The 30th Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on

African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora

School of Business Auditorium, Howard University

Dates: April 5-7, 2019

(Student Sessions April 4)

Critical In/Sight: Contemporary Developments in the History and Practice of Black Visual Culture

How do artists, art scholars and art administrators proliferate critical sight to help us envision a better world?

As the James A. Porter Colloquium celebrates 30 years, we seek to advance the discourse on African American art and art of the African Diaspora by assessing the state of the field. “Critical In/Sight” will consider how artists and art scholars of the African Diaspora are establishing new frontiers in art criticism as well as socio-cultural critique. Focusing on black visual culture alongside artistic practice, proceedings will explore definitions as well as modes of constructing and practicing critical vision.

Ten years ago, Dr. Floyd Coleman, Porter Colloquium founder, convened the Porter Colloquium under the theme “Trajectories: Discourse and Critique in African American Art & Art of the African Diaspora.” In the spirit of that important theme, the 2019 Porter Colloquium will interrogate “the complexities, the multiple levels of meaning, the subtleties, the contradictions in recent artistic production, art scholarship,” and the critical reception of Black Visual Culture. This colloquium aims to shed light on new critical queries that guide artists, curators and scholars in the production and interpretation of black creative expression.