Hey! Check out this conference if you can... "Here and Now": African and African American Art and Film Conference.

"Here and Now: African and African American Art and Film Conference focuses on contemporary expressions in art and cinema from multiple perspectives within the realm of African and African American visual culture. This four-day conference looks at how African and African American artists interpreted, documented, chronicled, and created images over the last twenty years. By re-examining visual history through the voices of artists, art historians, filmmakers, photographers, activists, editors, writers, collectors and gallerists, “Here and Now” encourages a diverse perspective of the imagery created in the 21st century. For more information and a schedule of events please visit:

www.hereandnownyu.com

The conference is free, but space is limited. To pre-register email: register@hereandnownyu.com or call 212-864-4500 x264.

The conference is organized and hosted by the Tisch School of the Arts and the Institute for African American Affairs at New York University. Co-sponsored by the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Friends of MOMA."

Thursday, 15 November 2007, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

OPENING SESSION
Location: Cantor Film Center – Room 200

6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Registration/Check-in

6:30 – 7:45 p.m. Welcome Panel: How Do We See Ourselves in Art and Film
Moderator: Sheril Antonio
Panelists: Danny Glover, Manthia Diawara, Anna Maria Horsford, Zola Maseko,
Jihan El Tahri, Moussa Sene Absa, and Ed Guerrero.
8:00 – 9:00 p.m. Film: The Foreigner by Zola Maseko 1997, 17 min.

Friday, 16 November 2007, 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

ART SESSIONS
Location: King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center

8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Registration
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome
9:15 – 11:00 a.m. Panel: Black Artists and American Museums
Moderator: Bridget Cooks.
Panelists: Jonathan Binstock, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Howardena Pindell

11:15 – 1:00 p.m. Panel: Artists and Educators I: Trends in Art
Moderator: Nancy Barton
Panelists: Sandra Jackson Dumont, Sarah Lewis, Myra Greene,
Arturo Lindsay, C. Daniel Dawson

1:00 – 2:00 p.m Lunch Break

2:00 – 3:45 p.m Panel: Word and Image
Moderator: Franklin Sirmans
Panelists: Quincy Troupe, halley k. harrisburg, Carla Williams,
Richard Powell, David C. Driskell

4:00 – 5:45 p.m. Panel: Image and Exchange: Strategies at Home and Abroad
Moderator: Isolde Brielmaier
Panelists: Terry Adkins, Huey Copeland, Naomi Beckwith, Krista Thompson

Location: Cantor Film Center – Room 200

6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Keynote Conversation: Connections and Collaborations
Carrie Mae Weems in conversation with Kori Newkirk
Introduction by Deborah Willis

FILM SESSIONS
Location: Tisch School of the Arts - Room 006

11:30 – 5:30 P.m. Registration

12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Screening: Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper, documentary by St. Clair Bourne, 60 min.
Introduction by Clyde Taylor.

1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Lunch

2:30 – 5:00 p.m. Screening: Cuba, An African Odyssey, documentary by Jihan El Tahri, 2007, 120 min.
Introduction by Manthia Diawara.

5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Screening: Juju Factory, fiction by Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda, 2007, 90 min.
Introduction with Yemane Demissie.

RECEPTION
Location: Tisch School of the Arts - Riese Family Lounge, lst floor

8:00 – 9:30 p.m. Performance: Music by KAISSA
Welcome by Associate Dean Sheril Antonio, Manthia Diawara, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Danny Glover

Saturday 17 November 2007, 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

ART SESSIONS
Location: Yalincak Auditorium, Room 101

9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Registration

9:30 – 11:15 a.m. Panel: Curators and Critics
Moderator: Kellie Jones.
Panelists: Salah M. Hassan, Alvia Wardlaw, Christine Y. Kim, Trevor Schoonmaker, Cheryl Finley

11:15 – 12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

12:30 – 2:00 p.m. Panel:Contemporary Artists in Conversation
Moderator: Sarah Lewis.
Panelists: Leslie Hewitt, Wangechi Mutu, Mickalene Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, Kehinde Wiley

2:30 – 3:45 p.m. Panel:Artists and Educators II: On Particularism
Moderator: Romi Crawford.
Panelists: Whitfield Lovell, Emma Amos, Leslie King-Hammond, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Melvin Edwards

4:00 – 5:30 p.m. Panel:The Artist and the Art Market
Moderator: Nancy Lane.
Panelists: June Kelly, Jack Shainman, Charles Guice, Alvin Hall, CCH Pounder

FILM SESSIONS
Location: Cantor Film Center – Room 200

10:30 – Noon Screening: Handsworth Songs, documentary by John Akomfrah, 1986, 58 min.
Introduction with Awam Amkpa.

12:30 – 2:00 p.m. Screening: The 12 Disciples of Nelson Mandela, documentary by Thomas Harris, 2005, 73 min.
Introduction with Awam Amkpa.

2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Lunch

3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Screening: Teranga Blues, fiction by Moussa Sene Absa, 2007, 95min.
Introduction with Clyde Taylor.

5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Screening: “Homage to Ousmane Sembène” Ousmane Sembène, the Making of African Cinema by Manthia Diawara, 1993, 56 min.
Introduction with Clyde Taylor and Manthia Diawara.

RECEPTION AND EXHIBITION PREVIEW
Location: Studio Museum in Harlem

7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Exhibition: Kori Newkirk: 1997-2007

Sunday 18 November, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST AND EXHIBITION PREVIEW
Location: Whitney Museum of American Art

9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Exhibition: Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love
Welcome by Margie Weinstein

Location: Institute of African American Affairs

Noon - 1:30 P.M. Exhibition Preview and Reception: Ming Smith and Terry Boddie

FILM SESSIONS
Location: Cantor Film Center - Room 200

2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Panel: Contemporary Filmmakers in Conversation
Moderator: Manthia Diawara.
Panelists: Jacquie Jones, Mahen Bonetti, CCH Pounder and the filmmakers, John Akomfrah,
Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda, Jihan El Tahri, Zola Maseko, St Clair Bourne, Thomas Allen Harris,
Moussa Sene Absa. Clyde Taylor.

4:30 - 4:45 p.m. Closing Remarks by Deborah Willis and Manthia Diawara.

5:00 – 7:30 p.m. Screening: Drum, fiction by Zola Maseko, 2004, 94 min.
Introduction with Ed Guerrero.

Normative Behaviors: New Video by Michael Paul Britto

Normative Behaviors: New Video by Michael Paul Britto
Aferro New Media Room October 20-November 17, 2007
Opening Reception Saturday October 27, 6-9:30 PM

Gallery Aferro proudly presents Michael Paul Britto's solo show, Normative Behaviors, in the New Media Room. New and unseen work will be premiered, in addition to acclaimed works such as Ghetto Games, Authenticity of a Smile , and Super N Word. Britto says that he has "always been fascinated by the creativity spawned from not having, or being deprived. Ghetto Games explores such resourcefulness: the ability to modify one's surroundings to be more conducive to one's amusement."

"I like to challenge the viewer to remember the past, and pay close attention to what we accept in our everyday lives as being acceptable behavior from popular culture."

Britto's work has been shown internationally, including in Uncomfortable Truths -The Shadow Of Slave Trading On Contemporary Art & Design , Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, Frequency, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY, Black Panther Rank & File , Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, and S-Files, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY. He is also a 07 Smack Mellon studio recipient.

Directions

Gallery Aferro
73 Market Street
Newark, N.J. 07102

Metered parking as well as several pay lots available within just a few blocks.

From the Holland tunnel:

HOLLAND TUNL - go 1.8 mi
Continue on 14TH ST - go 0.3 mi
14TH ST becomes I-78 WEST - go < 0.1 mi
Continue on RT-139 WEST toward US 1/US 9 - go 1.2 mi
RT-139 WEST becomes (Pulaski Skyway) US-1 & 9 SOUTH - go 3.3 mi
Take the RAYMOND BOULEVARD exit onto FOUNDRY ST toward NEWARK - go 0.5 mi
Turn Right on RAYMOND BLVD - go 1.4 mi
(veer left to get onto Market St.)
Continue on MARKET ST - go 0.9 mi
Arrive at 73 MARKET ST, NEWARK, on the Right

Public transportation directions:

From NYC take a Newark bound Path train. Get off at Newark Penn Station.
From the station walk up Market street 5 blocks. Cab drivers at Newark Penn Station may contest the short distance/fare (approx 6 USD).

Behind the scenes insight into 'Uncomfortable Truths' exhibition

Behind the scenes insight into 'Uncomfortable Truths' exhibition - 11/10/2007

Audiences in Hull will be given a behind the scenes insight into the 'Uncomfortable Truths' exhibition currently at Ferens Art Gallery by the V&A (The Victoria and Albert Museum)

Zo Whitley, V&A Curator who has worked with the Hull Museums and Galleries team to bring the exhibition to Hull, will be talking about the historic significance of the abolition of the slave trade and marking this through the eyes of contemporary international artists, as the exhibition explores.

The talk will take place on Thursday 18th October at 1pm and is free to attend.

Christine Brady, keeper of art (exhibitions) at the Ferens is looking forward to Zo's talk, she said: "Zoe will be able to give a unique insight into the exhibition which we are extremely pleased to be able to showcase as part of Wilberforce 2007.

"The exhibition is extremely important and significant for the city during this bicentennial year, showing Hull's importance as a cultural venue for such national exhibitions."

'Uncomfortable Truths' features new and specially commissioned work by leading and emerging international artists highlighting an uncomfortable relationship between art and design and slavery.

The wealth that the slave trade generated was important in the patronage of British art and design and this exhibition seeks to confront and raise questions about this problematic and uncomfortable legacy.

The cross-cultural experience of the transatlantic slave trade is reflected by the choice of artists who are from the UK, Africa, Europe and the USA, including Michael Paul Britto, Lubaina Himid, Christine Meisner, Yinka Shonibare MBE and Fred Wilson.

Thanks to everyone who came through to check me at my open studio, I really appreciate it!

All stills are of new work and/or works in progress.

Opening This Week! In The Country of Last Refuge & Normative Behaviors: New Video by Michael Paul Britto

In The Country of Last Refuge
A Mashup curated by Emma Wilcox and Evonne M. Davis
October 20-November 17, 2007
Opening Reception Saturday October 27, 6-9:30 PM
Gallery Aferro 73 Market Street Newark NJ 07102
www.aferro.org

Gallery Aferro proudly presents the third annual urbanism exhibition in a series titled after the Paul Auster novel In the Country of Last Things. Themes in exploration this year by 36 local, national and international artists are geography, communication and, explicitly for the first time, violence. A fully illustrated color catalog, with essay, will be available here and at the opening. Gallery Aferro is a participant in Newark Open Doors 2007.

The artists: Bami Adedoyin, Becca Albee, Scott Andresen, AWG, Ryan Barone, Michael Paul Britto, Lori Brown, Alexander Conner, Patricia Dahlman, Peter Feigenbaum, Asha Ganpat, Dana Hanmer, Travis Hanmer, Michael Itkoff, Katarina Jerinic, Maureen Kelleher, John Maters, Sarah McCann, Stephen McKenzie, Traci Molloy, Lucas Monaco, Owen Mundy + Joelle Dietrick, Leah Oates, Deborah Orloff, Joan Pamboukes, Mike Pare, Jean-Gabriel Periot, Elisa Pritzker, Sara Ross, Anne Schiffer, Calla Thompson, Joe Waks, Barbara Wallace, Michelle Wilson

Normative Behaviors: New Video by Michael Paul Britto
Aferro New Media Room October 20-November 17, 2007
Opening Reception Saturday October 27, 6-9:30 PM

Gallery Aferro proudly presents Michael Paul Britto's solo show, Normative Behaviors, in the New Media Room. New and unseen work will be premiered, in addition to acclaimed works such as Ghetto Games, Authenticity of a Smile, and Super N Word. Britto says that he has "always been fascinated by the creativity spawned from not having, or being deprived. Ghetto Games explores such resourcefulness: the ability to modify one's surroundings to be more conducive to one's amusement."

"I like to challenge the viewer to remember the past, and pay close attention to what we accept in our everyday lives as being acceptable behavior from popular culture."

Britto's work has been shown internationally, including in Uncomfortable Truths -The Shadow Of Slave Trading On Contemporary Art & Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, Frequency, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY, Black Panther Rank & File, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, and S-Files, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY. He is also a 07 Smack Mellon studio recipient.