Δ TALK

"The Historical Conditions of Existence
Mark Sealy MBE on Stuart Hall and the Photographic Moment"

As Director of Autograph (Association of Black Photographers) since 1991, curator and cultural historian Mark Sealy has initiated the production of numerous publications, exhibitions and residency projects, commissioning photographers and filmmakers worldwide. Most recently, he commissioned “The Unfinished Conversation” a film-work by John Akomfrah on the political life of Professor Stuart Hall, a long-time colleague, mentor and friend. In 2002, Mark Sealy published the book “Different” (Phaidon Press in partnership with Professor Stuart Hall), which focuses on photography and identity.

In his talk, Mark Sealy will discuss his working relationship with Stuart Hall and the politics of difference in the UK that led to their development in 2002 of the capital building project (Rivington Place), designed by architect David Adjaye, which opened in 2007 and was developed in partnership with the Institute of International Visual Arts.

As a curator with a special interest in photography and its relationship to social change, identity politics and human rights, Sealy analyses conflicting readings of vernacular photographs from migrant and marginalised communities. Forcing open the dominant cultural representations of the Other, he proposes new interpretations of that which has been rendered absent or repressed. Different experiences with photography can show that once an opening has been achieved new narratives can be forged, different voices heard, different images celebrated and put to work for a different social purpose. At the core of The Autograph ABP project is the aim to build cultural platforms in which ‘The Democratic Promise of Photography’ can be realised by those who work from culturally different perspective and places.

Mark Sealy has written for several international photography publications, including “Foam Magazine” (Amsterdam), “Aperture” (New York) and “Next Level” (London). He has served as a jury member for prestigious photography awards including the World Press Photo Competition. He has guest lectured extensively throughout the UK and abroad including The Royal College of Art and recently devised a new MA studies programs for Sotheby’s Institute of Art on global photography. He is currently a PhD candidate at Durham Centre for Advanced Photographic Studies at Durham University, England. His research and curatorial practice focuses on photography and cultural violence.

In English.
€5 / reduced €2.50
Weltkulturen Labor, Schaumainkai 37

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Δ TALK

“The Art of Decolonization: Coercion, Desire and Education”
María do Mar Castro Varela (Berlin) and Nikita Dhawan (Frankfurt)

Friday, 27th June, 7pm

What is the role of education in the process of decolonization?
One of the central problems for critical theory in general, and postcolonialism, queer theory and feminism in particular, is the challenging question of why subjects accept their own subjugation? What makes us desire something that is not in our own self-interest? A crucial insight of postcolonial critique is that colonialism is not just about the conquest of geographical territories, but rather about subjectification.
Given the persistence of social injustice and imperialism in the postcolonial world, the question remains: How can structures of dominance be reconfigured?
María do Mar Castro Varela and Nikita Dhawan argue that political and economic transformation must be supplemented by an aesthetic education that can facilitate “epistemic change” towards non-hegemonic futures.

Dr. María do Mar Castro Varela is professor at the Alice Salomon University, Berlin and lecturer at the Zurich University of Arts (2013). She was Maria-Goeppert-Guest Professor at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg and has held visiting fellowships at the Institute for International Law and the Humanities, University of Melbourne, Australia; University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Pusan National University, South Korea. Her publications include: „Ist Integration nötig? Eine Streitschrift“ (2013); „Unzeitgemäße Utopien. Migrantinnen zwischen Selbsterfindung und Gelehrter Hoffnung“ (2007) and „Postkoloniale Theorie. Eine kritische Einführung“ (jointly with Nikita Dhawan) (second revised edition 2014).

Dr. Nikita Dhawanis assistant professor for political science with focus on gender and postcolonial studies and director of the "Frankfurt Research Center for Postcolonial Studies", Cluster of Excellence "Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen", Goethe University Frankfurt. Visiting fellowships at the University of Costa Rica, Institute for International Law and the Humanities, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Program of Critical Theory, University of California, Berkeley, USA; University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Pusan National University, South Korea; Columbia University, New York, USA.
Representative Publications: “Impossible Speech: On the Politics of Silence and Violence” (2007); “Decolonizing Enlightenment: Transnational Justice, Human Rights and Democracy in a Postcolonial World” (ed., 2014).

In English.
€5 / reduced €2.50
Weltkulturen Labor, Schaumainkai 37

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