RESEARCH NETWORKS + PROJECTS
Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage
From June 2016 until September 2020, I am a post-doctoral research fellow in the MAKING DIFFERENCES IN BERLIN: TRANSFORMING MUSEUMS AND HERITAGE IN THE 21ST CENTURY project, a large, multi-researcher comparative project hosted by the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), co-funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and directed by Prof Sharon Macdonald. It is based at the Department of European Ethnology of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
From June 2016 until September 2020, I am a post-doctoral research fellow in the MAKING DIFFERENCES IN BERLIN: TRANSFORMING MUSEUMS AND HERITAGE IN THE 21ST CENTURY project, a large, multi-researcher comparative project hosted by the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), co-funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and directed by Prof Sharon Macdonald. It is based at the Department of European Ethnology of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
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DisOthering. Beyond Afropolitain & other labels. Research & exhibition project, BOZAR (Brussel), SAVVY (Berlin)
DisOthering is a collaborative project with Creative Europe on the necessary deconstruction of “othering” practices in European cultural institutions. It consists of an exhibition, symposia, a festival, talks and performances, a residency program, mapping research, and a website, all manifesting in 2018 and 2019 in Berlin, Brussels, Vienna and Warsaw. These different formats share the bringing together of artists, communities, thinkers and people of all walks of life to reflect on contemporary processes and technologies of “Dis-Othering.” As part of this project, I coordinate researchers for a mapping diversity subproject as part of my postdoctoral research project on contemporary art, curating, and alterity. More information: http://savvy-contemporary.com/en/projects/2018/dis-othering/ and brochure (download as pdf) |
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Gallery Reflections Series at ifa-Galerie Berlin Annual Programme: On Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies 2017-2018
Gallery reflections is a series of public discussions on institutions, artistic critique, and curatorial practices moderated by anthropologist Jonas Tinius. The encounters take place in the ifa-gallery as part of the annual programme, crisscrossing the overall themes and decentring the focal points of the annual programme Untie to tie – Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies at ifa Gallery Berlin. Sessions: #1 Urban Decolonisation and Urban Space, #2 Traces, Legacies, and Futures: On Art and Temporality. Three more to follow. More on the official website.
Gallery reflections is a series of public discussions on institutions, artistic critique, and curatorial practices moderated by anthropologist Jonas Tinius. The encounters take place in the ifa-gallery as part of the annual programme, crisscrossing the overall themes and decentring the focal points of the annual programme Untie to tie – Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies at ifa Gallery Berlin. Sessions: #1 Urban Decolonisation and Urban Space, #2 Traces, Legacies, and Futures: On Art and Temporality. Three more to follow. More on the official website.
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Anthropology and the Arts Network (ANTART) & European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)
I was part of a group of people who launched and consolidated the Anthropology of Art interest group within VANESSA starting at the EASA conference in Paris, 2012. The objective of the interest group is to build a forum for EASA members interested in Art, either in terms of exchanges with art practice and theory or/and as a subject of study. Since 2017, Roger Sansi and I convene its successor, the Anthropology and the Arts Network (ANTART). Upcoming event -->
THE TROUBLE WITH ART: PHILISTINISM, ICONOCLASM, AND SCEPTICISM OF ART IN ANTHROPOLOGY
2019 Symposium of the Anthropology and the Arts EASA Network (ANTART)
Art has always occupied an ambivalent position in anthropology; it has been subject to both fascination and scepticism. Alfred Gell went as far as positing that anthropology is essentially anti-art, advocating instead a ‘methodological philistinism’ and ‘resolute indifference’ in our study of modern and contemporary art. Aesthetics has often been questioned as a Western, Bourgeois construct. The anthropology of art historically departed from this paradoxical, iconoclastic rejection of art practice and in particular, art theory. In this workshop, we want to explore the foundations of the iconoclastic ethos of anthropology, and reassess the role of art within the discipline. What is the trouble with art in anthropology? Our aim is to examine how the anthropology of art can be re-founded, from a paradoxical sub-field, to a contribution to the theoretical problems of anthropology, and a critical discipline of contemporary societies. The symposium is open to both senior and early-career scholars who are planning or conducting projects in the anthropology of art.
Saturday-Sunday, 21-22 September 2019
Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Department of European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)
I was part of a group of people who launched and consolidated the Anthropology of Art interest group within VANESSA starting at the EASA conference in Paris, 2012. The objective of the interest group is to build a forum for EASA members interested in Art, either in terms of exchanges with art practice and theory or/and as a subject of study. Since 2017, Roger Sansi and I convene its successor, the Anthropology and the Arts Network (ANTART). Upcoming event -->
THE TROUBLE WITH ART: PHILISTINISM, ICONOCLASM, AND SCEPTICISM OF ART IN ANTHROPOLOGY
2019 Symposium of the Anthropology and the Arts EASA Network (ANTART)
Art has always occupied an ambivalent position in anthropology; it has been subject to both fascination and scepticism. Alfred Gell went as far as positing that anthropology is essentially anti-art, advocating instead a ‘methodological philistinism’ and ‘resolute indifference’ in our study of modern and contemporary art. Aesthetics has often been questioned as a Western, Bourgeois construct. The anthropology of art historically departed from this paradoxical, iconoclastic rejection of art practice and in particular, art theory. In this workshop, we want to explore the foundations of the iconoclastic ethos of anthropology, and reassess the role of art within the discipline. What is the trouble with art in anthropology? Our aim is to examine how the anthropology of art can be re-founded, from a paradoxical sub-field, to a contribution to the theoretical problems of anthropology, and a critical discipline of contemporary societies. The symposium is open to both senior and early-career scholars who are planning or conducting projects in the anthropology of art.
Saturday-Sunday, 21-22 September 2019
Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Department of European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)
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Anthropologies of Art Network (A/A)
In October 2014, I launched the Anthropologies of Art Network (A/A) with Dr Alex Flynn (Anthropology, Durham), which seeks to bridge the gap between artistic practice and ethnographic investigation, focusing on theory-building in contemporary art. Our inaugural conference took place at the University of Durham ('Contemporary Anthropologies of Art') in September 2015 with keynote speaker Prof Arnd Schneider (Anthropology, Oslo).
In October 2014, I launched the Anthropologies of Art Network (A/A) with Dr Alex Flynn (Anthropology, Durham), which seeks to bridge the gap between artistic practice and ethnographic investigation, focusing on theory-building in contemporary art. Our inaugural conference took place at the University of Durham ('Contemporary Anthropologies of Art') in September 2015 with keynote speaker Prof Arnd Schneider (Anthropology, Oslo).
Ruhrorter: Refugee theatre and art collective
Since 2013, I have been accompanying the refugee theatre and arts collective Ruhrorter and document their projects and rehearsals. I am currently preparing a book chapter for Theater der Zeit on the aesthetics of the project. The project is currently preparing an open atelier for artists who have fled to Germany and are seeking a space to create and discuss their ideas. On its dedicated "anthropological research" section of the project website, you can find talks and publications related to this project: www.ruhrorter.com/research.html
Since 2013, I have been accompanying the refugee theatre and arts collective Ruhrorter and document their projects and rehearsals. I am currently preparing a book chapter for Theater der Zeit on the aesthetics of the project. The project is currently preparing an open atelier for artists who have fled to Germany and are seeking a space to create and discuss their ideas. On its dedicated "anthropological research" section of the project website, you can find talks and publications related to this project: www.ruhrorter.com/research.html
Cambridge Interdisciplinary Performance Research at CRASSH
Since 2013, I have been co-convening a Mellon/Newton funded interdisciplinary research seminar series based at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH). Through bi-weekly seminars and through two major conferences, we have been exploring the concept of ‘performance’ as a way to stimulate interdisciplinary conversations between scholars and artists on topics like visuality and archives, the digital future, city life and the public sphere. The seminar series 2015/2016 focused the theme InterActivity: Performing Relations. Opening talk by Prof Martin Puchner (Harvard) on 5 October 2015 at CRASSH (Cambridge). An interesting example for one of our sessions has been published recently: "Art and anthropology after relations". Conversation between Roger Sansi and Marilyn Strathern. HAU - The Journal of Ethnographic Theory. Vol. 6, No. 2 (2016). For a selection of our events and term cards, take a look at the gallery below. --->
Since 2013, I have been co-convening a Mellon/Newton funded interdisciplinary research seminar series based at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH). Through bi-weekly seminars and through two major conferences, we have been exploring the concept of ‘performance’ as a way to stimulate interdisciplinary conversations between scholars and artists on topics like visuality and archives, the digital future, city life and the public sphere. The seminar series 2015/2016 focused the theme InterActivity: Performing Relations. Opening talk by Prof Martin Puchner (Harvard) on 5 October 2015 at CRASSH (Cambridge). An interesting example for one of our sessions has been published recently: "Art and anthropology after relations". Conversation between Roger Sansi and Marilyn Strathern. HAU - The Journal of Ethnographic Theory. Vol. 6, No. 2 (2016). For a selection of our events and term cards, take a look at the gallery below. --->
Other affiliations
Since 2015, I am a member of the 'Cambridge Migration Research Network' (CAMMIGRES) at the University of Cambridge and the Research Network 'Economy and Society' (Forschungsschwerpunkt Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft aus historisch-kulturwissenschaftlicher Perspektive) of the University of Vienna, Austria. During my doctoral research, I held a fellowship (2013-2014) at the Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung on Schloss Wahn, Institute for Media Culture and Theatre at the University of Cologne, Germany, directed by Prof. Peter W. Marx. At the Department of European Ethnology of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, I am a member of the Laboratory Museums/Exhibiting.
Since 2015, I am a member of the 'Cambridge Migration Research Network' (CAMMIGRES) at the University of Cambridge and the Research Network 'Economy and Society' (Forschungsschwerpunkt Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft aus historisch-kulturwissenschaftlicher Perspektive) of the University of Vienna, Austria. During my doctoral research, I held a fellowship (2013-2014) at the Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung on Schloss Wahn, Institute for Media Culture and Theatre at the University of Cologne, Germany, directed by Prof. Peter W. Marx. At the Department of European Ethnology of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, I am a member of the Laboratory Museums/Exhibiting.