Clark-MoMA Colloquium, June 21-22

The colloquium organized by the Museum of Modern Art and The Clark Art Institute around the exhibition of prints "Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to now" takes place next two days. Looking forward to it. Here below is the program:

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“Impressions from South Africa” and Beyond

Connecting Perspectives on Africa

A Clark–MoMA Colloquium

June 21–22, 2011

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

PROGRAM

We are delighted to welcome you to this colloquium.  All sessions will take place inThe Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room, 4th floor, MoMA Administrative Offices, 11 West 53rd Street. If you need assistance during your stay, please contact Alexandra Diczok at 212.708.9702, Judy Hecker at 212.333.1147 or 646.528.0311 (cell), or Natasha Becker at 347.853.1713 (cell).

Audio-Visual Note: Presentations will be loaded 15 minutes before the start of a session and at the start of a coffee or lunch break. Thanks. 

Tuesday, June 21

9:30–10:45      Welcome and Introduction

Christophe Cherix (MoMA), Jay Levenson (MoMA), and Michael Ann Holly (The Clark)

                        Natasha Becker (The Clark) and Judy Hecker (MoMA)

                        Exhibition viewing of Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now

We will begin with introductions and an overview of the program, followed by a viewing of the exhibition Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now led by Judy Hecker.

10:45–11:00    Coffee break

11:00–12:30    Session I. “Impressions from South Africa”: Content, Reception, Criticism

Our discussion focuses on the specific exhibition, and the issues related to organizing and presenting it, as well as asking what the repercussions of the exhibition are—for both curatorial practice and for future art historical study.

                        Commentators: Jay Clarke (The Clark); Vuyile Voyiya (artist, South Africa); Willie Cole (artist, USA)

                        Moderator: Aruna D’ Souza (The Clark)

12:30 – 1:00    Lunch service begins and continues into the next session

1:00 – 3:00 *   Session II. Curatorial Practice, Institutions, and Scholarship: Regional, Global, Alternative, and Beyond? 

*At 2:30 MoMA staff leave for Curatorial Forum meeting

What are the spaces for the production, dissemination, and exhibition of contemporary “African” art on the continent and abroad? How is the work of contemporary and modern African artists located/positioned in fine/modern/ contemporary or encyclopedic art museums? How is work understood by curators/scholars/audiences at home and abroad? What models have emerged to deepen our understanding and art historical knowledge?

Commentators: Riason Naidoo (South African National Gallery); Leslie King Hammond (Center for Race and Culture, MICA); Alisa LaGamma (Metropolitan Museum); Doryun Chong (MoMA)

                        Moderator: Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University)

3:00 – 5:30      End of Sessions – Free Time

5:30                 Friends of Education panelists gather for rehearsal, Titus 2 theater, MoMA

                        Panelists: Senzeni Marasela; Vuyile Voyiya; Sue Williamson; Riason Naidoo

                        Introduction: Judy Hecker

6:45 – 8:00      Friends of Education Public Program, Titus 2 theater, MoMA

                        All participants attend

8:15                 Friends of Education Cocktail Reception    

Wednesday June 22, 2011

9:30 – 12:00    Session III. Modernism: Global? Multiple? Cosmopolitan?

This session is directed at cross-cultural discourse about art and modernist art history in particular: How do art history and exhibitions engage with difference and the history of the dynamic interplay between different cultures in the twentieth century? What has the critical exploration of relationships between Europe and Africa contributed to our historical understanding of cultural difference in the visual arts? In a world where multiculturalism, globalization, and contemporaneity have become common, what unanswered questions remain?

There will be a coffee break at 10:30-11:00

Commentators: Lowery Stokes Sims (Museum of Arts and Design); John Peffer (Ramapo College); Erin Haney (National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian)

Moderator:  Natasha Becker (The Clark)

12:00 – 1:30    Lunch

1:30 – 3:30      Session IV. Contemporary Connections: Artistic Practice

This session will consider the flourishing creative scenes—and surge of interest—in several African centers, including Johannesburg/Cape Town, Lagos, Bamako, Dakar, and Luanda. The disciplines of photography, performance, and media will be reflected along with painting, sculpture, and works on paper.  We will discuss transnational, diasporic, and global links among/with these centers, and how the surge of interest in the work of contemporary African artists has recast the theoretical arguments pertaining to contemporary art in general. We will also consider the socio-cultural-political-economic issues that surround the development of the field.

                        There will be a coffee break at 2:30–2:45

Commentators: Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University); Sue Williamson (artist, South Africa); Senzeni Marasela (artist, South Africa); Dan Leers (MoMA)

                        Moderator: Judy Hecker (MoMA)