Videos and Archives on Non-Racialism
The JWTC - Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism is an academic event at which scholars, artists and researchers from around the world convene to discuss global problems from a Southern perspective. This year, the JWTC will take place from June 29 to July 11 in six South African cities, beginning in Johannesburg and ending in Cape Town. Videobrasil has been invited to participate in this year’s edition, themed “Archives of the Non-Racial.” Nine works from the Association’s Collection will be presented prior to each public meeting focusing on issues such as Post Humanism; How to Deracialize International Law; Intimacy; Employment and Unemployment; Post Caste; History of Black Awareness; African Art, and the Caribbean. The selection of pieces from the Collection was undertaken in partnership with PUC in Minas Gerais, via its Center for Research on Image Studies (Núcleo de Pesquisa em Estudos da Imagem), and coordinated by Eduardo de Jesus.
The JWTC will feature videos by the Brazilian artists Marcondes Dourado, Cinthia Marcelle, Wagner Morales, Virgínia de Medeiros, Marcellvs L., Ayrson Heráclito and Danillo Barata, plus China’s Liu Wei and the Zambian-born, Johannesburg-based artist Clive Van Den Berg. The pieces will be screened in order to encourage debate among the participants. Participation in the Workshop was the first palpable outcome of Videobrasil’s partnership with the Center for Research on Image Studies, establishing a direct connection between the academic institution and Videobrasil, through research into the Association’s Collection (artworks and documentation). As a result, mappings will be developed and made available on PLATFORM:VB and serve both as a research strategy and as a possibility for dialogue between researchers and students, as well as the general public.
Prior to featuring artworks from its Collection in a bid to prompt debate on race in South Africa, Videobrasil took part in the workshop “Summer Conversations,” held in January in São Paulo, which served as a pre-run for the JWTC. Over the course of two days, debates and meetings were held at the Goethe Institut headquarters featuring artists and researchers from Brazil, South Africa and the United States. Finally, a panel open to the public was held at the Sesc Pompeia Warehouse, which hosted the 30 Years show of the 18th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil, also preceded by screenings of Videobrasil Collection pieces related to the topics of discussion. Click here to learn more.
JWTC was established in 2004 by initiative of the Humanities Research Institute of the University of California. Presently, the Workshop is partners with the Goethe Institut, the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute of the Duke University (Durham, USA), and the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa).
In addition to participating in the Workshop, Videobrasil is presenting in South Africa a show retracing the trajectory of video within the arts context. Videobrasil 30 Years will feature in Johannesburg and Cape Town, presenting works that draw an overview of the technical possibilities, aesthetic propositions, and political intentions of video. Curated by Solange Farkas, the show features 20 pieces by Brazilian and international artists who participated in different editions of the Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil. To find out more about the show’s program: click here.
JWTC
Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER)
Johannesburg 2050
Tel 27 11 717 4229