‘Alterity’ describes the state of being other or different, a sense derived etymologically from the Latin ‘alter’, meaning ‘other’, or ‘the other (of two)’. To alter is to make or become different, the alter ego is an ‘I’ different from our conscious self. And yet, even these basic dictionary definitions already conjure up questions: To what extent does the construction of alterity imply a comparison, a relation, and a norm? Is alterity a relational and situated concept, and if so, who inscribes and recognises difference? Can we even speak of alterity as a ‘thing’, or is it always enacted in the act of normative comparison?
In this workshop, participants are invited to discuss the ways in which notions of alterity are used, mobilised, and critiqued in art and anthropology. The aim of this workshop is to go beyond a single definition and deployment of the notion of alterity as either, for instance, an ontological ascription of radical cultural difference, or a postcolonial critique of processes of Othering. Instead, this workshop wishes to interrogate the manifold possible articulations of alterity in artistic practice and theory, building on reflections of alterity in philosophy and anthropology. While the main focus of the workshop is anthropological, it will also involve pertinent perspectives from philosophy, literature, theatre, postcolonial studies, as well as curatorial and contemporary artistic practice. As part of the Making Differences in Berlin – Transforming Museums and Heritage in the 21st Century project at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), this workshop also seeks to situate these questions within various contexts of museum representation, curating, and exhibition making: How do curators of ethnographic museums deal with alterity, how do they themselves reinscribe or reinterpret alterity, and does it matter who curates whom? And how does this differ from curating in contemporary art contexts where similar questions and themes are relevant and negotiated?
PROGRAMME DAY ONE
Thursday, 13 September 2018
9.30-10 Registration and coffee
10-10.30 Welcome and Introduction Jonas Tinius (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
10.30-12.30 Panel I Alterity and Curatorial Practice
Prof Nora Sternfeld (documenta institute, Kassel, Germany)
Dr Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany)
Alya Sebti (ifa-Gallery, Berlin, Germany)
12.30-14.00 Lunch
14.00-16.00 Panel II Alterity, Phenomenology, and the Body
Prof Emmanuel Alloa (Philosophy, St Gallen, Switzerland)
Dr Clio Nicastro (ICI Berlin, Germany)
Prof Andrew Irving (Visual Anthropology, Manchester, UK)
16.00-16.30 Coffee/Tea Break
16.30-18.30 Panel III Alterity, Botany, and Biodiversity
Prof Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll (Global Art, Birmingham, UK)
Prof Tahani Nadim (European Ethnology & MfN, Berlin, Germany)
Leone Contini (Artist, Palermo, Italy)
18.30 Reception
19.00h until late: Exhibition opening and party
Geographies of Imagination (DisOthering as Method)
SAVVY Contemporary, Plantagenstraße 31
Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin-Wedding
[Transit for participants will be organised. If you wish to travel on your own, we advise you take the bus 100 from HKW to Unter den Linden and then the subway line U6 from “Französische Straße” to “S+U Wedding”. For more information, consult the map at the back of this booklet.]
PROGRAMME DAY TWO
Friday, 14 September 2018
10-10.30 Morning Coffee
10.30-12.30 Panel IV Alterity, Performance, and Performativity
Julian Warner (Anthropology, Munich, Germany)
Prof Bernhard Leistle (Sociology and Anthropology, Ottawa, Canada)
Prof Martin Holbraad (Social Anthropology, UCL, UK)
12.30-14.00 Lunch
14.00-16.00 Panel V Alterity and Relationality
Prof Elizabeth Povinelli (Anthropology/Gender Studies, New York, USA)
Prof Nigel Rapport (Social Anthropology, St Andrews, Scotland)
Dr Rupert Stasch (Social Anthropology, Cambridge, UK)16.00-17.00 Closing remarks
16.00 Concluding remarks followed by reception
19.00 Keynote by Prof Hamid Dabashi (Columbia University) followed by drinks
This lecture takes place at and in collaboration with SAVVY Contemporary as part of the invocation and exhibition programme “Geographies of Imagination (DisOthering as Method)”.
SAVVY Contemporary, Plantagenstraße 31 Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin-Wedding
[Transit for participants will be organised. If you wish to travel on your own, we advise you take the bus 100 from HKW to Unter den Linden and then the subway line U6 from “Französische Straße” to “S+U Wedding”. For more informa- tion, consult the map at the back of this booklet.]
The symposium is open to the public and anyone is free to attend without prior registration. For more information, please contact the convenor Dr Jonas Tinius (jonas.tinius(at)hu-berlin.de). Find more information on the exact location on our partner website at the HKW (Haus der Kulturen der Welt): https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/veranstaltung/p_143155.php
Full programme can be downloaded HERE.
