WETRANSFER: Diasporic and Situated Knowledge | Bétonsalon, Paris2017
An invitation to reflect on the diasporic in contemporary artistic practice in France organized by artist Nathalie Muchamad focusing specifically on the notions of “carnivalization of identities” and the experience of carnival’s power of disidentification. The program, entitled WETRANSFER: Diasporic and Situated Knowledge and held at Bétonsalon in Paris, also included artists Jean-François Boclé, Tarek Lakhrissi and Mukerem Tuncay and the cultural organization Mémorial ACTe.Skype intervention: a response to Muchamad’s and Boclé’s video essays that stemmed from their experience of the Guadeloupe Carnival in its activist version as mas, framed against my own theorization of the modern carnivals of the Americas in the aftermath of the Middle Passage.
Tilting Axis 3: Curating the Caribbean | NGCI, Cayman Islands 2017
As part of Tilting Axis 3: Curating the Caribbean, I participated in the panel The Spaces of Exhibitions: Traditional vs Non-Traditional Spaces moderated by Tobias Ostrander of PAMM with Sean Leonard of Alice Yard and Eungie Joo. Tilting Axis is organized by ARC Magazine and Fresh Milk with support from Perez Art Museum Miami and Res Artis.Paper: Roadworks: Processional Performance and the Diasporic Articulation of the Curatorial.Borrowing from Christopher Cozier’s characterization of the artwork of masman Peter Minshall as roadwork, and reflecting upon Homi Bhabha’ assessment of William Kentridge’s processional ethics, I proposed processional performance as an articulation of the curatorial under conditions of diaspora and dispossession.Watch the 25-min video here.
Entertainment and Art Law Society Q&A | Tulane Law School, New Orleans 2017
The Entertainment and Art Law Society of Tulane Law School invited Claire Tancons to reflect upon issues of copyright and intellectual property based upon her experience working at the intersection of Carnival and processional performance within a global art context.Q&A: Carnival & Copyright, an informal exchange between curator Claire Tancons and Tulane Law School students and faculty building upon curatorial practice and
legal expertise to articulate the ethical challenges inherent in working with creative communities in the public sphere.
Even Magazine Film Screening | The Metrograph, New York 2017
On the occasion of editor Jason Farago’s interview with Matthew Barney for their new issue, Even Magazine http://evenmagazine.com/ is organizing screening of Barney’s rarely-seen film De lama lâmina, shot during carnival in Salvador de Bahia in 2008.Conversation:Post-screening conversation between Even Magazine editor Jason Farago ,De Lâma Lamina performer, musician and composer Melvin Gibbs and Claire Tancons
Mixed Media Lecture Series | Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore2017
The annual Mixed Media Lecture of the Art History Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) coordinated by Monica Amor. Recent mixed-media lecture series have featured Amelia Mesa-Baines, Rick Lowe and Shamim S. Momin.Lecture: Sidelong Glance and Sideway Steps: The Processional Side of Performance
Cranbrook Lecture Series | Cranbrook Academy of Art, Detroit 2017
Cranbrook Academy of Art’s lecture series considers the consequences of globalization on creative practice and social engagement – from issues of cultural homogenization to the politicized body to neo-liberalism – and questions how pressure for global cultures and multiple identities fuels the communication of ideas. Other guests speakers in the series this year include Kristi McGuire, Sampada Aranke and Ebony G. Patterson.Lecture: Carnival is not the CostumeVisiting Critic Claire Tancons discusses her work on Carnival-inflected performance at the invitation of Fiber Art Department Artist-in-Residence Mark Newport.
Animate Entities: Objects in Performance | University of Toronto 2016
03.18-19. Animate Entities: Objects in Performance
A Gathering of scholars, poets, puppeteers, curators, and artists at the University of Toronto for two days of public presentations, dialogues and performances organized by Gabriel Levine at the Jackman Humanities Institute, Program for the Arts, Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies, University of Toronto
Keynote: Flesh as Object in Circum-Atlantic Performance. A Critique of the Exhibitionnary Complex
March Meetings 2016 | Sharjah Art Foundation 2016
03.12-13. The ninth edition of Sharjah Art Foundation’s March Meetings, Education, Engagement and Participation, will consider how institutions, initiatives, curators and artists have increasingly prioritised their relationships with audiences and communities through current thinking around ideas of education, engagement and participation.
Panel discussion: Curating as Communities with Ahmed El Attar, Zoe Butt, Susanna Chung and Claire Tancons
Les Amis du Printemps de septembre | Institut Supérieur des Arts de Toulouse 2016
03.07. Les Amis du Printemps de septembre
A conference by Claire Tancons, associate curator of the first biennial edition of Printemps de septembre, at l’Institut Supérieur des Arts de Toulouse, at the invitation of Les Amis du Printemps de septembre. In this conference, titled etcetera after the name of her project, Tancons will address the question of what a contemporary civic ritual could be in France today.
Lecture: etcetera
Paradiso: Performing the Renaissance | Performa Institute @ New York University 2015
04.25. Paradiso: Performing the Renaissance conference organized by RoseLee Goldberg and Adrienne Edwards with artist Shahzia Sikander and Alexander Nagel, Mark Franko, Christopher Heuer, Kate Lowe, Katharine Park, Alessandra Russo, Pamela Smith, and Rebecca Zorach, Performa Institute at New York University
Invited lecture: “Works of Art Wandering through the Streets”: Processional Performance and the Expansion of the Exhibitionary Complex
Victor Harris’ 50th Anniversary | Dillard University, New Orleans 2015
04.04. Victor Harris’ 50th Anniversary Masking Indian and Walking in the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi, Dillard University, New Orleans
Invited lecture: The Spirit of Fi Yi Yi: Exhibiting the African Diasporic Aesthetics of Mardi Gras Indian Practice in the work of Victor Harris, Big Chief of the Mandingo Warriors
ARE YOU ALIVE OR NOT? Looking at ART Through the Lens of THEATRE | Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam 2015
03.19. ARE YOU ALIVE OR NOT? Looking at ART Through the Lens of THEATRE curated conference with Claire Bishop, Claire Tancons, David Weber-Krebs and Joanna Warsza organized by Gabriëlle Schleijpen, Rietveld Academy’s Studium Generale at De Brakke Grond Theatre, Amsterdam
Trialogue with folklorist Jack Santino and artist Florian Göttke: Carnival of Griefs and Shrines to Democracy
The Politics of Carnival | Paris Diderot – Paris 7 University2015
02.14. The Politics of Carnival, international conference organized by Aurélie Godet and Maria Laura Réali with Samuel Kinser, Denis-Constant Martin, Milla Cozart Riggio and Helen Regis among others, Paris Diderot – Paris 7 University
Closing keynote: Carnivalscape: A Circum-Atlantic Genealogy of Carnival
Question of Practice | Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia 2014
11.17. Question of Practice, Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia
Conversation with Kristy Edmunds
On Publicness | Tate Modern, London 2014
09.29. On Publicness, Tate Modern, London
Conversation with Catherine Wood and panel discussion with Santiago Serra and Chantal Mouffe, moderated by Jen Harvie
The New Performance Turn | Para Site, Hong Kong 2014
04.05. The New Performance Turn, its Histories and its Institutions international conference organized by Cosmin Costinas and Ana Janevski, Para Site, Hong Kong
Invited lecture: Carnival: A Genealogy of Performance
MOVE…ment journal | Witte de With, Rotterdam2013
11.06. MOVE…ment journal, Witte de With, Rotterdam
Magazine launch with Federica Bueti and Jan Vanwoert
Black Collectivities | MCA Chicago2013
05.04. Black Collectivities: Contemporary Collective Formations in Africa and its Diasporas conference, organized by Huey Copeland and Naomi Beckwith, MCA Chicago
Invited lecture: Taking It To the Streets: Of Public Ceremonial Culture and African Diasporic Aesthetic and Political Practices
Beyond the Arab Spring | Aga-Khan University, London2013
03.14. Beyond the Arab Spring: The Aesthetics and Politics of Popular Revolt international conference organized by Pnina Werbner, Martin Webb and Kathryn Spellman, Aga-Khan University, London
Invited lecture: Carnival, Capitalism and Slavery. Carnival Periodization as Prefigurative Politics
Off Center: Art Writing from the Region | Emory University, Atlanta2012
Locus Redux: Speaking across Contexts | Yuchengco Museum, Makati City2012
Office of Possibilities | CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw 2012
02.01. Office of Possibilities, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
Invited lecture: Carnival, Procession, Protest – Performance, Reenactment, Protest (on Occupy Wall Street)
Les Orphelins de Fanon | La Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel 2013
01.21. Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc: Les Orphelins de Fanon conference, La Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel
Invited lecture: L’An 1 de l’Occupation Américaine (sur Occupy Wall Street)
Institutions by Artists: The Convention | Simon Fraser University, Vancouver 2012
10.12. Institutions by Artists: The Convention, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
Conversation with Christopher Cozier of Alice Yard
Exhibiting Slavery | Quai Branly Museum, Paris2011
05.13. Exhibiting Slavery, Methodologies and Practices International colloquium organized by Françoise Vergès, Quai Branly Museum, Paris
Invited lecture: Carnival as a Site of Memory for Slavery
Terceira Metade / Third Half | Museo de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro 2011
03.31. Terceira Metade / Third Half conference, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro
Invited lecture: Carnaval do Sublime
Fillip magazine launch | The Western Front, Vancouver2011
03.18. Fillip magazine launch, The Western Front, Vancouver
Conversation with Jesse McKee
Black Jacobins | ATRIUM, Fort-de-France 2011
03.01. Black Jacobins: Negritude in a post-global 21st century conference organized by International Curators Forum, ATRIUM, Fort-de-France
Invited lecture: Curating Carnival or the Paradox of Performance in Contemporary Caribbean Art Discourse and Display
Something You Should Know | École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris 2010
10.23. Something You Should Know seminar organized by Patricia Falguières, Elisabeth Lebovici, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Natasa Petresin-Bachele, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Invited lecture: Pratique curatoriale interculturelle, le Paradigme du Carnaval et le Paradoxe de l’Art Performance
Research Forum Seminar | The Courtauld Institute, London2010
10.16. Research Forum Seminar organized by Sarah Wilson, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Invited lecture: Cross-Cultural Curating, The Carnival Paradigm and the Paradox of Performance Art
The Laboratory | University of Göteborg2010
10.06. The Laboratory organized by Stina Edblom, University of Göteborg
Invited lecture: Carnival Return or Carnivalesque Turn. On the Paradox of Performance in Contemporary Art Practice
The Task of the Curator | University of California at Santa Cruz 2010
05.14. The Task of the Curator: Translation, Intervention and Innovation in Exhibitionary Practice International Academic Conference organized by Lucian Gomoll and Lissette Olivares University of California at Santa Cruz
Invited lecture: Carnival as Art, Procession as Exhibition. Art, Agency, and the Re-Possession of Perception
Carnaval da Vitória Screening | StudioFilmClub, Port of Spain 2010
02.11. StudioFilmClub presented by Peter Doig, Port of Spain
Lecture and screening of Carnaval da Vitória (1978) by António Ole
Contemporary Curatorial Practice Lecture series | Platform 3, Munich 2009
Contemporary Curatorial Practice Lecture series, Platform 3, Munich
Invited lecture: Carnival: Another Relational Aesthetics
Guest Speakers Series | State University of New York, Buffalo 2009
10.26. Guest Speakers Series, SUNY, Buffalo
Invited lecture: Circum-Atlantic Carnivals: Art from New Worlds
Art on Parade | Goethe Institute, New York 2009
10.23. Art on Parade: Between Procession and Demonstration, Carnival and Spectacle, Goethe Institute, New York
Panel discussion with Marlon Griffith, Arto Lindsay and Jennifer Scott organized in collaboration with Tobi Maeir
Cultures on Parade | The New School, New York 2009
Karyn Olivier Art Seminar | Temple University, Philadelphia 2009
On Biennials | C Festival Arte Contemporanea, Faenza 2009
5.19. On Biennials International festival, C Festival Arte Contemporanea, Faenza
Conversation with Arto Lindsay
Creativity in Urban Settings | Bocconi University, Milan 2009
Hybrid Spaces | Wexner Center for the Arts 2009
05.02. Hybrid Spaces, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus
Panel discussion with Robin Rhode and Hamza Walker moderated by Catharina Manchanda