14th Triennial Symposium on African Art
March 28 - April 1, 2007
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

The 14th Triennial Symposium on African Art was hosted by the University of Florida's College of Fine Arts, School of Art and Art History, Center for African Studies, and the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. Gainesville was the site for the conference, and the theme was Global Africa. Robin Poynor and Rebecca Nagy were the Co-Chairs of the conference, and Victoria Rovine was the Program Chair. Susan Cooksey and Carol Thompson have planned Museum Day. Bonnie Bernau, Director of Education at the Harn, and Agnes Leslie, Outreach Director for the Center for African Studies, have organized Outreach Day.
Please remember that you must be a member of ACASA in order to participate in the Triennial. We encourage you to renew your membership now if it has lapsed! Annual membership is based on the calendar year.

ACASA Membership Form

Scrolls of the Ancestor #IV; Wosene Worke Kosrof, Ethiopian, born 1950;
1994, Acrylic on canvas, 40 1/2 x 39 in. (102.9 x 99.1 cm);
Gift of Drs. wasrael and Michaela Samuelly, In honor of Nancy P. Mendenhall

Conference Theme

2007 Triennial Theme Statement: GLOBAL AFRICA

The theme of the 2007 Triennial Symposium on African Art emphasized the place of African expressive arts in global contexts, encouraging panels and papers that address Africa's international and trans-cultural reach. In selecting this theme, we sought to foreground the ways in which Africa arts in all media draw from and contribute to global histories, cultures, and aesthetics. These global connections were particularly dramatic in the growing field of contemporary African art, in which artists study, exhibit, sell their work, and live all over the world. We also sought to draw attention to scholarship that was animating "traditional" practices, placing longstanding forms, techniques, and beliefs within the historical networks out of which they emerged.

While the impact of external forces on Africa has been the focus of much study, the Global Africa theme places equal emphasis on Africa's impact on non-African cultures. It also incorporates the globalization of conceptions of Africa, for the continent has long served as a trope for Western ideas about the exotic. What was the impact of such conceptions on African art and artists? And how has the exhibition and study of African art been affected by these popular (mis)conceptions?

Ogun shrine shwered by Ade Ofunniyin and Yaw Shangofemi, Hawthorne Florida.
Photograph, Ade Ofunniyin 2003

Tentative Agenda

• Co-Chairs:
  • Robin Poynor
    rpoynor@ufl.edu
  • Rebecca Nagy
    rnagy@ufl.edu
• Program Chair:
  • Victoria Rovine
    vrovine@africa.ufl.edu
• Museum Day Organizers:
  • Susan Cooksey
    secook@ufl.edu
  • Carol Thompson
    carol.thompson@woodruffcenter.org
• Outreach Day Organizers:
  • Bonnie Bernau
    bernaub@ufl.edu
  • Agnes Leslie
    aleslie@africa.ufl.edu

Travel Grant

Travel Grant for Scholars Based in Africa or the Caribbean
Download the application (Word doc)
ACASA has limited funds to support travel for colleagues from African and Caribbean institutions participating in the Triennial Symposium on African Art. To be eligible you must present a paper or participate in another official aspect of the symposium. Please note that even if you receive a travel award, it will not cover the full expense of attending the symposium.

Travel Grant for Graduate Students
Download the application (Word doc)
ACASA has limited funds to support graduate students participating in the Triennial Symposium on African art. To be eligible you must be enrolled as a full-time student in a graduate program focusing on African (including African-American and Caribbean) visual art, music, performance, or a related field. You must present a paper or participate in another official aspect of the symposium. Keep in mind that even if you receive a travel award, it will not cover the full expense of attending the symposium.

Museum Day

CONSTRUCTING THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN ART
New Museum Spaces For African Art

Museum Day will be held on March 28, 2007 at the Harn Museum of Art. Two sessions were scheduled for morning and afternoon panels. Please submit panel or paper proposals to co-chairs, Carol Thompson and Susan Cooksey.

Co-chairs:

• Carol Thompson, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, carol.thompson@woodruffcenter.org
• Susan Cooksey, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, secook@ufl.edu

The recent surge of growth in art museums has included the construction of an extraordinary number of new spaces devoted to African art. Examples include: De Young Museum; Detroit Institute of Art; Museum for African Art; High Museum; Denver Museum of Art. Additionally, other museums have now reconfigured existing space, dedicating it exclusively to African art exhibitions. What do these new developments reveal about the interest in African art by collectors, audiences and museum curators, educators, and other staff? To what extent were these constituents or others involved in the planning and implementation of the space? What were their agendas and how were they realized or transformed (negotiated) throughout the planning, construction, and installation of these spaces? Can we prognosticate about the future direction of museum collections and presentations of African art (didactic strategies, visitor response/ interactivity; acquisition strategies and direction of collection growth), and, what if any effect will this have on African art History and other related disciplines? Finally, how can we use the experience of those directly involved in the configuration of these spaces to help those planning projects in the future?

Tentative Agenda

8:00-9:00a.m.	Coffee, Foyer, Harn Museum of Art
9:00a.m.-12:00p.m.	Roundtable: New Spaces for African Art in the US and Europe Presentations and Discussion
12:00-2:00p.m.	Lunch on your own
2:00-3:00p.m.	New Spaces for Art and artists in Africa-Presentations and Discussion
3:00-4:00p.m.	Roundtable - Quai Branly
4:00-5:30p.m.	Reception in Galleria and Tour of Harn Museum of Art African Exhibitions in Richardson, Exhibition Hall, Rotunda and C Galleries (Susan Cooksey and Rebecca Nagy)