Interdisciplinary African Arts conference to honour El Anatsui, Udechukwu

THE Faculty of Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka announces its interdisciplinary African Arts Conference Series in honour of Nigerian and other African scholars who have made landmark contributions to the humanities. Under the banner “Anya Fulu Ugo”, the maiden edition will be in honour of Professors El Anatsui and Obiora Udechukwu, and it is scheduled to take place from June 24 – 27, 2015 at the Nsukka Campus of the University of Nigeria.

  In this part of the world, a few of such artists and scholars have walked across our landscape, leaving footprints that continue to be a guiding light to generations of younger artists. In the Nsukka School of art, which was born in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, a number of bright jewels have emerged. It is from this sterling group that we have chosen to honour Professors Anatsui and Udechukwu who are acclaimed for creating a respectable body of works that have grown to defy any marginal critical or historical narrative – a microcosm of the form and content of African art today.

  The broad theme of the conference is “African Art and Artists After the Millennial Turn”. It proposes an interdisciplinary approach to the discourse of the current state of art and artists in Africa and in the African Diaspora. We invite panel proposals from Nigerian, African and world scholars in mass communication, theatre and film studies, linguistics, literary studies, music, economics, anthropology, history and international relations, archaeology, tourism and museum studies, political science, etc that examine: the life and work of important contemporary African artists at home or in the Diaspora; the work of curators of contemporary African art; the rising concern surrounding ownership of Africa’s cultural patrimony and the call for the restitution of Africa’s art objects looted by the West; the place of African national museums and galleries in the global art world and auction houses and the commoditisation of contemporary African art.

  Interested scholars should submit proposals via email to our Chairman, Professor Ikenna Dieke, at [email protected] or Faculty liaison, Dr. Ozioma Onuzulike, at [email protected]. Individuals and corporate bodies interested in partnering with us on this conference project are welcome. Further inquiries can be directed to the Dean, Faculty of Arts, Professor Pat Uche Okpoko ([email protected]), the Chairman of the conference organising committee, Ikenna Dieke ([email protected]) and Faculty liaisons, including Greg Mbajiorgu ([email protected]).