An International Conference
October 9-11, 2009 on the UNC Asheville Campus
The legacy of Black Mountain College continues to inform contemporary culture in multiple realms. This conference will investigate its history as well as the multiple paths of influence, actual and possible, identifiable in the contemporary world and beyond.
Co-hosted by the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and UNC Asheville
The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and the University of North Carolina Asheville are pleased to announce Re-Viewing Black Mountain College, a three-day international conference October 9-11, 2009 to take place on the UNC Asheville campus. Scholars from all over the United States and as far away as France will gather in Asheville to share their ideas about the history and ongoing influence of the famous progressive college community located just outside of Black Mountain from 1933-1957.
In addition to over 50 scholarly presentations, the weekend conference will include poetry readings, performances, and a clay, color, and word workshop. A full conference schedule can be viewed at http:www.blackmountaincollege.org. Presenters include authors, educators, artists, independent scholars, poets, an architect, and an experimental musician. The one thing they all share is a fascination with Black Mountain College and a common belief that it was an extremely significant educational and artistic endeavor that deserves attention, study, and discourse.
Selected highlights from the weekend schedule include:
“Alone Together”: On Merce Cunningham and the Question of Black Mountain College’s Artistic Legacy – Kate Markoski, Johns Hopkins University
“Like a Girl:” Gendered Sexual Difference at Black Mountain College and the Development of Postmodernism – Jonathan Katz, SUNY Buffalo
Black Mountain College: Form as the Creator of Content – Mary Emma Harris, Scholar, NY
The Weaver and the Architect: Reconstructing the Modern Shelter – Kirsten Dahlquist, University of South Florida
Aftereffects: Buckminster Fuller and the Legacy of Black Mountain College –Eva Diaz, Pratt Institute
What Josef Albers Taught at Black Mountain College, and What Black Mountain College Taught Albers – Frederick A. Horowitz, Washtenaw College
Motion Sculpture Movement Installation: Attack Of The Killer Stripey Tubes!!! – Claire Elizabeth Barratt, Cilla Vee Life Arts
Performance of “This Paradise Apart” a play by David Hopes, UNC-Asheville
Keynote Speaker: Dorothea Rockburne
The keynote speaker for the conference is BMC alumna and acclaimed artist Dorothea Rockburne. Her presentation will take place on Saturday, October 10th at 7:00pm at UNCA. Rockburne’s Astronomy Drawings series of paintings is currently on display at BMCM+AC as part of its yearlong celebration of the women of Black Mountain College. A student at BMC in the 1950s, Dorothea Rockburne has been immersed in the contemporary art scene since that time. During the sixties she was involved in Judson Dance Theatre performances with artists such as Oldenburg and Rauschenberg. From 1965 until today she has shown internationally. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a NEA grant, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Department of Art, in 2001 and received the National Academy Museum Artist’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
