Imaging Black Europe stages an encounter between Black Britain and Black Germany, narrated through historical images of these communities. Carby and Campt enliven these images from the early twentieth century, using them to visualize the central historical conflicts and contexts that shaped the experiences of Black Europeans in this period. Using an innovative format of alternating presentations that weaves together and overlaps the stories of members of these communities, the speakers will explore new forms of ‘seeing’ and ‘telling’ that seek to tell an alternative narrative of Black Europe which allows us to see this history through the vantage point of Black Europeans themselves. In this way, they try to tell a history of Black Europe that challenges our assumptions about the African Diaspora, and inspires us to see the relationship between images, history, identity, and community both differently and more complexly.

Tina Campt is Professor of Women’s Studies and Africana Studies at Barnard College. Campt received her B.A. from Vassar College and her Ph.D. from Cornell University. She is the author of Other Germans: Black Germans and the Politics of Race, Gender and Memory in the Third Reich (2004); “Gendering Diaspora,” an edited issue of Feminist Review; and Der Black Atlantic with Paul Gilroy. Her most recent book, Matters: Archive, Photography and the African Diaspora in Europe, is forthcoming.

Hazel V. Carby is Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of African American Studies, Professor of American Studies and Director of the Initiative on Race Gender and Globalization at Yale University. Her books include Reconstructing Womanhood (1987), Race Men (1998), and Cultures in Babylon (1999). Professor Carby has published numerous articles, most recently “Postcolonial Translations,” “US/UK Special Relationship: The Culture of Torture in Abu Ghraib and Lynching Photographs,” and “Becoming a Modern Racialized Subject: ‘detours through our pasts to produce ourselves anew,’ an exploration of the influence of Stuart Hall”. Her current book–in–progress is Child of Empire.

Up/Down, North/South is a series of three public dialogues between multidisciplinary artists and scholars. Organized as part OFF/SITE, a collaboration between The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Goethe-Institut New York, these programs draw on the notion of geography to focus conversations on the role of place in artistic production. The discussions will address both local concerns about the relationship between the urban environment and aesthetics; as well as art-making practices in black European society. Questioning art historical discourses that have emerged in the wake of Communism between “East” and “West,” Up/Down, North/South emphasizes ideas of cultural syncretism and antagonism across European and US contexts.

OFF/SITE is a collaboration between The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Goethe-Institut New York.

Seating is available on first-come, first-served basis. Please make sure to arrive early as an RSVP does not guarantee a confirmed seat.
This is event will take place at the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building NOT at The Studio Museum in Harlem.