Syracuse University will host an interdisciplinary conference, "Visible Memories," on
Oct.2-4. The conference will explore the intersections between visual culture and
memory studies, with particular focus on the ways in which memories are manifested
and experienced in visible, material or spatial form. It is presented by the Visual Arts
and Cultures Cluster of the Central New York Humanities Corridor. The corridor and
conference are made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
SU has been involved in the study of public memory and visual culture for the past
seven years. The University previously hosted two major conferences devoted to the
themes of "Framing Public Memory" (2001) and "Contesting Public Memories"
(2005). Both events attracted national and international scholars from disciplines
including anthropology, rhetorical studies, philosophy, writing, geography and art.
These conferences, in addition to other events and projects conducted by the
Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) in SU's College of
Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), have come to encompass SU's Public Memory
Project, focusing on how memories of the past impact our political and cultural lives
in the present.
"SU's Public Memory Project has become a hub for collaboration among scholars
from over a dozen departments," says Anne Demo, conference organizer and CRS
professor. "We've hosted individual scholars while also supporting memory-related
projects within the Syracuse community."
As part of the "Visible Memories" conference, academics from across the globe were
invited to submit papers focusing on local sites of memory; memorials and archives;
environmentalism and representations of nature; regional, national or global tourism;
photography or cinema; digital media; and art installations. More than 100
registrants, several plenary speakers and keynote speaker New York-based
conceptual artist Ernesto Pujol will take part in conference activities.
"Visible Memories" features an innovative combination of events designed to
facilitate conversation among a variety of researchers concerned with the study of
visual culture and memory; academics and distinguished professionals in art and
design, film production and institutional archiving; and the general public. In
addition, conference keynote speaker Pujol will have an exhibition of his works on
display at the Light Work gallery. The conference includes several free events open to
the public.
FREE EVENTS OPEN TO PUBLIC
Thursday, Oct. 2
Welcome reception, 6 p.m.
Film screening and discussion with David Thorne, 7 p.m.
Everson Museum of Art, 401 Harrison St., Syracuse
Paid parking available in open lots adjacent to the museum; on-street parking also
available
Films:
Thorne lives and works in Los Angeles. From 1999-2003, his projects with Meltzer
centered on state secrecy and production of the past. His current work focuses on the
ways in which visions of the future are imagined, claimed and realized in relation to
faith and global politics. His recent projects have been exhibited in the Whitney
Biennial, the California Biennial and as part of London's Hayward Gallery traveling
exhibition program. His films have been screened at the International Film Festival in
Rotterdam, the New York Video Festival, the Margaret Mead Film Festival and the
Toronto International Film Festival, among others.
Friday, Oct. 3
Welcome reception and "Walk # 1" exhibition by Ernesto Pujol, 5 p.m.
Light Work, 316 Waverly Ave., SU
Paid parking in SU pay lots
Welcome reception for keynote speaker Ernesto Pujol. An exhibition of his work,
"Walk # 1," will be on display in the gallery featuring black-and-white digital images
following a robed figure (Pujol) walking through a Civil War cemetery in South
Carolina. The artist conceived the series as a combination between a performance
piece and installation. The exhibition is ongoing through Oct. 23. Gallery hours: 10
a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday through Friday, except for school holidays; appointments
available. For more information, contact Light Work at (315) 443-1300 or visit
http://www.lightwork.org.
"Embodying the Memories of Others," keynote address by Pujol, 7 p.m.
Watson Auditorium, 316 Waverly Ave., SU (accessible through Light Work)
Paid parking in SU pay lots
Pujol's lecture will address the formative role of memory as a theme in his art. During
the 1990s, the artist became known for site-specific ephemeral installation projects
addressing individual and collective memory and, more recently, for pressing
ecological issues, war and mourning. He is currently working as a curatorial
consultant for the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico. As an artist, Pujol is interested in
the future of the American body on the land and within architecture, reclaiming
public space as an environment for silence and meditation. For more information,
visit http://www.ernestopujol.org.
ACADEMIC EVENTS OPEN TO PUBLIC
The academic portion of the conference will be held at the Renaissance Syracuse
Hotel, 701 E. Genesee St., and consists of panels and plenary speakers on Friday, Oct.
3, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 4, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Free parking is
available at the hotel.
Scheduled plenary presentations include:
Friday, Oct. 3
Plenary Panel 1
Visual Politics and Historical Memory, 9 a.m.
Saturday, Oct. 4
Plenary Panel 2
Landscape and Memory, 9 a.m.
Plenary Panel 3
The Visual Archive, 3:25 p.m.
The conference will also feature 24 panel sessions on the following topics: Tourism
and Memory; National Memory; Death, Mourning, Memory; Installations and
Memory; Historical Absence, Erasure and Reconstruction; Mnemonic Enactment;
Conflict Zones; Memory and Authenticity: From Relics to Home Movies; Natural
Disaster and Memory; War Photography; Urban Memory; Memorial Forms;
Memory and the Archive; Interventions of Public Amnesia; Digital Aesthetics and
Mnemonic Interfaces; Racial Violence and Memory; Place and Memory; Memory
from the Grassroots and Underground; Violence, Memory and Place; Memory and
the State; War Memorials; Remembering Military Nature; Monuments, Materiality
and Figuration; and Memory and the Representation of Trauma.
Sessions with plenary speakers are open to the public, but require an R.S.V.P.
Members of the public should contact Demo at 443-1032 or atdemo@syr.edu to
register to attend academic panels. For complete information on the "Visible
Memories" conference, visit http://publicmemories.syr.edu.
Created in 2006, the Central New York Humanities Corridor is supported by a three-
year, $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded to SU to
collaborate with Cornell University and The University of Rochester for the creation
of a large-scale initiative to connect teaching and research in the humanities among
these three leading institutions. Inspired in part by the mission of the
science/technology Research Triangle in North Carolina, the Humanities Corridor
works to enhance the profile and connectivity of the humanities in Central New York
by drawing on the strengths of three Association of American Universities (AAU)
member institutions. For more information, visit http://www-hl.syr.edu/mellon/index.htm.
