Deadline: March 15, 2016
The 31st annual conference of the South African Visual Arts
Historians (SAVAH) will take place at the University of Johannesburg on July 29
and 30. It will commence with a welcoming event on the evening of July 28 and
end with tours on the morning of July 31.
Rethinking Art History and Visual Culture in a Contemporary
Context is the title of the conference and the organisers submit the following
information:
“The “Rhodes Must Fall” and “Fees Must Fall” campaigns which
arose in South Africa in the course of 2015, while focused on transformative
agendas in a broad sense, also emphasised how various inheritances from the
West have played a fundamental role in shaping universities – not only in terms
of their curricula but also their institutional cultures more generally.
Occurring in a context where the humanities are under threat and where
neoliberal forces may upset what we understand as fundamental to the academic
project, these recent calls for critical engagement with institutional
histories and practices suggest that reconsideration of disciplinary knowledges
and understandings have become increasingly urgent.
In this conference we seek to take stock of what we do in
art history (and related areas of exploration) in light of new calls for
transformation and relevance.”
Presentations of 20 minutes are invited that focus on
particular examples or case studies that can contribute towards the questions to
be addressed or indeed any others which have a bearing on art history’s relevance
and changing roles within the present.
Send a title of your proposed paper, an abstract of between
300 and 400 words as well as your affiliation and contact details to karenv@uj.ac.za by March 15, 2016. Please
write the words “SAVAH conference proposal” in the subject line of your e-mail.
(This information is
published in full on the Arts & Culture Trust’s blog – see
http://www.act.org.za)
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