Artivism: Art History and Heritage in Global Conflict
15th Annual Art History Graduate Student Symposium
Keynote speaker: Dr. Elisabeth Friedman.
Associate Professor, Art History & Visual Culture, Illinois State University
In times of warfare and political conflict, art inspires and comforts. Art challenges official narratives and humanizes violence. Art liberates, and expresses the inexpressible. For these reasons, artworks, museums, archaeology sites, and other heritage sites are routinely damaged during geopolitical conflicts. Rutgers Art History’s 15th Annual Graduate Student Symposium aims to foster conversations about art and heritage in crisis, and the expressive role of art in contemporary conflict zones (e.g. Palestine, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Syria, Mali, etc.). Scholarship engaged with “artivists”, or contemporary artists who utilize artistic expression for political ends and protest, is of particular interest, as well as studies of censorship and/or annihilation of artworks.
Presentations:
Treasure Mountain: Preserving the Endangered Legacy of Medieval Armenia – Ana Gasparyan
UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) Programme: Preserving and Protecting Documentary Heritage in Areas Affected by Conflict – Eleanor Senglaub
Heritage in Crisis Central Turkey College and Its role in shaping Armenian Identity in Late Ottoman Aintab – Zeki Furkan Sarilican
Research-Based Art in Chinese Contemporary Art -A Case Study of Exhibition About War in Myanmar – Yijing Li
Subverting Wartime Narratives: Queer Ukrainian Artists Redefining Resilience and Heroism – Karyna Vovkotrub
Rendering the Invisible Visible: Two Decades of Visual and Architectural Resistance in al-Araqib, Naqab/Negev Desert – Ruslana Lichtzier
Queerness, Blackness, and the Body in Post-Revolutionary Cuba: Carlos Martiel and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara – Caelen Trujillo
Connecting Walls Palestinian and Irish Republican Mural Collaboration in West Belfast – Erin Bourget
🕘 9:00 – 9:20 AM
Welcome and Opening Remarks
🕘 9:20 – 10:40 AM
Session 1: Heritage in Crisis
- Central Turkey College and Its Role in Shaping Armenian Identity in Late Ottoman Aintab – Zeki Furkan Sarılcan
- Treasure Mountain: Preserving the Endangered Legacy of Medieval Armenia – Ana Gasparyan
- UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) Programme: Preserving and Protecting Documentary Heritage in Areas Affected by Conflict – Eleanor Senglaub
- Q&A
☕ 10:40 – 11:00 AM
Coffee Break
🕚 11:00 – 12:20 PM
Session 2: Contemporary Artistic Resistance
- Research-Based Art in Chinese Contemporary Art: A Case Study of Exhibition About War in Myanmar – Yijing Li
- Subverting Wartime Narratives: Queer Ukrainian Artists Redefining Resilience and Heroism – Karyna Vovkotrub
- Rendering the Invisible Visible: Two Decades of Visual and Architectural Resistance in al-Araqib, Naqab/Negev Desert – Ruslana Lichtzier
- Q&A
🍽️ 12:20 – 1:20 PM
Lunch Break
🕐 1:20 – 2:20 PM
Session 3: Collaborative and Embodied Artivism
- Connecting Walls: Palestinian and Irish Republican Mural Collaboration in West Belfast – Erin Bourget
- Queerness, Blackness, and the Body in Post-Revolutionary Cuba: Carlos Martiel and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara – Caelen Trujillo
- Q&A
☕ 2:20 – 2:40 PM
Coffee Break
🕑 2:40 – 3:50 PM
Keynote Address
Photography as Archive: The Art of Dor Guez – Dr. Elisabeth Friedman
🕒 3:50 – 4:00 PM
Closing Remarks
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://tinyurl.com/AHGSOSymposiumArtivism