Symposium on Native Performance Art

The following announcement is (belatedly) reposted from the CMA listserv:

Advancing the Dialogue: Symposium on Native Performance Art
Denver Art Museum
April 4-5, 2008

This symposium is intended to stimulate and advance the dialogue around Native performance. We invite curators, artists, scholars, art critics and students to explore current issues that are of importance to the future of performance art. In addition to panels, performances and video screenings, this symposium will be structured to facilitate open dialogue thru small group discussions around topics proposed by audience members. Friday evening reception and performance jam.

Like the village crier, Native artists use performance to analyze social conditions and offer solutions in order to create shift in the audience's thinking. Some questions that participants in the symposium will address are: What is the artist's intention in using performance as a means for transmitting knowledge? How is the artist building communities among artists and between Native and non-Native people? How do artists incorporate pop culture to transform these communities?

The camera plays an important role in documenting the moment. What are the artist's practical and aesthetic choices in using the camera with performance? Is the artist performing for the camera? Which is the art, the performance or the image? What is the role of the audience imagining the performance thru images?

How does a performance achieve "iconic" qualities and inspire other artists? What are the issues for signature works like James Luna's Artifact Piece? What are the implications of revisiting Artifact Piece?

Confirmed Participants:
Rebecca Belmore, artist; Lori Blondeau, artist; Marcia Crosby, scholar; Lara Evans, professor; Floyd Favel, artist; Greg Hill, artist and curator; James Luna, artist; Polly Nordstrand, curator; additional speakers invited and to be confirmed

General public - $25 one day/ $50 two days
DAM members - $20 one day/ $40 two days
Students with valid ID - $10 one day/ $20 two days

PLEASE APPLY: Travel stipends available up to $900 – deadline: February
15, 2008

To register or for more complete information, please contact Jennifer Pray
at jpray(a)denverartmuseum.org

This symposium is supported by the Ford Foundation.