Institute of African American Affairs Features Performances, Discussions by Artists-in-Residence This Spring

Institute of African American Affairs Features Performances, Discussions by Artists-in-Residence This Spring.

The Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) at New York University will host a series of performances and discussions centered on the artistic collaborations of musician Meklit Hadero and filmmaker John Akomfrah this spring as part of its 2011 Artist-in-Residence program.

All events are free and open to the public, with the exception of the April 3 Meklit Hadero concert. RSVP for all free events at 212.998.4222 and include which event(s) you would like to attend. For more, click here.

To purchase tickets for the April 3 Hadero concert, go to the Skirball Center's Shagan Box Office, visit skirballcenter.nyu.edu/calendar/meklit_hadero, or call 212.352.3101 or 866.811.4111.

Tuesday, March 29, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

“Hyphen, Mnemosyne and Spaces-in-Between—A Conversation with John Akomfrah and Meklit Hadero”

The Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) will host a series of performances and discussions centered on the artistic collaborations of musician Meklit Hadero, pictured above, and filmmaker John Akomfrah this spring as part of its 2011 Artist-in-Residence program.

This introductory panel will address the questions of invisibility, memory in practice, productive nostalgia, and the archive in times of the post-national. Location: NYU’s Silver Center, Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Washington Square East (between Waverly and Washington Place) Sunday, April 3, 2:30-3:30 p.m. “Self-Representation in African and African Diaspora Photography, Film, Music and Literature” Listen to artists in these different fields and learn how they address audiences with black images and from black and universal perspectives. At issue are questions of reception and aesthetics, but also genre, autonomy, and the specificity of black beauty. Participants include: John Akomfrah, Chester Higgins Jr., Hortense Spillers, and Tamar-kali. The event is organized with the Beauty and Fashion Symposium and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography and Imaging. Location: NYU’s Silver Center, Jurow Lecture Hall/Silverstein Lounge, 100 Washington Square East (between Waverly and Washington Place)

Sunday, April 3, 7-9 p.m.

“Meklit Hadero and Friends in Concert”

General admission: $20; NYU students, faculty, and staff: $10; non-NYU students and seniors: $15

Location: NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South)

Thursday, April 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

“The Aesthetics of Vulgarity”

When the engines of change are unleashed a space can be created often defining modernity as a moment of vulgarity. This panel discussion, which includes Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Fred Moten, and Lesley Lokko, considers how the concept of change and liberation can be embraced as a “productive vulgarity” and asks if modernity can also function as a moment of beginnings, the time of the post-national, and the re-imagining of Pan-Africanism.

Location: Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth Street, Room 101 (at University Place)

Monday, April 11, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

“The Tizita Chronicles: Memory, Archive and Longing in African Diaspora Cultural Practices”

Though the concept and the music of Tizita emerge from Ethiopia, its implications reach far beyond this region. Tizita frames one's relationship to the past and to one's origins, and allows a broad space for integrating the inevitable losses that, at least in part, define every human life. The Tizita Chronicles, which includes a combination of film, music, and short talks, uses the concept of Tizita as a lens to explore cultural memory, both collective and individual, as it evolves in the African Diaspora and its artistic expressions.

Location: Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth Street, Room 200 (at University Place)

Thursday, April 21, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

“Astro Black Hauntology”

This session re-imagines Pan-Africanism by considering the specters of African independences, black nationalism, and Afro-futurism. Participants include Coco Fusco.

Location: Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth Street, Room 101 (at University Place)

Monday, April 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

John Akomfrah and Meklit Hadero will present their collaborative works to fuse music with visuals using the themes and questions posed in the opening panel: invisibility, memory in practice, productive nostalgia and the archive in times of the post-national.

Location: Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth Street, Room 200 (at University Place)

Meklit Hadero, whose music combines jazz, folk, and East African traditions, released "On A Day Like This…" in 2010. For more, go to: www.meklithadero.com. John Akomfrah, born in Ghana and raised in England, has directed over a dozen films and won numerous awards. His latest film is “Mnemosyne” (2010), an essay exploring perceptions of belonging and alienation and the shifting boundaries of expectation and reality. For more, go to: www.smokingdogsfilms.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE

The Institute of African American Affairs

The Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) at New York University was founded in 1969 to research, document, and celebrate the cultural and intellectual production of Africa and its diaspora in the Atlantic world and beyond. IAAA is committed to the study of Blacks in modernity through concentrations in Pan-Africanism and Black Urban Studies.

NYU Skirball Center

The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for New York University and lower Manhattan. Led by executive producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and senior director Michael Harrington, the programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU's mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. A vital aspect of the Center's mission is to build young adult audiences for the future of live performance. For more, go to: www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu.

Press Contact: James Devitt || (212) 998-6808