Jacqueline Francis

The DIA seeks a Curatorial Program Coordinator to serve part-time in the General Motors (G.M.) Center for African American Art. The candidate must have knowledge of contemporary art practice and prevailing scholarship in contemporary African American Art. The G.M. Center for African American Art oversees the DIA’s collection and galleries dedicated to African American Art, as well as related exhibitions.

Under the supervision of the Curator of the GM Center and Manager of Curatorial Affairs, the candidate will assist the Department Head and Curator of the G.M. Center for African American Art with research and the organization and implementation of a scholarly symposium related to the exhibition 30 Americans: Rubell Family Collection, at the DIA from October 17, 2015 to January 18, 2016. The candidate will carry out supervised research; communicate with scholars, collectors, and donors; and provide general administrative support to ensure the successful implementation of the project.

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Essential Functions

 Assists the curator of the G.M. Center of African American Art in identifying and engaging local and national scholars with expertise in contemporary African American art

 Assists with developing and organizing a scholarly program that will include a symposium, panel discussions, and other exhibition-related programs and events

 Conducts research, drafts correspondence, and facilitates necessary paperwork (such as contracts, travel accommodations, itineraries) relating to the programs. Attends and facilitates all events.

 Organizes and prepares all hard copy and digital media needed for the program

 Performs other duties related to this program, as needed or assigned

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Knowledge, Skills and Abilities to Perform Essential Functions

 Familiarity with the art and African American communities of Greater Detroit;

 Excellent research, organizational, and oral and written communication skills;

Revised: April 23, 2015

 B.A. required; advanced study in African American and contemporary art preferred;

 Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced work environment;

 Ability to work effectively with volunteers and patrons, and cross-disciplinary staff;

 Experience providing administrative support in event planning required;

 Knowledge of MS Office suite of programs, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint required;

 Basic knowledge of Photoshop and ability to create (scan and edit) and manage, as well as download/upload, electronic files from email, Cloud-based applications, and other storage devices;

 Ability to work with various computer systems and web applications to schedule/expedite meetings, manage contracts and payments, track spending, and develop budgets;

 Provide content to the DIA’s Marketing and PR Department for print materials, as well as the museum’s website and various social media outlets;

 Ability to work effectively and positively with other professional staff in a highly collaborative environment.

This job description describes the general nature of the duties and requirements of this job. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list or to limit the supervisor’s ability to modify work assignments as appropriate.

CFP for College Art Association session (2016, Washington, DC)- Due May 8, 2015

AFROTROPES

College Art Association 104th Annual Conference

Washington DC, February 3–6, 2016

Huey Copeland and Krista Thompson, Northwestern University

Submissions due to h-copeland@northwestern.edu and krista-thompson@northwestern.edu by May 8, 2015. Visit http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/2016CallforParticipation.pdf for CAA submission guidelines, requirements, and forms.

This conference session centers on the aesthetic, historical, and theoretical terrain opened up by the “afrotrope.” We coined this neologism as a way of referring to those recurrent visual forms that have emerged within and become central to the formation of African diasporic culture and identity in the modern era, from the slave ship icon produced in 1788 by the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade to the “I AM A MAN” signs famously held up by striking Memphis sanitation workers in 1968.

As their rich afterlives make clear, afrotropes resonate widely long after their initial appearance. For instance, the “IAM A MAN” sign has served as the basis for a 1988 painting by Glenn Ligon, a sandwich board worn by Sharon Hayes during a 2005 New York street performance, and a poster wielded by protesters in Benghazi during the Arab Spring. Accordingly, our conceptualization of the afrotrope emphasizes how changes to cultural forms over time and space speak to the ways that touchstones of African diasporic history, subjectivity, and modes of resistance are produced and consumed globally by a range of actors for a variety of ends.

By homing in on the material transformation of specific afrotropes over several iterations, we hope to reframe approaches to the ways that modes of cultural exchange come to structure representational possibilities. While our theorization of the afrotrope is indebted to Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of the chronotope and Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s writing on black figurative turns, we also look toward the work of art historians such as T.J. Clark, George Kubler, and Christopher Wood in elaborating new models for thinking temporality, authorship, and transmission that the afrotrope at once instances and demands.

Indeed, we would argue that the afrotrope makes palpable how modern subjects have appropriated widely available representational means only to undo their formal contours and to break apart their significatory logic. At the same time, the concept enables a fresh consideration of what is repressed or absented within the visual archive. The afrotrope, in other words, offers a vital heuristic through which to understand how visual motifs take on flesh over time and to reckon with that which remains unknown or cast out of the visual field. Ultimately, the aim of our session is not only to identify key afrotropes—with an eye toward producing an edited user’s guide to these forms—but also to theorize how their transmission illuminates the visual technologies of modern cultural formation.

“The Black Atlantic and Northern Britain” – a symposium (Apr. 30-May 1, 2015)

More info at:

http://ibaruclan.com/ibar-in-association-with-the-bronte-parsonage-museum-haworth-present-lost-children-the-black-atlantic-and-northern-britain-an-interdisciplinary-symposium-april-30-may-1/

Design/Race 3.31.15

Flyer Design by Doug Akagi, CCA Professor Emeritus and Design Department Advisor

This panel discussion will take place at the California College of the Arts, 101 Carolina Street, San Francisco, CA, on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 8:30-10 AM. It is free and open to the public.

Designers will talk about how identity influences their work and the importance of building community both at CCA and beyond. Moderated by Lionel Ramazzini (BFA Industrial Design 2014), panelists will include a mix of alumni and other leaders in design with an opportunity for Q&A. Panelists will include Agelio Batle (MFA 1993) of Batle Studio, Maricarmen Sierra (DMBA 2013) of Metapattern, Mateo Hao (BFA Furniture 2013), and others.

Breakfast provided, networking encouraged.

RSVP by March 25, 2015 at alumni@cca.edu

https://www.cca.edu/calendar/2015/designrace-conversation

Sponsored by the CCA Alumni Association and the CCA President’s Diversity Steering Group, with support from the CCA Faculty of Color Research Alliance

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