The Grapevine

JOB: Chief Curator at International African American Museum, Charleston

WE ARE RECRUITING A CHIEF CURATOR
The International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina seeks a dynamic and effective museum professional to serve as Chief Curator. Located on Gadsden’s Wharf, the museum is scheduled to open in early 2022.

The ideal candidate for this position is a collaborative and forward-thinking, senior-leader with at least seven to ten years of progressive experience in a museum curatorial department; broad experience as an administrator and
manager; and experience with strategic planning and team building.
This is a full-time, permanent position.

All inquiries, nominations and applications may be directed to resumes@iaamuseum.org. Applications will not be accepted unless submitted in compliance with the guidelines in this position description. For more information about the International African American Museum, please visit http://www.iaamuseum.org.

THE POSITION
The Chief Curator will provide leadership Exhibitions
and strategic direction for the intellectual and interpretive strategies of the museum’s curatorial program including the research, design, and implementation of innovative exhibition strategies; care, management, and development of artifact, archival, and digital collections; development and production of dynamic educational and public programs, and facilitating access to genealogical resources; and oversight and guidance for the Center for Family History, the museum’s genealogy center.

The successful candidate is a gifted leader, compelling communicator—both in writing and spoken word—an outstanding researcher, and able administrator, and a strong advocate for the museum. She or he will infuse energy into innovative and creative initiatives, and leverage collections, resources, and partnerships. It is essential that they be equally comfortable organizing major exhibitions, and/or using the platform to address timely and provocative topics such as racial identity or issues of social justice.

A member of the Museum’s senior leadership team, the Chief Curator reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Curator will oversee these critical aspects of Museum operations:
• In partnership with the Museum’s CEO and senior leadership team, the Chief Curator guides and will manage the installation of the Museum’s opening exhibitions. This will include shaping messaging, implementing final object and graphic selection, media and film development, script writing/editing, and scholarly reviews.
• A major part of this role includes collaborating with and managing all exhibition consultants.
• The Chief Curator will develop and implement a long-term vision for the Museum’s exhibition program that utilizes a collaborative and integrated approach that significantly enhances the quality of the visitor experience, attracts positive press, and earns respect from the general public and community of historians.
• The Chief Curator will also conduct and/ or supervise the development of in-house produced exhibitions including research, artifact and image selection, digital/media production, and script writing.
• The Chief Curator will work in collaboration with the Education and Engagement department to support audience assessment, community engagement, and curricula development.

Collections Management
• The Chief Curator will develop a multidisciplinary, long-term collections strategy providing stewardship and accountability for the museum’s future collections including artifacts, works of art, archival and digital resources.
• The Chief Curator oversees and coordinates all aspects of collections management activities including acquisitions, loans, storage, security, documentation, conservation, inventory, installation/deinstallation, and digitization.
• The Chief Curator will also develop, implement, and maintain collections management systems and databases including applicable training, policy, protocols, and procedures.
Research
• The Chief Curator conducts, directs, and encourages original, independent scholarly research on African American history and culture. The curator defines topics of genuine significance and ensure alignment with the museum’s strategic goals and priorities.
The Chief Curator determines the feasibility of the topic for exhibition, publication, and/ or public programming for both general and specialized audiences.
• The Chief Curator initiates, reviews, and/
or evaluates proposals for new research projects or major shifts in existing research or curatorial initiatives. The curator will also render decisions on proposals and provide leadership and guidance on their improvement and/or implementation.
Management
• The Chief Curator recruits, trains, and supervises the museum’s curatorial department staff and consultants.
• The Chief Curator has oversight of the Center for Family History.

Qualifications
• At minimum, a Master’s degree in African American history or related field; knowledge of South Carolina history and a working understanding of African American genealogy is preferred but not required.
• A recognized expert in the field with at least three years senior management experience; minimum seven years applied and progressive museum curatorial experience.
• Evidence of and commitment to original scholarship with a proven record of initiating, curating, and delivering well received exhibitions, publications, and, to a lesser degree, public programs.
• An understanding of visitor-centered approaches to content development.
• Senior-level management and leadership experience with a track record of success in managing people, operations, policies, and budgets.
• Highly developed research, writing, and oral communication skills; the presence
and credibility to serve as an effective museum spokesperson with visitors, outside communities, supporters and donors, the public, and the media.
• A positive, proactive, and collegial work ethic.

Application Requirements
Applications should be submitted to resumes@iaamuseum.org. Applications
will only be accepted electronically.
A complete application will include a resume detailing relevant educational and work experience, and a cover letter describing the applicant’s interest in the position and three professional references. The position will remain open until filled.

 

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Funded Study — Apply by Jun. 3, 2020

Slave Ownership and the National Portrait Gallery, London. New AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership studentship. Deadline 3 June 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Birkbeck and the National Portrait Gallery are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded collaborative doctoral studentship through the REACH Consortium from October 2020 under the Arts and Humanites Research Council’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme.

This project, Slave-ownership and the National Portrait Gallery, London,  examines the links between the National Portrait Gallery and historical transatlantic slavery. In particular, it seeks to understand the impact of wealth derived from slavery on its founders, donors, and the sitters represented in its portraits, thus acknowledging a history that has long remained hidden.

The project will be jointly supervised by Dr Sarah Thomas and Dr Lucy Peltz and the student will be expected to spend time at both Birkbeck and the National Portrait Gallery, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK.

Project Overview 

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) was founded in 1856 to collect portraits of those people who made a notable contribution to British history. By closely scrutinising the early history of one particular institution – its personnel, and the collecting choices of its trustees –through the lens of slave-ownership and its profits, this project will have broad implications for the wider museum sector, exploring in particular issues of national identity and the ethics of funding that have particular currency in today’s decolonising debates.

The studentship will offer access to the NPG’s expertise and collections, working with a range of colleagues under the direction of Dr Lucy Peltz, Head of Collection Displays (Tudor to Regency) and Senior Curator 18th Century Collections. This is a particularly timely moment for a research project of this nature as the Gallery will be in the process of developing Inspiring People, a major refurbishment and redisplay of its collection which will see the Gallery relaunch in 2023 as an exciting public cultural space in which to participate, challenge and debate British history, culture and contemporary life. Consequently, this research project’s focus and findings will contribute to the Gallery’s stated commitment to increasing institutional transparency and raising important questions about the legacies of empire in British society today.

Start date: 1 October 2020 [or later, depending on situation]

Application Deadline: Wednesday 3 June 2020, 2pm

Interviews will take place online on Tuesday 16 June, 2020

For further information and instructions on how to apply, see the document attached.

All best wishes,

Dr. Sarah Thomas 
Director, Centre for Museum Cultures
Birkbeck College
London WC1H 0PD

sarah.thomas@bbk.ac.uk
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/art-history/

Centre for Museum Cultures Website: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/museum-cultures/

CFP: “Towards a More Inclusive Digital Art History” (PANORAMA: JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF HISTORIANS OF AMERICAN ART)

Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art invites submission of 500-word proposals for feature articles focused on Digital Art History to be published as part of the new initiative, “Towards a More Inclusive Digital Art History,” which is supported by a major grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Panorama (journalpanorama.org) is the first peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication dedicated to American art and visual culture (broadly defined). The Journal encourages a broad range of perspectives and approaches within an interdisciplinary framework encompassing both local and global contexts and is published by the University of Minnesota Libraries.

The goal of “Toward a More Inclusive Digital Art History” is twofold—to increase both inclusivity and access. First, in order to encourage a more comprehensive approach to the history of American art, we seek to publish digital art history scholarship that focuses on the contributions of constituencies that have historically been marginalized and/or under-researched, and to make this available worldwide, for free and with open access. Second, our priorities will be accessibility, manageability, and sustainability. To that end, we seek proposals, both collaborative and individual, from scholars with all levels of knowledge about the digital humanities and will prioritize supporting scholars who may have little or no institutional support for digital scholarship. We aim to provide a model for sustainable digital art history research that can be accessible to a wide range of scholars, including those who will need to learn digital humanities methods without institutionally provided technical assistance. We also encourage computational approaches to art-historical analysis that employ low-cost, open-source applications. In this way, the project will provide models for other scholars to emulate regardless of financial or institutional support. Finally, we plan to encourage the accessibility and sustainability of digital art history by doing something that is all-but unprecedented in the field: We will publish and preserve the datasets underlying scholars’ peer-reviewed research along with their articles and project narratives. This will enable other scholars to view and test the data on which the research is based and employ the data for their own teaching and research, thereby expanding the project’s reach.

Panorama invites submission of proposals for feature articles to be published as part of this new initiative, “Towards a More Inclusive Digital Art History.” Selected authors will be invited to participate in a Digital Humanities workshop in Washington, DC, in October 2020. This workshop will give participants the opportunity to develop their research projects with Panorama’s editorial team and experts in the field of digital publishing. The first article in this series will be published in 2021.

To submit a proposal, send your c.v. and an abstract of approximately 500 words that summarizes the topic of the proposed essay, how it represents scholarship on understudied areas of American art, and why it could benefit from a digital art historical approach. Authors do not need to identify precisely which digital methods they would like to use—this will be addressed at the workshop and determined in collaboration with Panorama editors. Instead, use the abstract to explain why the research questions addressed in the essay could benefit from—or even demand—a digital approach. The Terra Foundation has also provided some funding to support attendance at the Workshop, so please also let us know if you require assistance with accommodation and travel expenses.

Proposals should be sent to journalpanorama@gmail.com with the subject heading “Digital Art History CFP response” and are due April 15.

CFP: “Art and the Technicity of Race” (special issue of MEDIA-N: JOURNAL OF THE NEW MEDIA CAUCUS)

Megan Driscoll and Johanna Gosse are soliciting papers on “Art and the Technicity of Race.” Please see below.

Art and the Technicity of Race

A decade ago, Beth Coleman and Wendy Hui Kyong Chun introduced the concept of race and/as technology.* Turning to Heidegger’s notion of techne as prosthesis or skill, Coleman and Chun imagine race itself as a technology that can be leveraged, a tool for navigating systems of power. This distances race from its mythological status as biological fact, creating a critical framework that returns historical agency to the individual and helps us understand how race and ethnicity function in the visual–and technological–world.

Recently, the concept has received renewed attention as the intersections between race and ethnicity and the technological have come to the fore in popular discourse, raised by issues ranging from representation in film to bias in facial recognition. Critical work by scholars such as Simone Browne and Lisa Nakamura and the Precarity Lab has also continued to interrogate the technicity of race and its relationship to other technologies, both historical and contemporary. Artistic research and practice on the subject, however, has often been either neglected or instrumentalized as illustrative of a larger debate.

This special issue of Media-N responds to the urgent need to examine the state of dialogue on race and/as technology in art practice, history, and criticism. It will feature a ten years on reflection on the concept by Beth Coleman, opening discussion onto the way this framework has shaped, and has been shaped by, art of the past and present.

We seek contributions that explore how art sheds light not only on the relationship between race, ethnicity, and the technological, but on race itself as, in the words of Coleman, “a disruptive technology that changes the terms of engagement with an all-too-familiar system of representation and power” (178). Issues to consider include, but are certainly not limited to:

  • The impact of the race and/as technology hermeneutic on artistic research and practice of the past decade.
  • The influence of visual technologies and aesthetic practice on discourses surrounding sociohistorical concepts like blackness and brownness.
  • The imaging of historical and/or contemporary flows of migration and diaspora.
  • International communication media and tensions between the global/local.
  • The use of visual technologies to negotiate power between citizens and the state.
  • Light and color bias in the material/processes/procedures of photography, film, and digital media.
  • Bias and violence in both the inputs and outputs of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
  • Anxieties about race and visual truth sparked by technologies ranging from DNA testing to deepfakes.
  • Ethnicity and surveillance capitalism after 9/11 and/or the long tail of surveillance capitalism inaugurated under trans-Atlantic slavery and European colonialism.

Submissions addressing artistic practices from any time period or region are welcomed from scholars, critics, artists, designers, scientists, media-makers, and interdisciplinary researchers from across the humanities and sciences.

*See Beth Coleman, “Race as Technology,” Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies 24, no. 1 (70) (May 1, 2009): 176-207; and Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, “Race and/as Technology, or How to Do Things to Race,” in Race After the Internet, eds. Lisa Nakamura, Peter Chow-White, and Alondra Nelson (New York: Routledge, 2012), 38-60.

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Media-N, Journal of the New Media Caucus (ISSN: 1942-017X) is a scholarly, invitational, and double blind peer-reviewed journal. The journal provides a forum for scholarly research, artworks and projects, and is open to submissions in the form of papers, reports, and reviews of exhibitions and books on new media art. Media-N is an English language journal, and all submissions must be received in English adhering to the standards set by the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.

TIMELINE:

June 30, 2020: Deadline for submission of abstracts.

August 1, 2020: Notification of accepted proposals and invitation to submit paper.

December 15, 2020: Projected deadline for submission of final papers.

ABSTRACT GUIDELINES:

Please send your proposal by email with the following information combined into a single document:

-Proposal title, and a 300-500 word abstract, plus 1-2 images if desired.

-Please include your name, email, and title/affiliation on abstract.

-A condensed CV (no longer than 3 pages).

NOTE: Materials should be submitted in English, as a Word document or PDF.

File should not exceed 5MB.

SEND INQUIRIES & SUBMISSIONS TO:

Megan Driscoll, Special Issue Guest Editor: md@megandriscoll.net Johanna Gosse, Executive Editor: johannagosse@gmail.com

Edmonia Lewis on The View — VARIETY . SPICE . LIFE

For Valentine’s Day, EL is part of the conversation on The View Here’s her Cupid Caught In A Trap (1872-76) SAAM

via Edmonia Lewis on The View — VARIETY . SPICE . LIFE

JOB: Asst Prof, Early Modern @ Kenyon College

The Department of Art History at Kenyon College is accepting applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Early Modern Art History. The appointment will begin in August 2020. Candidates should have expertise in the material culture of Early Modern Europe from the Baroque to the early Industrial Age. We seek a creative colleague who can immediately contribute to re-shaping the curriculum. Applicants must be interested in offering a fresh, global perspective on permanent courses, including the Survey of Art, and developing new courses at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels. We are interested in teacher-scholars who can offer creative ways to engage with the Department’s Visual Resources Center, our Study Collection, and regional art museums located in Columbus and Cleveland. Candidates’ teaching and research should emphasize an interdisciplinary perspective that demonstrates interest in connections between Europe, the Americas, Africa, and/or Asia. We particularly welcome candidates with expertise in one or more of the following areas: architecture, museums, and pre–1900 print culture, including photography, prints, and manuscripts. Applicants should complement, not duplicate, current expertise of the department. Applicants must be able to demonstrate excellence in teaching, with evidence of support for Kenyon’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. The candidate will have the opportunity to play a leadership role in the College’s study abroad program in Rome, Italy.

Qualifications: A completed Ph.D. in Art History is required. Experience teaching beyond graduate assistantships is strongly desired at the time of hire. The successful candidate will also demonstrate potential for active scholarly engagement within their field of expertise, and to perform service to the College and the profession. The selected candidate will be expected to contribute to one of the interdisciplinary concentrations at the College, such as African Diaspora Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and Women and Gender Studies, depending on their particular expertise and interest.

Duties: Teach 3/2 load undergraduate courses, including second half of the Survey of Art and intermediate and upper-level seminars on topics from the Baroque to the early Industrial Age. The selected candidate will also serve as an advisor and mentor to students, including potential independent study and honor’s theses across the college; maintain an active program of research/scholarship leading to peer-reviewed publication; and perform service to the department and college.

How to Apply: Applicants must submit a CV, cover letter, teaching philosophy, contact information for three references, and unofficial transcripts. For more information and to apply, visit www.kenyon.edu/directories/offices-services/human-resources/employment-opportunities/

Review of applicants begins January 15, 2020

Questions: Please direct questions to the search chair, Austin Porter, Assistant Professor of Art History and American Studies, at portera[at]kenyon.edu

Symposium @ Lunder Institute, Colby College

SAVE THE DATE: March 12-13, 2020
Lunder Institute Research Symposium: Art by African Americans
Lunder Institute for American Art, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine

The Lunder Institute is organizing a research symposium in conjunction with its inaugural Research Fellows Program focused on art by African Americans. To kick off this free public event, on the evening of Thursday, March 12, the Lunder Institute and the Colby Museum will host a conversation between renowned artist David C. Driskell and Curlee R. Holton of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park. Presentations by the Lunder Institute Research Fellows, invited speakers, and members of the Colby community will take place throughout the day on Friday, March 13. Fellows will share their research on selected artworks at the Colby Museum, connecting it to important questions in the field regarding African American artists. A roundtable featuring leading academics and curators will comment on the current state and parameters of African American art history and reflect on how and why art by African Americans has been distinguished from the broader field of American art.

Confirmed speakers include: Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Princeton University; Adrienne L. Childs, Harvard University; Tuliza Fleming, National Museum of African American History and Culture; Melanee Harvey, Howard University; Key Jo Lee, Cleveland Museum of Art; Tess Korobkin, University of Maryland, College Park; John Ott, James Madison University; James Smalls, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Diana Tuite, Colby College Museum of Art; Rebecca VanDiver, Vanderbilt University.

For more information on the 2019-2020 Lunder Institute Research Fellows Program, go to www.colby.edu/lunderinstitute/2019/09/11/inaugural-research-fellows-for-2019-2020/. Questions about the symposium should be directed to Tanya Sheehan, Distinguished Scholar and Director of Research, tsheehan@colby.edu.

ACRAH @ CAA2020

Check out the description of our CAA2020 ACRAH Session “Unlearning Art History: Anti-Racist Work in PreModern Fields”: https://acrah.org/caa/caa2020/

We will also hold a Business Meeting on February 14th at 12:30pm at the Hilton Chicago, Room 4M. Join us!

 

JOB: Africa/African Diaspora @ Courtauld

The Courtauld Institute of Art seeks to appoint a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in the arts of Africa and/or the African diaspora, within the broad period from c. 1800 to the present. This appointment offers an exciting opportunity to transform The Courtauld’s teaching and research, and to provide academic leadership in fields of critical importance to the discipline, within and beyond the institute. It is one of two new posts in this broad field, the other being a Professorship.

We invite applications from early and mid-career scholars with a profile in research and teaching commensurate with their career stage.

These posts are part of The Courtauld’s commitment to a more inclusive and diverse curriculum. They are generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Application is online. You will also need to include a CV and a supporting statement of no more than 1500 words. You should also give the names of 3 referees.

The supporting statement should set out how you meet the criteria of this position, and include a brief statement about your research profile. This should include your current and future research plans, your teaching plans and experience, your administrative experience, and potential to contribute to the research profile and impact of The Courtauld. Please address the criteria set out in the Person Specification when preparing your statement.

Interviews for the position will take place on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December 2019.

If you would like an informal conversation about the roles please contact Dr Jo Applin, Head of Art History. jo.applin@courtauld.ac.uk

https://jobs.courtauld.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=323

 

2020 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP IN US ART at Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College (Winter Park, Florida) — Apply Now!

The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College seeks a Research Fellow in American Art. This is part-time (20 hours/week), non-residential position funded by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to develop, research, digitize and display the American collection. The Research Fellow will work with the Bruce A. Beal Director and members of the curatorial team to conduct in-depth and contextual research. Twin goals are to help re-position the collection for a broader audience, with research (including images, provenance, exhibition history, artist biographies, interpretation and bibliography) made available online; and to integrate the collection with both the teaching mission of the museum and with contemporary efforts to refine and widen the definition of American art.

Eligible candidates will have expertise in American art (ABD required, Ph.D. preferred) with a preference for a research focus in the 19th or 20th century. Experience teaching at the college level or curatorial experience in a university art museum a plus. The fellowship is for a 12-month period starting in January 2020; apart from a few weeks in residence in Winter Park, research can be conducted in any city providing that the fellow has access to major research libraries for American art.

To apply, please visit the Rollins career page https://jobs.rollins.edu/en-us/job/492968/research-fellow-american-art.