COLONIALITY, CURATING AND CONTEMPORARY ART

Date: 20 - 23 March
Co-organized by: Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo y Universidad Internacional de Andalucía
Place: UNIA, Sede Sta. María de La Rábida (Huelva)
In collaboration with: Royal College of Art (Londres)
Direction: Clare Carolin y Olga Fernández
Participants: Karen Alexander, Fernanda Alburquerque, Tanya Barson, Jean Fisher, Paul Goodwin, Ros Gray, Federico Guzmán, Caroline Hancock, María Iñigo, Rogelio López Cuenca, Mark Nash y Manuela Ribeiro entre otros.
More Information: www.unia.es/encuentro/colonialismo

The processes of colonization and decolonization, their causes, forms, effects and consequences, were not homogeneous in either their geographical or their temporal dimensions. This differential aspect means that the theoretical premises and the cultural, curatorial and artistic elaborations that have reflected on these events have resulted in a wide variety of approaches. The aim of this symposium is to combine different perspectives and experiences that demonstrate the complexity of these phenomena. Taking the idea of the Encounter as its starting point, the symposium will bring together artists, curators, cultural producers and theorists whose work deals with the colonial project on the American, African and European continents, from a postcolonial and decolonial perspective.

The point of departure for these ideas is the possibility of presenting the encounter in La Rábida, the point from which Columbus left on his expedition of 1492, and Seville, a city that became the first center of colonial trade. The proximity of both of them to the north of Africa, to Portugal, to Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar, makes these enclaves particularly significant for the articulation of points of reference. As its framework, the symposium will have national, geographical and cultural realities of different kinds, principally Spain, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, the western Sahara, Morocco, the Maghreb, Great Britain, Portugal and South America, which in their very process of nomination make the configuration of national and colonial formations visible. On the basis of this variety, the Encounter will present possible forms of relation between these contexts and the different artistic, curatorial and theoretic practices that enable us to rethink them.

 
ABSTRACTS, READINGS AND SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

PROGRAMME

TUESDAY 20 MARCH

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
· Jean Fisher.
Exhibition Histories: America – Bride of the Sun
· Tanya Barson.
Afro-Modern: Journeys through The Black Atlantic

3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
· Fernanda Alburquerque.
Territory as theme and strategy: Geopoetics and the 8th Mercosul Biennial
· Rogelio López Cuenca.
South of the North: the reversible exotic

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
· Screenings. Introduction by Karen Alexander
- Waiting for Happiness (Heremakono). Dir: Abderrahmane Sissako, 2002. Francia/Mauritania. 92'
  Extracts:
  - Grace Ndiritu, Time, 2004
  - Absolut Native, 2003
  - High Noon, 2007
  - La Guerre, 2006
  - Desert Storm, 2004


WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
· Paul Goodwin.
“Lisboa Saudade”: curating, postcolonial trauma and the politics of space
· Manuela Ribeiro.
Traces of African presences in postcolonial Europe

3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
· Caroline Hancock.
Searching Beyond “Nostalgeria”
· Federico Guzman.
Sand Manifestos

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
· Screenings. Introduction by Mark Nash
- Borom Sarret. Dir: Ousmane Sembene, 1963. Senegal. 18'
- Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Masks. Dir: Isaac Julien, 1996. GB. 65'

THURSDAY 22 MARCH

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
· María Íñigo.
Reframing Otherness and time in the Museum
· Olga Fernández.
The Uncertainly of Display: Exhibitions in-between ethnography and modernism

3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
· Clare Carolin.
Coloniality, Curating, Contemporary Art: Conference Summary
· Round Table

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
· Screening. Introducción by Ros Gray
- Hour of the Furnaces (Part 1) Dir: Solanas and Getino, 1968, Argentina. 80'

FRIDAY 23 MARCH

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
· Visit at the CAAC's Exhibitions