“BLACK PORTRAITURE[S] III: Reinventions: Strains of Histories and Cultures” is the seventh conference in a series of transnational and diasporic conversations about imaging the black body. It offers a forum that gives artists, activists, educators and scholars from around the world an opportunity to share ideas, from historical topics to current research on the 40th anniversary of Soweto. Presenters will engage a range of topics such as Biennales, the Africa Perspective in the Armory Show, the global art market, politics, tourism, sites of memory, Afrofuturism, fashion, dance, music, film, art, and photography.
The conference takes place November 17-19, 2016 at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was planned in collaboration with the U. S. Department of State, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Patrick H. Gaspard, Goodman Gallery, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research/Harvard University, New York University’s La Pietra Dialogues, Tisch School of the Arts and the Institute for African American Affairs.
When the conference was first announced, the Dean of Tisch School of the Arts, Allyson Green, said:
“The world will be greater because of the conversations and explorations that will be held when more than 140 papers and performances are presented on topics such as the global art market, activism, politics, tourism, sexuality, sites of memory, Afrofuturism, fashion, dance, music, film, and photography.”
Allyson Green, Dean – Tisch School of the Arts,
New York University
To view the full conference schedule and see a list of participating speakers, please visit the website http://www.blackportraitures.info/schedule/.
Film footage of keynote presentations from previous conferences in this series can also be viewed online at http://www.blackportraitures.info/live-stream/.
FURTHER INFORMATION AND LINKS:
As a result of research enhancement funding provided by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) when I was completing my PhD fieldwork last year, I was very fortunate to present at the Black Portraiture[s] II conference in Italy (Villa La Pietra, Florence 2015), and wrote a report about my presentation (as part of a panel discussion about “Representing Place and Race”) which can be viewed via the White Rose Doctoral Training Centre (University of Sheffield) web pages at www.wrdtc.ac.uk/news
Additional information about the Black Portraiture[s] III conference is also available online via the website Contemporary And (C&): Platform for International Art from African Perspectives
To coincide with the conference, Goodman Gallery will also be showcasing the exhibition “Africans in America: In Context” (Johannesburg, 17 November 2016 – 17 January 2017) – http://www.blackportraitures.info/exhibition/
Image credit for the banner artwork: Kudzanai Chiurai, Genesis XI, 2016
Katya Kazakina’s article for Bloomberg News: “Black Artists Dazzle” at the Armoury Show in New York (4 March 2016) – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/
MUSEUM GEOGRAPHIES 