Carrie Mae Weems. The Evidence of Things Not Seen

KITCHEN TABLE TALKS

Thursday, July 7, 7pm

Guest: Whit Frazier Peterson

Hosted by Benjamin Cauthen & Yara Richter

At our third event in this series, we welcome Whit Frazier Peterson, a lecturer and research associate in the American Studies department at the University of Stuttgart. Whit grew up in the Washington DC area and has self-published two novels. Whit’s interests lie in African American literature, modernism, surrealism, the Harlem Renaissance, Afrofuturism and Black Speculative Fiction.

Together we will discuss the past, present and future of storytelling in various artistic media as part of social and political struggles. We will question how (Black) US American culture, art and literature travels globally, and where we see local connections to it. With regard to the themes in Carrie Mae Weems’ work, we will inquire into the role of cultural and educational institutions in US American and German society, and how these institutions (the WKV included) negotiate issues such as representation and accessibility, museum restitution, institutional racism and safer spaces.

The discussion will be in English.

Inspired by the Kitchen Table Series, which is part of the exhibition Carrie Mae Weems. The Evidence Of Things Not Seen currently on view at Württembergischer Kunstverein, we invite you to a new series of events: the Kitchen Table Talks. We come together at a long table with an open bar to discuss (with invited guests) various themes that emerge from Weems' work. In doing so, we aim to create a space where the exhibition becomes a social occasion for participatory encounters between people of various backgrounds and generations.

We discuss themes such as social justice, activism, and intersectional feminism - that is, a feminist approach that incorporates diverse life contexts such as gender, age, ethnicity, origin, etc. - , which play central roles in Weems' work, in an open roundtable setting where various discussions and exchanges can also take place in parallel. Here we think of the kitchen table not only as a place from which to observe essential production events of everyday life (e.g., food preparation, clean-up, and cleaning), but also as a site for rest, work, enjoyment, and, above all, relationships.

Questions about artistic production processes in relation to the history of colonialism, and related conversations about visibility, performativity, and accessibility to institutions are raised. Through this, the kitchen table, and the exhibition space in which it sits, can be explored as a feminist and decolonial space for encounter and relationship, where forms of participatory and activist production can happen.

Free entry

Drinks will be provided, donations welcome

Participants are invited to bring something to eat.

The exhibition will be open until 7 p.m.

Registration by mail to zentraleremove-this@remove-thiswkv-stuttgart.de is requested.

In cooperation with DAZ, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum / James-F.-Byrnes-Institut e.V., Stuttgart

Past events in the series:

May 5 with representatives of the Black Community Foundation Stuttgart

June 2 with representatives of the Feministische Frauen*gesundheitszentrum Stuttgart