The Halifax-based research cluster Memory Activism: Collaborative Processes of Counter-Memorialization is facilitating a free online speaker series to promote discussions on memory activism between March 15 and May 5, 2021.
The researchers (faculty and students from NSCAD University and the University of King’s College) are leading an interdisciplinary research-creation project consisting of curatorial work and research-forwarding disruptive modes of memorialization and memory-keeping, including overlapping issues of resistance-memory and areas of connection between various experiences of difficult heritage. The research project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.
This series of collaborative discussions and keynote presentations will feature Nicholas Galanin, Sylvia Hamilton, Wambui Kamiru, Dion Kaszas, Catherine Anne Martin, Michael Rothberg, Verónica Tello, and Syrus Marcus Ware; acclaimed local and international artists, filmmakers, activists, and scholars.
“This Speaker Series is a great program element of The Memory Activism Project,” says NSCAD Associate Professor Solomon Nagler. “We are extremely grateful that these amazing scholars, artists, activists and educators will be spending time with our community to discuss their work. We are excited to host this public forum and look forward to how it will contribute to our conversations with our colleagues and students regarding the topics of memory activism.”
The online discussion will be free to attend and accessible to the public. Hosted on Zoom, the virtual talks will be secure spaces where audience members will be able to participate only through the Zoom chat.
The first talk is scheduled for Monday, March 15 at 7 p.m. AST and will feature celebrated Indigenous tattoo artist Dion Kaszas. The full list of dates, speaker bios, and event links is available at https://www.countermemoryactivism.ca/speaker-series or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
For more information on the speaker series, please contact Associate Professor Solomon Nagler at snagler@nscad.ca or countermemoryactivism@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list for this series and all future events.
Additional resources, research, and artworks on the topics of memory activism, including an interactive literature review and an online exhibition of Memory Activists Artists, are available at https://www.countermemoryactivism.ca/literature-review .