CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will explore current artistic practices, paying special attention to artists who move among Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and the United States.
“Beyond East and West: Art in a Transnational World” takes place Feb. 6 and 7 (Friday-Saturday). Free and open to the public, it requires no registration and is being held in conjunction with the Krannert Art Museum exhibition, “Beyond East and West: Seven Transnational Artists,” which runs through March 28.
“Major artists and leading scholars” from throughout the United States will take part in the conference, according to the organizers, professors David O’Brien, art history, and David Prochaska, history.
Artists include Jananne Al-Ani, Y.Z. Kami, Walid Raad and Shahzia Sikander.
Scholars include Fred Bohrer, Hood College; Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota; Holly Edwards, Williams College; Keya Ganguly, University of Minnesota; Salah Hassan, Cornell University; and Barbara Thompson, Dartmouth College.
U. of I. faculty participants include Evelyne Accad, French; Marilyn Booth, comparative literature; Okwui Enwezor, art history; Jane Kuntz, French; and Zohreh Sullivan, English.
Friday’s sessions run from noon to 5 p.m. in the Plym Auditorium of Temple Buell Hall, 611 E. Loredo Taft Drive, Champaign; Saturday’s sessions run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in 62 Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign.
The conference and exhibition are funded by a consortium of U. of I. units, including the Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society; the Chancellor’s Initiative for the Humanities in a Globalizing World; the Crossing Borders Program; the Hewlett Endowment for International Conferences; the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities; the Miller Visiting Scholar Fund; the Program for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; the Rohlen Fund for Visiting Artists; the School of Art and Design Visiting Artists Fund; Silicon, Carbon, Culture Initiative; and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory.
