Keynote Speakers - CONVIVIAL CULTURES | XI Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture - Kathy-Ann Tan

DECOLONISING SOLIDARITY IN THE ARTS AND CULTURES: A CURATORIAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

In a global moment where intersectional forms of systemic oppression, racism and social injustice continue to be the prevailing norm, decolonial strategies of resistance and self-empowerment in/through the arts are ever more imperative. The notion of solidarity has become an important, if disputed, concept within this field, as artistic and cultural institutions become more aware of the importance of standing with BIPoC* (Black people, Indigenous people and People of Color) communities by supporting their art and work. Regrettably, however, institutional acts of solidarity often remain superficial, as the management levels of these organisations stay entrenched in structural whiteness and its myriad forms of social privilege and cultural capital. How then can we decolonise the notion, but more importantly, the practice, of solidarity in the arts and cultures? How can we change the (soft) architectures of institutions in order to demand accountability and enact real change? Within the spaces of the western art academy and university, how can one develop a critical practice that decenters whiteness in order to foreground anti-colonial traditions of knowledge, philosophy, ritual, healing, intimacy and survival? How can the activation of body-based artistic and curatorial practices challenge dominant western systems of representation and open up ways to think about forms of power without domination? With these questions in mind, this keynote lecture will discuss and expand upon decolonial curatorial practice as a practice of radical solidarity, collective care and transformative justice.

Biography

Kathy-Ann Tan is a Berlin-based curator, writer and independent scholar of the visual arts and performance, postcolonial and decolonial theory, critical diversity and gender/queer studies. She is interested in alternative models of art dissemination, exhibition-making and institution-building that are attuned to issues of social justice in the contemporary moment. Her ongoing project Decolonial Art Archives aims to collaboratively build a forum for artists, curators and cultural workers to develop ways of interrogating colonial narratives. As a former full-time academic, she has extensive experience in teaching, research, publishing and public speaking.