The Question of Africanness Part 2 with Mel Edwards and Curlee Holton

Hosted by ‪@idsva‬ and ‪@javettartcentreattheuniver912‬ October 29, 2022.
Featuring presentations by Melvin Edwards (USA) and Curlee R. Holton (USA). Moderated by Prof George Smith (USA)
This talk continues from part one, where artists and academics Olu Oguibe and Johan Thom revealed "Africanness" as a productive site from which the expanded field of sculpture continues to spread its light across many cultures. In 1993, in the essay "The Heart of Darkness," Olu Oguibe insisted that “to discuss the ‘problems’ of modernity and modernism in Africa is simply to buy into existing structures of reference which not only peculiarize modernity in Africa but also forebode crisis.” Oguibe then proceeded to show us just how much light emanates from the ever-expanding field of contemporary sculpture via its encounter with "Africanness." By way of the poetic expression of "Africanness," as it might manifest itself in sculptural performativity, Thom showed what might exist beyond the limits of philosophical language and gave us a glimpse of the sculptural field’s infinite meaning in the visual form of a pendular brick.