Symposium on: "The Individual in Contemporary African Art", 02/00

Symposium: A symposium entitled "Self and Other: The Individual in Contemporary African Art" will be held on Wednesday, February 23, 2000 (noon-4:00 pm) on the campus of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Speakers include: Catherine Bernard, Ikem Okoye, Vera Viditz-Ward, Salah Hassan, and artists Acha Debala, dele jegede, and Khalid Kodi. The symposium seeks to challenge the common perception that African art is primarily a collective enterprise in which "tribe" or "ethnicity" serves as the primary marker of artist identity, and the creation of cultural archetypes as the primary result. African artists, like those elsewhere in the world, are artists and individuals first. Ethnic and national concerns are just part of the life experiences that inform their work.

Speakers will address the extent to which portraiture figures in the work of contemporary artists, and explore how artists have used this particular genre to communicate both the personal and the political. The symposium coincides with an exhibition entitled "Distinguished Identities: Contemporary African Portraiture" to be held February 1- March 4, 2000, at the University Art Gallery, Staller Center for the Arts, at Stony Brook. This exhibition focuses on representations of the individual in contemporary African art, from conscious presentations of self, to more enigmatic images that reflect the artists interactions with and interpretations of others. Please note: the symposium is scheduled to coincide with the College Art Association meetings in New York city beginning later in the day.

Pre-Registration:

Please pre-register by email or phone and let us know when you expect to arrive and whether you are coming by train. If demand warrants, we will make sure there is transportation from Stony Brook station -- either a campus bus or van. It is not a long walk in nice weather ... but this is February.

Getting Here:

The Long Island Railroad (LIRR) provides service between Penn Station and Stony Brook. Current Wednesday trains (allow time for minor changes), NY to Stony Brook (Port Jefferson train): 8:44 am arrives 10:27 am, 10:02 am arrives 11:49 am, 12:00 noon arrives 1:53 pm; Returning to New York: 4:18 pm arrives 6:05 pm, 6:56 pm arrives 9:05 pm, 8:41pm arrives 10:30 pm. Take campus bus to Staller Center.

Driving from Connecticut, take the Port Jefferson Ferry (203-335-2040 for reservations) and then take 25A (west) through Setauket to Stony Brook, turn left on Nicolls Road (Rte. 97), past North entrance to campus and take Main entrance to visitor parking garage. From NYC, take LIE (Long Island Expressway, Rte.495) to Exit 62-Nicolls Road (Rte. 97 North) 9 miles to Main Entrance (past Hospital on right), left at first stop sign to visitor parking garage.

Ask for directions to the Staller Center just across the circle drive from the parking garage. For more information, please contact Barbara Frank (516-632-7264; bfrank@notes.cc.sunysb.edu).