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Ruth Sacks, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture, University of Johannesburg will be The Africa Institute (GSU)’s next speaker as part of its Seminar Series on Wednesday 1 May, 2024 (12:00 noon – 2:00 pm) at The Africa Institute – Auditorium (location map). Open to all, this seminar explores her latest research, ‘Sites of Mattering in Johannesburg, Kinshasa, and Lagos.’ Register to attend.
In this seminar, Ruth Sacks introduces her research practice as an artist and academic in Johannesburg, Kinshasa, and Lagos. She will reflect on the contributions of a visual arts perspective to interdisciplinary cultural studies, focusing on the politics of form and theories of materiality. Sacks discusses her work on postcolonial and colonial modernism through key sites and objects featured in her publications and exhibition practice, notably her recent monograph, Congo Style (2023), and artist book, The Remaindering (2022). A small selection of pivotal buildings and artworks from her recent and ongoing projects will be presented to illustrate the potential of experiential approaches in engaging with African visual culture. Drawing on examples from three major African metropolises, Sacks argues for the continued relevance of the African independence era in shaping responses to the challenges of living on a damaged planet.
Dr Ruth Sacks is an interdisciplinary scholar and artist whose first monograph, Congo Style: From Belgian Art Nouveau to African Independence, was published by Michigan University Press in 2023. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA), Visual Art Department, and a Research Associate at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER). Sacks has exhibited widely as an artist, with recent exhibitions including Style Congo at CIVA Museum & Archive, Brussels.
Emery Kalema, Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute (GSU). He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of the Witwatersrand. Kalema’s research interests include power and politics, body and embodiment, violence, memory, trauma and suffering. Read more.
Ruth Sacks, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture, University of Johannesburg will be The Africa Institute (GSU)’s next speaker as part of its Seminar Series on Wednesday 1 May, 2024 (12:00 noon – 2:00 pm) at The Africa Institute – Auditorium (location map). Open to all, this seminar explores her latest research, ‘Sites of Mattering in Johannesburg, Kinshasa, and Lagos.’ Register to attend.
Ruth Sacks, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture, University of Johannesburg will be The Africa Institute (GSU)’s next speaker as part of its Seminar Series on Wednesday 1 May, 2024 (12:00 noon – 2:00 pm) at The Africa Institute – Auditorium (location map). Open to all, this seminar explores her latest research, ‘Sites of Mattering in Johannesburg, Kinshasa, and Lagos.’ Register to attend.
In this seminar, Ruth Sacks introduces her research practice as an artist and academic in Johannesburg, Kinshasa, and Lagos. She will reflect on the contributions of a visual arts perspective to interdisciplinary cultural studies, focusing on the politics of form and theories of materiality. Sacks discusses her work on postcolonial and colonial modernism through key sites and objects featured in her publications and exhibition practice, notably her recent monograph, Congo Style (2023), and artist book, The Remaindering (2022). A small selection of pivotal buildings and artworks from her recent and ongoing projects will be presented to illustrate the potential of experiential approaches in engaging with African visual culture. Drawing on examples from three major African metropolises, Sacks argues for the continued relevance of the African independence era in shaping responses to the challenges of living on a damaged planet.
Dr Ruth Sacks is an interdisciplinary scholar and artist whose first monograph, Congo Style: From Belgian Art Nouveau to African Independence, was published by Michigan University Press in 2023. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA), Visual Art Department, and a Research Associate at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER). Sacks has exhibited widely as an artist, with recent exhibitions including Style Congo at CIVA Museum & Archive, Brussels.
Emery Kalema, Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute (GSU). He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of the Witwatersrand. Kalema’s research interests include power and politics, body and embodiment, violence, memory, trauma and suffering. Read more.
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