Symposium Tell Freedom

On Saturday, January 27, 2018, Kunsthal KAdE is hosting a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Tell Freedom, 15 South African artists. Participation in the symposium is free for visitors to the exhibition, advance registration at boekingen@kunsthalkade.nl is appreciated. Language: English

The artists in Tell Freedom are inspiring representatives of a generation of South African artists who largely grew up after the abolition of apartheid. They carry this history of violence and injustice with them, but at the same time they aim their arrows at the future and the rest of the world. In their work, they examine and comment on social, political and economic injustices created during colonial - and apartheid - history. The symposium will discuss and debate the themes of these works. Questions that will be asked are: How do South African artists differ from artists from other African countries? And how does the Netherlands relate to the social, political and economic injustices in South Africa?

Program
12:30 - 13:00 Walk-in
13:00 - 13:10 Welcome by Manon Braat, guest curator
13:10 - 13:45 Keynote by Pauline Burmann
The perception of visual art from Africa in Europe is complex. Where does this perception come from? Using different perspectives; for example, a political, cultural, patronage, aesthetic, the impact of colonialism, a picture of the history of contemporary art in and from the continent of Africa is presented.

13:45 - 14:15 Keynote by Mitchell Esajas
Apartheid is one of the best known Dutch words in the world. The Dutch played an important role in the colonization of South Africa, however, in the collective memory this often seems to be forgotten and the focus is more on the colonies in "the West" and "the East. Mitchell will speak during his keynote on the importance of decolonizing historiography and the legacy of the colonial past in the present.

14:15 - 14:30 Break
14:30 - 15:15 Short presentations by artists MADEYOULOOK, Lerato Shadi and Ashley Walters
15:15 - 16:00 Panel discussion on processes of decolonization and the role of the art world in it
16:00 - 16:15 Conclusion by moderator Imara Limon

Moderator: Imara Limon
Imara Limon is a curator at the Amsterdam Museum. She worked on The Black Archives' exhibitions Black Amsterdam (2016), Black & Revolutionary (2017), and developed the New Narratives program in which guest curators revisit museum collections from a variety of perspectives. Limon is an advisor to the Mondriaan Fund and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, a board member of Kunsten '92, and winner of the 2017 Museum Talent Award.

Speaker: Pauline Burmann
Pauline Burmann is a consultant , curator and researcher, concentrating in the fields of contemporary African art, the diaspora and art theory. Burmann has worked with art institutions, artists, universities, art schools, media, governments and museums. She teaches contemporary art history in graduate an post graduate levels in the Netherlands, England, South Africa, Ethiopia and Sudan. Latest publications ; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam , SMBA: "Project 1975, contemporary Art and the Postcolonial Unconscious" and "Tembe fu Libi" Moengo Festival of Visual Arts Suriname and " African Amicitiae"; Collection Thami Mnyele Foundation Arti et Amicitiae Amsterdam 2017/8. In the Netherlands, Burmann chairs the board of the Thami Mnyele Award Foundation, an artist residency for artists from Africa and the diaspora

Speaker: Mitchell Esajas
Mitchell Esajas studied business administration and anthropology. He is president and co-founder of New Urban Collective, a network for students and young professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds. From NUC, he is involved in initiatives that contribute to the decolonization of education, diversity and inclusion in the labor market and the creation of The Black Archives.