Critical Mass
Thursday 10th May, 6pm
School of Art, Margaret St, BIAD
Free Admission
The politics of representation has prompted us to continually question who and what we see, and to critically reflect on those in powerful positions of cultural delivery.
In this lecture, Karen Alexander, (Senior Tutor, MA Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art), provides an insight of the critical mass created through Inspire, a positive action programme for aspiring curators and transforming the curatorial landscape. The lecture will be chaired by Mona Casey Course Director for MA Contemporary Curatorial Practice, School of Art BIAD.
“The MA Curating Contemporary Art (Inspire) funded by Arts Council England, is a unique positive-action initiative established to provide a vocational curatorial training for people from black and minority ethnic heritage. Art history has been transformed in the last few decades by the ongoing scholarship that examines and questions shared histories of art through the lens of cultural difference. In a similar vein the politics of representation has prompted us to continually reflect on those powerful positions of cultural delivery. In our current economic climate a cohort of 12 curating students from multi-ethnic backgrounds not only make a symbolic statement, it also embodies the cultural hybridity that represent the best of the society we live in. Our strength as a society doesn’t lie in evoking core nationalist values, but in our diversity and flexibility. The very presence of the trainee curators in 13 visual arts organisations around the country powerfully addresses historical absences while firmly staking a claim for a different future.”
(The Right Dissonance) Karen Alexander has been involved with film and moving image for over 20 years. She is currently a senior tutor in the RCA Curating Contemporary Art department with responsibility for the work-based pathway (Inspire). Prior to that she worked as a film curator and freelance consultant on film exhibition and distribution.
To reserve a space place for lectures, discussions and for further information: Email: Kalaborationproject@gmail.com Tel: 0121 333 2416 Kalaboration is a partnership project between The Drum Arts Centre, School of Art Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) Birmingham City University and RoguePlay Theatre. It is funded by Arts Council England and Birmingham City Council and granted the Inspire mark by the London 2012 Inspire programme
Kalaboration