This fall and winter, Cabaret Voltaire and CARAH – Collective for Anti-Racist Art History cordially invite you to a reading group. Together we’re going to read and discuss texts on (anti-)racism in art history and related topics.
The reading group meets at 18:00 at the Dada library in Cabaret Voltaire (Spiegelgasse 1) on the following dates:
- September 27, 2022
- October 25, 2022
- November 22, 2022
- December 13, 2022
Depending on the composition of the group, the discussions will take place in German and/or English.
The reading group is open to anyone interested. To participate, all you need to do is register via email to antirassismus@khist.uzh.ch.
Reading material on 27.09.2022 – The Gaze:
- Homi Bhaba «Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art», in: Artforum 33 (6), February 1995.
- Kobena Mercer «Looking for Trouble», in: Transition 51, 1991.
- McKenzie Wark «The Cis Gaze and Its Others (for Shola)», in: e-flux journal 117, April 2021.
Reading material on 25.10.2022 – Colonial Switzerland:
- Rohit Jain «How to Be Affected in Postcolonial Public Spaces? Ethnographic Remarks on a Multifocal World in the Making...», in: On Curating 35, December 2017, Decolonizing Art Institutions, pp. 119–128.
- Patricia Purtschert und Harald Fischer-Tiné «Introduction», in: Colonial Switzerland: Rethinking Colonialism from the Margins, London 2015, pp. 1–15.
Facultively, you can also watch the following videos (predominantly in German):
- Symposium «Die Postkoloniale Schweiz», mit Patricia Purtschert, Noémi Michel, Bernhard C. Schär und Fatima Moumouni, Moderation von Marcy Goldberg, Kunsthaus Zürich, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHrnyEjjrco
- «M wie Mauritius, N wie Negieren!? Eine Talkshow zu postkolonialen Verwirrungen in Bern & Beyond», mit Izabel Barros, Mardoché Kabengele und Dennis Schwabenland, Moderation von Fatima Moumouni und Bernhard Schär, Festival Fragments & Absences, Grand Palais Bern, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S96Z5cYYfnA
Reading material on 22.11.2022 – Othering:
- Renée Green «Trading on the Margin», in: Transition 52, 1991, pp. 124–32.
- Renée Green «I Won’t Play Other to Your Same», in: Meaning 7, May 1990, pp. 15–16.
Optionally, you can learn about Renée Green's exhibition currently on view at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst or watch the talk with Green, which was organized as part of the exhibition.
Reading material on 13.12.2022 – Open Letters:
- Black Artists and Cultural Workers in Switzerland, «Open Letter to Swiss Cultural Institutions, Museums, Art Spaces, Galleries and Artist-Run Spaces» (June 9, 2020) and «To All Art Spaces in Switzerland» (June 9, 2021)
- Students of Freie Universität Berlin, «Decolonial Visions: For the Appointment of a W3 University Professorship for Art and Visual Cultures of Africa at the Institute of Art History of Freie Universität Berlin» (November 16, 2022)
- Lumbung Community, «We Are Angry, We Are Sad, We Are Tired, We Are United» (September 10, 2022)
The texts will be sent to all participants after registration.
CARAH (Collective for Anti-Racist Art History) is an initiative of art historians at the University of Zurich that aims to critically question and break down racist ideologies that are rooted in art history. The collective sets itself the task of exposing and counteracting racially based inclusions and exclusions as well as blind spots in the methodological tradition of art history as an academic discipline in order to help deconstruct and overcome racism.