrier Club of America.
Jess Bergman is a senior editor at Harper’s and a contributing writer at Jewish Currents. Her essays and criticism have also appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, and Bookforum.
This event is put on in partnership with Harper’s Magazine.
By RSVPing for this event, your email will be shared with Harper’s Magazine to begin receiving their newsletters and occasional subscription/store offers. Most weeks, you won’t receive more than two or three emails, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
