History Professor Remembers Black Performance Artists

Friday, September 11, 2015

Aleck Z. Woogmaster, GoLocalPDX Contributor

keyon gaskin. its not a thing (Bedlam, St Paul, MN). Photo Credit: Farrington Starnes

A professor from the San Francisco Art Institute will examine works of conceptual performance art from historical Black artists on Saturday, September 12th.

Sampada Aranke is an Assistant Professor of History and Theory of Contemporary Art at SFAI. As part of TBA Festival Flight:Identity & The Body, Aranke will examine "critical and often forgotten works by black conceptual performance artists." Aranke has been widely published and is currently working on a manuscript entitled Death’s Futurity: The Visual Culture of Death in Black Radical Politics.

Identity & The Body is one of two TBA Festival Flights, and deals with issues of "race, ethnicity, gender, culture, and their intersections." Artists, scholars and individuals of all walks of life will be represented as part of the Festival Flight performance lineup. Aranke's lecture will provide a brief history of black performance artists from the 1970's.

"Taking the body seriously, these artists engage violent histories against black flesh, while opening up possibilities to imagine a fugitive future."

Aranke will be at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art at 2 PM on Saturday, September 12th. Aranke will also be serving as Guest Faculty,exploring artist keyon gaskin’s performance it’s not a thing at 7 PM later that day.

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