Opening Remarks: Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy

Radcliffe Bailey
Windward Coast

DU BOIS IN OUR TIME is a landmark exhibition that focuses on the intersection of art and the major issues of our time, centered on the legacy of W. E. B. Du Bois and the causes he championed. The University Museum of Contemporary Art is commissioning ten internationally acclaimed American, Canadian, and West African artists, whose work is socially engaged and research-based, to offer an aesthetic contribution to the rethinking of Du Bois through today’s lens.

Participating artists are Radcliffe Bailey; Mary Evans; Brendan Fernandes; LaToya Ruby Frazier; Julie Mehretu; Ann Messner; Jefferson Pinder; Tim Rollins & KOS; Mickalene Thomas; and Carrie Mae Weems. These artists, who work in a variety of mediums and are at different stages in their careers, will investigate Du Bois’ influence today, using the vast W.E.B. Du Bois Archives at UMass Amherst for their research, along with the collaboration of five Du Bois scholars. The specially commissioned works of art for the exhibitions will have been created via a process where committed research, access to the online UMass Amherst Du Bois Archive, along with collaboration and correspondence with Du Bois scholars inform an innovative approach to artistic expression. Renowned scholars will collaborate with the artists to support the artistic process through the generation of ideas, themes, and directions. Participating scholars are: James T. Campbell, Stanford University; David Glassberg, UMass Amherst; Saidiya V. Hartman, Columbia University; Reiland Rabaka, University of Colorado; and William Strickland, UMass Amherst.

Student Union Ballroom
Symposium is free of charge.

Welcome Remarks: Provost James V. Staros

9:30 – 10:15  ·  featured speaker:  Dr. Johnetta Cole 
Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, Dr. Cole was the first African-American female president of Spelman College from 1987 to 1997; she was a faculty member at UMass Amherst in the Department of Anthropology (1970─1983), where she also served as provost of undergraduate education from 1981 to 1983.

10:30-11:15  ·  The Literary Man
Moderator: Prof. Shabazz Amilcar (Afro-American Studies, UMass)
— with Prof. Reiland Rabaka (Africana Studies, Women & Gender Studies, University of Colorado Boulder) and artists Jefferson Pinder, Tim Rollins, and Carrie Mae Weems

11:30– 12:15  ·  Art and Politics
Moderator: Prof. Susan Jahoda (Art, Umass)
— with Prof. Bill Strickland (Afro-American Studies, Umass) and artists Ann Messner and LaToya Ruby Frazier

12:30 – 2:00  ·  Lunch

2:15 – 3:00  ·  UMass and Du Bois
Emeritus Prof. Ekueme Michael Thelwell (Afro-American Studies, UMass) and artist and Professor of Art Emeritus Nelson Stevens in dialogue, as witnesses to the connection and deep roots between Du Bois and UMass in the last 50 years

3:15 – 4: 00  ·  Racial Perspective
Moderator: Prof. Manisha Sinha (Afro-American Studies, UMass)
— with Prof. Saidiya Hartman (English and Comparative Literature, and Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Columbia University) and artists Mickalene Thomas and Radcliffe Bailey

4:15—5: 00  ·  Global Legacy
Moderator: Prof. Tanya Fernando (English and Comparative Literature, UMass)
— with Prof. James Campbell (History, Stanford University) and artists Mary Evans, Julie Mehretu, and Brendan Fernandes

UMCA maintains a Permanent Collection of approximately 2,600 objects with an emphasis on drawings, prints and photographs from the second half of the 20th century. Selections from the Collection are regularly incorporated into the exhibition program and frequent use is made of the Collection for purposes of study and research by classes from the Five College area. Please visit the home page of the University Gallery for more information about our current exhibition and upcoming events.

UMCA

is the visual arts showcase of the Fine Arts Center on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Located in the Fine Arts Center complex, which was designed by the architectural firm of Roche and Dinkeloo, the Gallery opened to the public in 1975 with the mandate to contribute to the cultural vitality of Western Massachusetts by presenting exhibitions of contemporary art in all media. In addition to welcoming student, regional and national viewing audiences, the Gallery encourages the creative process by providing artists with opportunities to explore their ideas in a highly supportive environment.