Symposium: Global Appalachia
Since the 1980s, curators have used various metaphors for globalism to organize exhibitions: from an old model of “east and west,” to a map of transglobal “trade winds,” to a dispersed network of “platforms,” to an affirmative “archipelago” of the new world order. The IKT 2022 symposium proposes “Global Appalachia” as a term that both extends and intervenes in this ongoing conversation. “Global Appalachia” does not function only as a metaphor, it’s also a method rooted in the specificity of place. Focusing on environmental degradation, racial injustice, and toxic philanthropy, the symposium will explore how regional artists, activists, and curators confront these intersecting issues. Through the lens of this region, the symposium will think critically about problems and solutions that echo around the globe, aiming to foster a dynamic conversation that challenges stereotypes and outdated intellectual modes, and proposing new models for thinking about how art, curating, and activism of this region matter greatly to a global context.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Frank X Walker - Professor of English and African American and Africana Studies and Director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Terry Smith - W. Mellon Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory at the University of Pittsburgh
Coco Fusco - Interdisciplinary Artist, Writer, Curator and Proffessor at the Cooper Union School of Art
ARTIST PRESENTATIONS
Ché Rhodes (Louisville, KY)
Elizabeth Mesa-Gaido (Morehead, KY)
Vian Sora (Louisville, KY)
Ceirra Evans (Louisville, KY)
Anissa Lewis (Covington, KY)
Hannah Drake - Poet, Blogger, Activist, Public Speaker, and Author
GLOBAL APPALACHIA PANEL
Mel Chin – Conceptual Visual Artist
Jon Cherry – Photojournalist & Editorial photographer
Robert Gipe – Author
Rebecca Adkins Fletcher – Associate Professor of the Department of Appalachian studies at Eastern Tennessee state University
Moderated by Toya Northington – Director of Equality, Inclusion and Belonging at the Speed art Museum
The symposium was co-organized by Miriam Kienle, Jessica Bennett Kincaid, Sarah Lindgren, Toya Northington, Chris Reitz, Julien Robson, Jennifer Sichel, and Joey Yates.