For Immediate Release
September 18, 2023
CLARK ART INSTITUTE RESEARCH AND
ACADEMIC PROGRAM PRESENTS LECTURE
ON VIDEO’S POSTHISTORICAL MEMORY
AND COLONIAL REPRESENTATION
Williamstown, Massachusetts—On Tuesday, October 3, the Clark Art Institute’s Research and Academic Program hosts a talk by Elena Shtromberg (University of Utah / Clark Fellow), who examines how contemporary video works have confronted the persistence of colonial illustrations circulated in European travel narratives. The free lecture takes place at 5:30 pm in the Clark’s auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.
In this talk, Shtromberg expands on media scholar Vilém Flusser’s idea of posthistorical memory, wherein video functions as a new kind of memory. Works by artists José Alejandro Restrepo, Harun Farocki, and Tiago Sant’Ana employ video to reframe colonial conventions of laboring bodies naturalized for European audiences, reactivating the body as a site of resistance.
Shtromberg is associate professor of art history at the University of Utah, where she specializes in global contemporary art with a special focus on Latin America. She is the author of Art Systems: Brazil and the 1970s (University of Texas Press, 2016) and co-editor of Encounters in Video Art in Latin America (Getty Publications, 2023). She has also curated a number of exhibitions, the latest among them is a 2017 co-curated survey entitled Video Art in Latin America at LAXART in Los Angeles. At the Clark, Shtromberg works on a manuscript titled the The Politics of Memory in Video Art.
Free. A 5 pm reception in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the program. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
The next Research and Academic Program lecture is presented by Jesús Escobar (Northwestern University / Center for Spain in America Fellow), who examines the architectural experiences of two accomplished Dominican priests in the seventeenth-century Spanish world. The event takes place on Tuesday, October 24 at 5:30 pm in the Clark’s auditorium.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of some 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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