event details

Advancing the Dialogue: Symposium on Native Performance Art

Two days starting Friday, April 4, 9:00 am

Hamilton Building, Lower Level

This symposium is intended to stimulate and advance the dialogue around Native American performance. We invite curators, artists, scholars, art critics, and students to explore current issues that are of importance to the future of performance art. In addition to panels, performances, and video screenings, this symposium will facilitate open dialogue through small group discussions of topics proposed by audience members.

Like the village crier, Native American artists use performance to analyze social conditions and offer solutions in order to create shift in the audience’s thinking. Some questions that participants in the symposium will address are: What is the artist’s intention in using performance as a means for transmitting knowledge? How is the artist building communities among artists and between Native and non-Native people? How do artists incorporate pop culture to transform these communities?

The camera plays an important role in documenting the moment. What are the artist’s practical and aesthetic choices in using the camera with performance? Is the artist performing for the camera? Which is the art, the performance or the image? What is the role of the audience imagining the performance thru images?

How does a performance achieve “iconic” qualities and inspire other artists? What are the issues for signature works like James Luna’s The Artifact Piece? What are the implications of revisiting the Artifact Piece?

Participants include Rebecca Belmore, artist; Lori Blondeau, artist; Marcia Crosby, PhD student; Lara Evans, professor; Floyd Favel, artist; Greg Hill, artist and curator; James Luna, artist; Polly Nordstrand, curator; Tavia Nyon'o, professor; Candice Hopkins, curator & artist; Tina Majkoswki, PhD student; and Kent Monkman, artist.

Friday, April 4
9 am–5 pm  Lectures & "Open Space" group discussions
5–8 pm  Reception & artist performance jam

Saturday, April 5
9 am–5 pm  Artist panel, lectures, “Open Space” group discussions & performance by James Luna

$10/day students with valid ID , $20/day DAM members, $25/day others

Symposium takes place in the Sharp Auditorium; evening reception in Ponti Event Space (North Building).

Travel stipends available up to $900; apply by February 15, 2008. To register or for more information, contact Jennifer Pray at jpray@denverartmuseum.org.

This symposium is supported by the Ford Foundation.