ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 15

International Conference

Co-hosted by BMCM+AC and UNC Asheville

at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center

October 25 – 27, 2024

Thematic Focus: Living with the Land

Keynote Speaker: David Silver

ReVIEWING Black Mountain College conference is a forum for scholars and artists to contribute original work on topics related to Black Mountain College and its place in cultural history.

The format is designed to be interdisciplinary, with sessions that will include panels, presentations, performances, and workshops. BMC itself was a uniquely interdisciplinary organization, generating output from its faculty and students that often involved the melding of the visual, performing, and literary arts. Each year, conference participation reflects this; past presentations have explored wide-ranging, fruitful intersections such as (to name just a few of the most recent examples) how Charles Olson’s “projectivist” poetics inspired works on the stage and screen; the influence of choreographer Merce Cunningham on Abstract Expressionist painters trained at BMC such as Pat Passlof and James Bishop; the photography of poet-publisher-artist Jonathan Williams; the path from BMC’s first Summer Institute in honor of Arnold Schoenberg, to the design and philosophy of contemporary summer arts programs today; a performance connecting Ruth Asawa’s sculpture to contemporary dance; and a workshop offering attendees the opportunity to weave on looms with found materials, as Anni Albers’ BMC students did.

The conference is hosted annually in the fall. ReVIEWING 15 will take place October 25 – 27th, 2024. It will take place in conjunction with BMCM+AC’s fall 2024 exhibition, The Farm at Black Mountain College, curated by David Silver and Bruce Johansen. Proposals connected to the farm and work program at BMC are welcome; the theme Living with the Land can also apply to many other disciplines and practices related to BMC, including environmental sustainability, education, visual arts, poetry, architecture, indigenous history, and more. Additionally, proposals on any theme related to Black Mountain College and its legacy are encouraged and will be considered, and, in the spirit of BMC, the conference challenges disciplinary boundaries, and invites contributions of all genres: performances, panels, multi-media proposals, and workshops are welcome.

Banner image: Kenelm Winslow, Untitled photograph of Black Mountain College work camp, late 1930s – early 1940s. Kenelm Winslow Fotofolio, collection of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. Gift of Kenelm Winslow, Jr.

Keynote Speaker: David Silver

David Silver is a professor of environmental studies and urban agriculture at the University of San Francisco (USF), where he has been since 2006. At USF, he teaches classes in urban ag, hyperlocal food systems, and food, culture, and storytelling, and serves as faculty advisor for the USF Community Garden, USF Food Pantry, and the USF Seed Library. Fiercely interdisciplinary, David has taught and published in multiple fields, including American studies, communication, environmental studies, internet studies, media studies, and urban agriculture. For over a decade, he has been researching the farm and food at Black Mountain College, practically pitching a tent in the Western Regional Archives, resulting in multiple articles, book chapters, and, in September 2024, The Farm at Black Mountain College, his book co-published by Atelier Éditions and Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, and an exhibition, co-curated with Bruce Johansen, at BMCM+AC.

Browse past conferences

Interested in sponsoring ReVIEWING and supporting BMCM+AC? Contact us at info@blackmountaincollege.org to learn more.