Still (the) Barbarians: A Symposium

EVA International – Ireland’s biennial of contemporary art, announces the dates and full programme for Still (the) Barbarians: A Symposium.

On 12 and 13 July, the Still (the) Barbarians programme concludes with a symposium curated by Koyo Kouoh, supported by the Johann Jacobs Museum and in partnership with Limerick 2020. The symposium will feature keynote lecture by Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith, performances by Yong Sun Gullach, and Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, with participants including Mary Evans, Prof. Luke Gibbons, Dr Declan Long, John Logan, Catalina Lozano, Dr Aislinn O’Donnell, Grant Watson, and a screening of Our Kind (2016) by Alan Phelan.

Still (the) Barbarians is the title of the 2016 edition of Ireland’s biennial of contemporary art curated by Koyo Kouoh, open to the public from 16 April to 17 July. Koyo Kouoh’s curatorial project, addresses artistic, architectural, poetic, and critical positions that interpret how colonialism, which continues to shape our present condition, has had an effect on the psyche, landscape, language, and imagination. Invasive disruptions of social, cultural, religious, and political orders have long been subject matter for artists, writers, filmmakers, architects, scientists, and activists, Still (the) Barbarians: A Symposium will explore how artists respond to postcolonial legacies, while also looking more specifically at the lasting impact that colonialism has had on the Irish language.

Curator Koyo Kouoh comments, “This year marks the centenary of the Easter Rising, a moment of great significance in the struggle for liberation from British colonial rule, and Ireland has heavily invested in commemorating this. The commemoration is somewhat detached from the trauma of the revolution, or uprising that begun the process of detangling from the coloniser. With Still (the) Barbarians: A Symposium I want to locate Ireland within contemporary postcolonial discourse and unpack some of the consequences of decolonisation still apparent today.”

Programme: Still (the) Barbarians, A Symposium

Tuesday 12 July 2016

17.30
Doors

18.00
Introduction: Koyo Kouoh
Keynote: Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith
Q&A

19.30
Performance: Re-enacting the Transnational Adoptee, Yong Sun Gullach

Wednesday 13 July 2016

09.30
Doors

10.00
Introduction: Koyo Kouoh and Alan Phelan
Screening: Our Kind (2016), Alan Phelan

10.45
Coffee

11.15
Post-Colony: Curatorial Perspectives from India and South America
Introduction: Dr Declan Long
Presentation: Grant Watson
Presentation: Catalina Lozano
Panel discussion: Koyo Kouoh, Dr Declan Long (Moderator), Catalina Lozano, Grant Watson

12.30
Performance: Media Minerals, Larry Achiampong and David Blandy

13.00
Lunch
Launch: Im/Plants publication by Mary McCarthy, National Sculpture Factory

14.00
Artists and Post-Colonial Legacy
Introduction: Koyo Kouoh
Presentation: Mary Evans
Presentation: Yong Sun Gullach
Panel discussion: Larry Achiampong, David Blandy, Mary Evans, Yong Sun Gullach, Koyo Kouoh (Moderator)

15.15
Architecture and Memory
Introduction: Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith
Presentation: John Logan
Presentation: Dr Aislinn O’Donnell
Panel discussion: Prof Luke Gibbons, John Logan, Caoimhín Mac, Giolla Léith (Moderator), Dr Aislinn O’Donnell

Closing remarks: Prof Luke Gibbons

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12 and 13 July 2016
Belltable Arts Centre,
69 O’Connell Street,
Limerick

Presented by EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial
To book a place at the symposium click HERE