Guest Blog post: Srajana Kaikini, Stuart Hall Library Research Network

Reading an opaque language

What does it mean when one speaks in an opaque language?

The construction of ‘experience’ in art has been closely explored through the concepts of ‘rasa’,  ‘sensation’, ‘affect’ etc. in philosophical enquiry across the globe which have given rise to the question that informs my current research - the role of the ‘literal’ object and the objectified ‘letter’ in contemporary art practices.

Outside the Serpentine Gallery, presently sits a newly commissioned work by Fischli and Weiss titled ‘Rock on Top of Another Rock’. The work is essentially that – one boulder balancing precariously on another boulder on the ground. The work at once strikes the nail on its head and is the experience of precariousness itself. At the same time, it also confronts the art ‘reader’ (and here I address all acts of experiencing as acts of ‘reading’ ) with the challenge of trying to see the subtlety and humour of the work without falling prey to an urge to over-interpret.   

Fischli/Weiss- Rock on Top of Another Rock 2013-2014 | Image - Srajana Kaikini

The ‘literal’ somehow finds itself at this strange crossroads of explicit and implicit communication.

The Dhvani theory ( dhvani can be loosely translated as ‘resonance’) or the theory of Suggestion, one of the several linguistic theories in Indian aesthetic philosophy, emphasizes on reading and receiving language through multiple levels of interpretation. At the same time it puts emphasis on expressing emotions through material symbolism i.e referring to concrete objects in the world to convey an abstract expression. The landscape poetry in Tamil Sangam Literature is an instance of highly charged symbolism where the landscape becomes the expression of the state of mind.

Water lilies bloom
in the lagoons
where cranes part the water lilies
looking for fish
then fly away to stay
in fragrant seaside groves,
near my lover's village washed by the sea.

His love for me
is greater than the sea.

- Neithal (Ainkurunuru - 184)

(Selby, Martha Ann. Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, 2011.)

Meanwhile, a challenge to this notion of objectified experience comes from the proponents of Concrete Poetry beginning with Swiss poet Eugene Gomringer (Constellations, 1953) and the Noigandres group of poets in Brazil – Haroldo de Campos, Décio Pignatari and Augusto de Campos who published the Concrete Poetry manifesto (“I Exposição Nacional de Arte Concreta” in the Museu de Arte Moderna of São Paulo, 1956) which begins thus.      

 “Concrete poetry begins by assuming a total responsibility before language: accepting the premise of the historical idiom as the indispensable nucleus of communication, it refuses to absorb words as mere indifferent vehicles, without life, without personality without history - tabu-tombs in which convention insist on burying the idea.”

Here the words turned into materials to make visual/sensorial experiences out of them, and ‘they became beautiful simply because they are what they are’; an inversion of linguistic role-play and a tendency towards a more universal poetry where form and content collapse into each other.

These two contrapuntal impulses frame a contemporary condition where art vocabulary takes recourse to the ‘material’ once again. This could be a symptom of globalization as an inevitable precursor for most cultural processes today and the circulation of geo-global artists in the international sphere. The artist has emerged also as a cultural translator but is the medium she chooses to express her art also implicated in this new role-play?

Some thoughts on the Research Network Meeting @ the Stuart Hall Library

I am thankful for the rich discussion generated at the Research Network meeting in conversation with Sunil Gupta on invitation from Roshini Kempadoo. The evening had several inter-disciplinary points of entry. This included personal insights from anecdotal recollections and reflections of the activist art worker’s role in present times by Sunil Gupta as well as suggestions and ideas from artists, researchers and practitioners in the field of philosophy, global arts and cultural studies present during the evening. I noticed an emphasis in general on the practice of art as a cultural activator of relations and a larger concern around the anomalies and differences that exist in terms of vocabularies in contemporary art language and the difference in the nature of infra-structure and institutional frameworks for the arts in the Indian contexts as compared to the local context in London, something to ponder upon despite the blanket effect of a term like globalization that exists as a discourse predominantly in locations already in its grip.

Srajana Kaikini is a writer, curator and researcher working with the spoken and written word, Indian literary theories – rasa dhvani, architectural urban spaces and aesthetics. She is the third Delfina Foundation Research Fellow, in partnership with the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, Iniva and Goldsmiths College (Department of Visual Cultures). 

Srajana was in conversation with Sunil Gupta at the Stuart Hall Library Research Network meeting, 17 October 2013.

For more information about the Stuart Hall Library Research Network, email us.

Guest blog post: Joshua Hastings, Stuart Hall Library Volunteer

Joshua Hastings

My time spent volunteering at the Stuart Hall Library has been a fantastic experience. I have met so many helpful and supportive people who have aided me in my undergraduate study at the University of Westminster where I have just graduated with first-class honours in BA Contemporary Media Practice.

The opportunity to produce source notes as a guide to the Library’s unique collection based on the theme of ‘Geography, Space and Place’ enabled me to extend my research interests in cultural identity to consider the environments in which identity and cultural understanding are constructed. The importance of this came as such in my last year of study when writing my dissertation and producing my major project in which I explored the history and heritage of Britain in the rural space, and the experience of migration and new settlements from the late 20^th Century to the present day. I intend to continue researching the relationship between geography, space and place, and how differing geographic locations produce varied concepts of national, cultural and racial belonging and identification.

With the help of general guidelines, I was able to freely select which material would be included in the guide. I made my selection based upon texts which helped me to understand the subject area as a newcomer, and those which I felt would be useful for others similarly exploring this subject area for the first time. I was stunned at the range of theoretic and artistic engagement in the collection and have included a select few examples ranging from general overviews to in-depth critical theory, stimulating artist works and also engaging panel discussions, each categorised accordingly.

Key themes which came out from researching Geography, Space and Place were to do with the structures of power in mapmaking and the limitations of traditional cartography in representing the world, and also how the experience of displacement and migration have altered how we presently may understand cultural identity. Also raised were questions of belonging, territory and globalisation. Whilst there are no conclusive answers or simple resolutions here, I hope to offer up multiple leads for investigation and plenty of food for thought. 

Joshua Hastings

http://joshuahastings.com

Stuart Hall Library source notes: Geography, space and place

This guide provides an introduction to resources for exploring and studying Geography, Space and Place. The library’s collection ranges from texts on Human Geography, Urban and Cultural Studies, to audio-visual material, catalogues and ephemera from exhibitions held at Iniva. Library shelfmarks can be found under each title, and keywords are listed under each abstract to indicate a general subject area for each item.The guide aims to be indicative rather than comprehensive.

The following texts introduce key themes and theories in relation to Geography, Space and Place:

Key Thinkers on Space and Place     

ESS KEY                                                                             

Edited by Phil Hubbard and Rob Kitchin

Los Angeles; London: Sage Publications, 2011

A comprehensive introduction to the key themes and thinkers of contemporary geographic and cultural studies, and explores the importance of space and place in social, political, economic life.

Human Geography/ Cultural Studies/ Urban Studies/ Anthropology

Space and Place: Theories of Identity and Location   

ESS SPA                                                  

Edited by Erica Carter, James Donald and Judith Squires

London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1993

A collection of essays citing examples from various locales between 1987 and 1991 to examine the effects of displacement and exile on the cultural production of identity and belonging, and how these experiences have disrupted concepts of place, nationhood, and home.

Cultural Identity/ Displacement and Migration/ History/ Transnationalism

Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change          

ESS MAP                                                  

Edited by Jon Bird, Barry Curtis, Tim Putnam, George Robertson and Lisa Tickner

London: Routledge, 1993

A range of in-depth analyses critically examining recent social, political, and economic changes and the implications of globalisation for framing and understanding cultural practice in the future.

Cultural Studies/ Globalisation/ Transnationalism/ Art & Cultural Practice

  

For Space

ESS MAS

Doreen Massey

London: Sage Publications, 2010

Massey reconsiders assumed understanding of space and time, critiquing their political and social impacts on global perceptions of populations and territorial boundaries.

Human Geography/ Globalisation/ Urban Studies

In Place/ Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, Transgression       ESS CRE         

Tim Cresswell

Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press, 1996

Cresswell examines the associations between ideology and geography, and the normalised hegemony of social structures which assume particular behavioural patterns and cultural understanding of people in the spaces they inhabit.

Cultural Studies/ Human Geography/ Power and Authority

Rethinking the Power of Maps                                                      ESS WOO                          

Dennis Wood

New York: The Guildford Press, 1992

An introductory read into the history of mapping and cartography as an organisational tool from the 16th Century to the present day, and also considers “counter-mapping” and “critical cartography” as an undermining process to national institutional authority over mapmaking. The book contains illustrations and examination of the mapping and counter-mapping of Palestine.

Cartographic Studies/ History/ Power and Authority/ War and Conflict

In/Different Spaces: Place and Memory in Visual Culture           ESS BUR                                           

Victor Burgin

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996

The book consults a range of psychoanalytic theories to analyse the role of visual media representation in the physical space and its effects on identity construction and constitution of ‘self’ and ‘other’ in the imagined, interior, psychological space.

Cultural Studies/ Psychoanalysis/ Identity/ Visual Culture

Displacements: Cultural Identities in Question  

ESS DIS

Edited by Angelika Bammer

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994

A collection of texts which explore the continuation of culture when dislocated from its native geographical space through the experience of displacement, colonisation, and migration; the book includes contributions by Homi L. Bhabha, Doreen Massey and Julio Ramos among other cultural theorists.

Cultural Studies/ Diaspora/ Transnationalism/ Postcolonialism/ Displacement; Migration/ Cultural Identity

Terra Infirma: Geography’s Visual Culture                                   ESS ROG                                                  

Irit Rogoff

London: Routledge, 2000

The book analyses the work of international contemporary artists to examine the extent to which geography as a signifying practice can fully represent contemporary experience of migration, ‘inbetweenness’ and belonging.

Cultural Studies/ Art and Cultural Practice/ Geography/ Migration

Rethinking Curating: Art after New Media

ESS GRA

Beryl Graham and Sarah Cook

Cambirdge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2010

The book reflects on internationalism in art and curatorial practice, and considers a decentralised networked approach to communities across physical and virtual spaces. 

Art and Cultural Practice/ Globalisation/ New Media

Artist's monographs and exhibition catalogues

A selection of artists and exhibition catalogues addressing issues of Geography, Space, and Place:

Trade Routes: History and Geography: 2nd Johannesburg Biennale 1997             

682.2 BIE 1997

Okwui Enwezor

Johannesburg: Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, 1997

The catalogue for the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale 1997 includes illustrations of artists’ works and text from writers and contributors engaged in discussion of globalisation’s history and its cultural produce born from resilience and fusion, displacement and migration.

Globalisation/ History/ Displacement and Migration

Alfredo Jaar: Geography=War                                                       AS JAA                                                  

Richmond, VA; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1991

The book features images and text on Alfredo Jarr’s provocative exhibition ‘Geography=War’ in which the artist confronts Eurocentric and divisive representations of the world as geographical truth, and critiques the disparity between industrialised and non-industrialised countries in the world. Catalogued also is the Arnold Peters 1974 map of the world which distinctly and accurately maps territories scaled in relation to their landmass.

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Power and Authority/ History/ War and Conflict

Ingrid Pollard: Postcards Home                                                       AS POL                         

London: Autograph, 2004

Pollard’s photographic engagement with geography, space and place addresses cultural identity, national history, and authority, particularly across the imagined marginalising boundaries of the British rural and coastal landscape documented in this book.

Cultural Identity/ Power and Authority/ History

Landscape Trauma: In the Age of Scopophilia                               410.111 AUT LAN                             

Richard Hylton (curator)

London: Autograph, 2001

The book catalogues works by several artists featured in the exhibition of the same title, opening up revised perspectives and views of the world by distorting, disrupting and deconstructing representations of the landscape in response to national and global changes to the geographic, social and economic climate. Contains illustrations of works by; Annabel Howland, Henna Nadeem, Ingrid Pollard, Camila Sposati, S.T.I. Consortium

Visual Culture and Representation/ Globalisation

Whose Map is it? New Mapping by Artists                                     410.111 INI WHO  

Christine Takengny, Teresa Cisneros

London: Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva), 2010

The exhibition considers the role of mapping in contemporary art and the perspective from which maps have been produced and how they inform our world view. The booklet includes illustrations of artists’ works and texts from several writers.

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Power and Authority/ Visual Culture and Representation

Creative Compass: New Commissions by Agnes Poitevin-Navarre and Susan Stockwell

 410.111 RGS CRE

Vandana Petal, Teresa Cisneros

London: Royal Geographic Society

The book features information on a Royal Geographic Society’s initiative in collaboration with INIVA to engage new audiences with Geography as a means to further understanding of the world, its populations and environments. Building upon the Society’s extensive collection of maps and atlases, along with commissioned pieces by artists Agnès Poitevin-Navarre and Susan Stockwell, Creative Compass confronts the challenges that global change presents, explores the history of map making and the role of the map in everyday life, and the exclusion of information in cartographic practice.

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Visual Culture and Representation/ Power and Authority

Artists and Maps: Cartography as a Means of Knowing               795 ART                                            

Portland, Oregon: Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis; Clark College: 2003

This booklet features illustrations of artists’ works shown in the exhibition exploring the metaphoric and narrative components of maps in intersecting fact and fiction into our world view. Commentary by Linda Brady Tesner (Director of the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art: Lewis; Clark College).

Mapping and Cartographic Practice/ Visual Culture and Representation

                                                                                                             

Place

ESS DEA                            

Tacita Dean and Jeremy Millar

London: Thames and Hudson

The exhibition catalogue features illustrations from artists in addressing political, historical and social distinctions between concepts of space, place and less familiar non-places.

Urban Studies/ History/ Power and Authority

Audio-visual material

A select of archived recordings exploring Geography, Space and Place held in Stuart Hall Library’s audio-visual collection;

INIVA : ‘Nation’   

(panel discussion)                                                                  

CD 316

London: INIVA, 2009

This audio CD recorded at INIVA features discussion led by Argentine-born Gabriela Salgado exploring concepts of national and transnational identity as a subject for artists and a context for their work, with responses from artists Alexandra Handal and Nada Prija who reflect on their practice and examine to what extent local notions of belonging and rootedness have been redefined by transnationalism in the arts.

Visual Culture and Representation/ Cultural Identity/ Transnationalism

Crossing Boundaries Symposium                                                    CD 320     

London: Royal Geographic Society, INIVA, 2010

The tracked CD documents various panel discussions with geographers and artists on the convergence of humanities and the visual arts by INIVA and the Royal Geographic Society, and considers creative and critical approaches to mapping and cartographic processes, the limitations of traditional cartography, and also the technology used to produce and read maps.

Mapping ; Cartographic Practice/ Visual Culture; Representation/ Technology

Whose Map is it? 

(panel discussion)

CD 327                                                                      

London: INIVA, 2010

The CD contains two sessions, both featuring artists in discussion of their work and engagement with mapping. The first features Colombian, Moroccan and Nigerian artists exhibited in INIVA’s ‘Whose Map is it?’ show who expand on their selected themes concerning migration, land ownership and borders. How these artists have used mapping creatively is then explored by Dr Harriet Hawkins in conversation with Heath Bunting in the second part of this audio CD.

Visual Culture and Representation / Displacement and Migration/ Mapping and Cartographic Practice

Whose Map is it? The Content and Meaning of the Spaces we Encounter

CD 329

London: INIVA, 2010

This CD is a recording of a panel discussion between Paul Goodwin and Alex Vasudevan held during INIVA’s ‘Whose Map is it’ exhibition, focusing on the city space and analysing migrant patterns in urban areas. The panel elaborates on contemporary mapping practices by artists in relation to their research, examining urban development in Lisbon and the history of squatting in Berlin.

Urban Studies/ Visual Culture ; Representation / History/ Displacement ; Migration

SAVE THE DATE: Thursday 27 June 2013: The Trouble with Research @ Stuart Hall Library, Iniva, Rivington Place

12:00 – 6:00pm (with registration from 11:45)

The Stuart Hall Library Research Network was established in January 2013 as a monthly meeting place for postgraduate researchers (artists, critics, curators) to present their work that resonates with Iniva’s vision for visual arts and international perspectives.

To celebrate the success of the Research Network so far, the library is hosting the symposium The Trouble with Research on 27 June, 12-6pm.

We have an exciting range of artists, critics and researchers contributing. Highlights include: Black radical literature; sound installations, racism and resistance; art online; labouring and researching in neoliberal times; visibility for black feminist and queer perspectives; and surviving globalism: artist as curator and social commentator.

Watch this space for more programme details:

Book your place online here or email bookings@iniva.org.

CONCESSIONS: For a concessionary rate of £10 (students, over 60s, unemployed) enter the code: Iniva_concession on the Eventbrite page for a discounted rate.

Stuart Hall Library Symposium The Trouble with Research - call for papers from Artists, Scholars, Critics

The first symposium of the Stuart Hall Library Research Network The Trouble with Research proposes an active (and positive) approach to researching and creating things. It also brings into question methods, techniques and decision making matters integral to making art and undertaking research. Fundamentally though we can use the phrase to recognise research and creativity as a practice and process of questioning, problematising, critiquing and contextualising culture. It is a way to recognise and wrangle with the inherent anomalies and disjunctures associated with interdisciplinary research and practice. We are currently seeking papers and artist presentations on:

• Stuart Hall’s work on culture and representation
• Artistic and/or curatorial practice
• Filmmaking and media analysis
• Cultural histories – local and diasporic
• Literary Studies including criticism and theory
• Researching visual archives

Deadline: Friday 22nd May. Email a 250 word summary, a short biography (no more than 200 words) and equipment requirements to Sonia Hope, Library Manager, and Roshini Kempadoo (Media Artist, Photographer, Reader in Media Practice, UEL and Stuart Hall Library Animateur).
email: library@iniva.org

Stuart Hall Library Research Network, 31 January 2013

Research group. Photo by Christa Holka.

Thanks to all those who attended the first Research Network meeting at Stuart Hall Library. We had a great turn out of interested students, curators, academics and other curious visitors who listened to, then engaged enthusiastically with the presentations by Karinna Gulias and Kim Bagley.

Karinna Gulias. Photo by Christa Holka.

Karinna discussed her 'Avoiding an epistemological approach to reading poetry', demonstrating her method by presenting a close reading of Rainer Maria Rilke's A Woman's Fate, translated by Stephen Cohn.  The discussion raised issues relating to the processes of translation and interpretation, as well as the difficulty of placing language and meaning out of 'context'.

Ceramicist Kim Bagley's presentation of her work in progress, 'Africa and the West: a contested conversation in modern contemporary ceramics' focused on the 'extermination tents which sprung from observing a specific local extermination method ...which resonate with draped construction sites, tent cities and refugee camps...' in Durban, South Africa. Group members enjoyed seeing examples of Kim's work, both during the presentation and also by handling small versions of the works, being able to examine the shape and texture. The discussion of Kim's work was far-ranging, including concepts of the local and global as evidenced in the title of her presentation which used 'Africa' rather than the more local 'South Africa'.

Kim Bagley. Photo by Christa Holka.

The Stuart Hall Library Research Network is a meeting place for discussion of practice-based or more conventional forms of research that may include: curatorial practice; visual arts; global art; film and media; cultural studies; cultural activism; postcolonial studies; literary studies, including criticism and theory.

Next meeting: Thursday 28 February 2013, 6.30-8.30

For more information and to submit a proposal to present at a future meeting, email Sonia Hope and Roshini Kempadoo at  library@iniva.org

Stuart Hall Library Research Network first meeting, 31 January 2013

Join us for our first Research Network meeting of talks and discussion.

South African ceramicist Kim Bagley presents
Africa and the West: a contested conversation in modern and contemporary ceramics
Kim is currently researching representations of contemporary African identities that emerge in ceramics as a research student at UCA, Farnham.

Karinna Gulias explores language and imagery in
Avoiding an Epistemological Approach to Reading Poetry
Karinna is studying Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.

For more information or to submit a proposal to present at future meetings, email the library.

Guest blog post: Charlotte Seegers, Stuart Hall Library Volunteer

During my internship at Iniva, I had the opportunity to create a source note (a guide to Stuart Hall Library material for the conduct of research on a particular theme). I chose the subject: "Cultural identity and Politics," because I thought it particularly relevant to understanding the society I am living in. As the beginning of this century is marked by a conservative and parochial interpretation of identity in political discourse, I grew particularly interested in the complexity of globalized identities that challenge the monoculture concept of British art and culture.

With the help of general guidelines, I was independent during my research for this project, free to choose the way and the items I found appropriate. Therefore, I have discovered many artists and authors who have drawn on a wide range of cultural experiences and critical discourse definitions of home, displacement and boundary. When listing the Iniva archive, I discovered panel discussions; emerging artists; audio visual material and also came across periodicals addressing controversial issues, zine collections revealing an underground world, and key cultural theorists and artists.

Combining my own interrogations with the resources found at Stuart Hall Library, I aimed to provide a starting point for discussion about the way the production of new political identities subvert ideas about gender, race and the nation. This source note doesn’t offer simple answers or resolutions but a space for the exchange of ideas.

CULTURAL IDENTITY AND POLITICS

Stuart Hall Library Collections Guide

This guide provides an introduction to resources for studying cultural identity and politics. In addition to contemporary books, pamphlets and periodicals including titles published by Iniva, the collections also contain material on subcultures. Keywords have been included to indicate the subject area of each item. This guide aims to be indicative rather than comprehensive.


CRITICAL & CULTURAL THEORY

Beyond identity politics       ESS LLO
Moya Lloyd
London: Sage, 2005
Examination of the implications of recent theorising on difference, identity and subjectivity for theories on patriarchy and feminist politics.
Gender issues, feminism and identity


Cosmopolitanism                ESS COS
Edited by Carol A. Breckenridge, Sheldon Pollock, Homi K. Bhabha and Dipesh Chakrabarty
London: Duke University Press, 2002
De-centres the history and theory of translocal political aspirations and cultural ideas to areas outside Europe. Contributors include: Sheldon Pollock; Arjun Appadurai; Dipesh Chakrabarty; Mamadou Diouf; T.K. Biaya; Walter D. Mignolo; Wu Hung; Ackbar Abbas.
History, Translocal politics, Cultural identity


Dangerous liaisons: gender, nation and postcolonial perspectives   ESS DAN
Edited by Anne McClintock, Aamir Mufti, Ella Shohat
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1997
A collection of essays addressing issues of postcolonialism, including nationhood, history, gender, race, identity.
Racial issues, Gender issues, Nationalism, Postcolonialism


Displacements: cultural identities in question   ESS DIS
Angelika Bammer
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994
Examines the impact of the experience of cultural displacement and contemporary notions of cultural identity. The perspectives of anthropology, history, philosophy, literature and psychology are bought to bear on the discussions of identity politics and the question of 'us/them' is explored in our shifting political and conceptual landscape.
Cultural Studies, Identity, Displacement


Modernity at large: cultural dimensions of globalisation  ESS APP
Arjun Appaddurai
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1996
An examination of globalisation, described as being characterised by the twin forces of mass migration and electronic mediation.
Globalisation, Cultural Studies


Multiculturalism: examining the politics of recognition    ESS MUL
Edited by Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann
Princeton: NJ, Princeton University Press, 1984
This paperback brings together a wide range of leading philosophers and social scientists to probe the political controversy surrounding multiculturalism. Contributors include Anthony K. Appiah; Jürgen Habermas; Steven C.Rockefeller; Michael Walzer; Susan Wolf.
Politics, Philosophy, Cultural studies


Questions of cultural identity     ESS QUE
Stuart Hall; Paul Gay
London: Sage, 1996
A series of essays interrogate different dimensions of the crisis of identity.
Rather than privileging any one approach to the problem of identity, the book
Opens up a number of significant questions and offers insights into different
Approaches to understanding identity. Contributors include: Stuart Hall;
Zygmunt Bauman; Marilyn Strathern; Homi K. Bhabha; Kevin Robins;
Lawrence Grossberg; Simon Frith; Nikolas Rose; Paul du Gay; James Donald.
Cultural Studies, Identity



Scattered belongings: cultural paradoxes of race, nation and gender   ESS IFE
Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe 
London: Routledge,
Narratives of six women of both continental African / African Caribbean and European parentage, demonstrating how identities are shaped not only by race but also by eth-nicity, gender, class and locality.
Women's Studies, Black Issues, Racial Issues, Identity



Visceral cosmopolitanism: gender, culture and the normalisation of difference
ESS NAV
Mica Nava
Oxford, New York: Berg, 2007
Study of cosmopolitanism that explores English suburban cosmopolitanism and fore-grounds the gendered, imaginative and empathetic aspects of engagement with cultural and racial difference.
Hybridity, Gender, Multiculturalism, Race, Sexuality, Migration



Rethinking multiculturalism: cultural diversity and political theory    ESS PAR
Bhikhu Parekh
Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 2000
An examination of multiculturalism, migration and cultural displacement addressing issues of philosophy, politics, nationalism, gender and religion.
Multiculturalism, Cultural studies



Un/settled multiculturalisms: diasporas, entanglements, 'transruptions'   ESS UNS
Edited by Barnor Hesse
New York: Zed Book, 2000
Analysis of multiculturalism in the West, particularly Britain, including diaspora issues, food, sport, gender, music, the Muslim community in Britain, Black identity, Afro-Caribbean identity in Britain, Chinese in Britain (including analysis of Yeu Lai Mo's video installation); the Asian 'gang'. Contributors include Barnor Hesse; S. Sayyid; Brett St. Louis; David Parker; Claire Alexander; Denise Noble; Roiyah Saltus-Blackwood; Zimitri Erasmus; Stuart Hall.
Racial issues, Masculinity, UK, Multiculturalism, Cultural studies, Diaspora

ART THEORY

Art and otherness: crisis in cultural identity    ESS MCE
Thomas McEvilley
New York: Mcpherson, 1992
The author explores the way in which the presentation of art can determine
its reception, how ‘influence’ can be bi-directional, how ‘otherness’ serves to define ’self’, and how art can be perceived outside concepts of universality.
Art, Cultural identity


Belonging and globalisation: critical essays in contemporary art   ESS BOU
Kamal Boullata
Saqi Books, 2008
Essays exploring art, culture, identity, and globalisation with a focus on the 7th Sharjah Biennial. Featuring essays by Hoor Al Quasimi, Frederick N. Bohrer, Kamal Boullata, Nicolas Bourriaud, Boris Brollo, Jean Fisher, Laymert Garcia Dos Santos. Elias Khoury, Ken Lum, Joseph Massad, Khaled Mattawa, Gerardo Mosquero, Achille Bonito Oliva, Jack Persekian, Nadia Tazi, Tirdad Zolghadr.
Globalisation, Biennials



Changing States: contemporary art and ideas in an era of globalisation   ESS CHA
Tawadros, Gilane
London: Institute of International Visual Arts, 2004
This anthology maps the changing landscape of contemporary art and culture over the past decade in the context of global economics and local politics, seen through the prism of a decade of Iniva's programming.
Art, Globalisation, Cultural identity



Complex entanglements: art, globalisation and cultural difference  ESS COM
Nikos Papastergiadis
London: Rivers Oram Press, 2003
An anthology is based on Globalisation + Art + Cultural difference –
On the Edge of Change, a conference held in Sydney in 2001 exploring the
legacy and the futures of multicultural discourses for the arts, situating the
debates on art, culture and theory in the context of globalisation. Contributors
Include: Ien Ang; Rasheed Araeen; Carlos Capelan; Paul Carter; John Conomos;
Ricardo Dominguez; Jean Fisher; Coco Fusco; Sneja Gunew; Ghassan Hage;
Marcia Langton; Gerardo Mosquera; Hetti Perkins and Fazal Rizvi.
Globalisation, Cultural Studies


Global visions : towards a new internationalism in the visual arts  ESS GLO
Edited by Jean Fisher
London: Kala Press, 1994
Collected papers of the Institute of International Visual Arts symposium, 'A New Internationalism', held at the Tate Gallery in London in April 1994. Contributors include: Rasheed Araeen; Hal Foster; Guillermo Santamarina; Sarat Maharaj; Geeta Kapur; Olu Oguibe; Judith Wilson; Hou Hanru; Everlyn Nicodemus; Gilane Tawadros; Jimmie Durham; Gordon Bennett; Gerardo Mosquera; Raiji Kuroda; Fred Wilson; Elisabeth Sussman.
Art history, Globalisation


Mixed belongings and unspecified destinations   410.111 INI MIX
Nikos Papastergiadis
London: Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva), 1996
Volume 1 of the "Annotations" series. Brings together papers delivered during a one-day interdisciplinary conference at the John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, in collaboration with Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), May 1996, to coincide with the exhibition 'Imagined Communities', curated by Richard Hylton. With contributing essays from Kobena Mercer, Graham Crow, Simon Edge, Richard Hylton, Doreen Massey, Lynda Morris, Yinka Shonibare and Tim Rollins, the book explores the different and complex relationships between artists and notions of community.
Identity, Art, Community


Over here: international perspectives on art and culture   ESS OVEGerardo Mosquera, and Jean Fisher
Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004
The collection of essays addresses cultural issues arising from displacement and placement; the effects of diaspora, transnational communities, translation and the untranslatable. Contributors include: Lisa Phillips; Jean Fisher; Gerardo Mosquera; Lee Weng Choy; Carlos Vidal; Gabriel Peluffo Linari; Geeta Kapur; Chang Tsong-Zung; Pam Johnston; Rustom Bharucha; Carolina Ponce De Leon; Jose Manuel Valenzuela Arce; Apinan Poshyananda; Jose Luis Brea; John Clark; Marian Pastor Roces; Edouard Glissant; Everlyn Nicodemus; Kathryn Smith; Jalal Toufic; Gustavo Buntinx; Nikos Papastergiadis; Angela Dimitrakaki; Jose Gatti and Victor Tupitsyn.
Art, Cultural Issues, Displacement, Diaspora

SUBCULTURE

Resistance through rituals: youth subcultures in post-war Britain   ESS RES
Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson
London: Routledge, 1993
A collection of essays first published as a double issue of the working papers of the centre for contemporary cultural studies in 1975, looking in detail at the wide range of post war youth subcultures in Britain, from teds, mods and skinheads to black Rastafarians. Contributors include: John Clarke; Brian Roberts; CCCS mugging group; Dick Hebdige; Paul E. Willis; Howard Becker; Geoffrey Pearson; John Twohig; Colin Webster; Rachel Powell; Iain Chambers; Chas Critcher; Graham Murdock; Robin Mccron; Angela McRobbie; Jenny Garber; Paul Corrigan; Simon Frith; Brian Roberts and Steve Butters.
Cultural studies, Young culture



Riot Grrrl : revolution girl style now!   ESS RIO
Nadine Monem
London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007
Riot Grrrl: Revolution Girl Style Now! is an account of the Riot Grrrl subculture founded as part of third wave feminist cultural activism. The book documents the punk inspired music scene from its inception in Olympia, WA to its international influence. The history of the Riot Grrrl movement is explored through zine cultures, music, fashion and dress, and interrogates ideologies concerning gender, sexualities, race, and class. Contributors include Beth Ditto, Julia Downes, Red Chidgey, Cazz Blase and Suzy Corrigan.


Stuart Hall     ESS PRO
James Procter
London: Routledge, 2004
Placing Stuart Hall's work within its historical contexts, the author provides a clear guide to key ideas and influences, as well as to his critics and his intellectual legacy, covering topics such as popular culture and youth subcultures; cultural studies; media and communication; racism and resistance; postmodernism and post-colonialism; Thatcherism; identity, ethnicity and diaspora.
Cultural Studies, Diaspora, Identity, Racism, Politics, Post Colonialism



Subcultures    REF SUB
Memphis, TN: LLC, 2011
Encyclopedia of popular and alternative subcultures, such as: hippie; goth subculture; new age, skinhead, steampunk; transhumanism, emo; furry fandom; dandy; zine; punk subculture; military brat; mod; national-anarchism; military sociology.
Subculture, Alternative Lifestyle, Nonconformist, Alternative Culture


Subculture: the meaning of style  ESS HEB
Dick Hebidge
London: Routledge, 1997
Exploring subculture in the expressive forms and rituals of subordinary groups from teddy boys to mods and rockers to skinheads to punks who are alternately dismissed, denounced and canonized; treated at different times as threats to public order and as harmless buffoons in post-war Britain.
Social history, cultural studies


EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
  
Afro modern: journeys through the Black Atlantic  410.174 AFR
Edited by Tanya Barson, Peter Gorschlüter
London: Tate Liverpool, 2010
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Afro Modern: journeys through the Black Atlantic at Tate Liverpool 29 January until 25 April 2010. The notion of the Black Atlantic was coined by British academic Paul Gilroy in the early 1990s to descrive the hybrid cultures that have arisen as a result of the dispersal of black peoples. The catalogue also includes a glossary, a comprehensive timeline, and a bibliography focusing on the visual art of African diaspora based on the holdings of the Tate library as well as publications from Iniva's Stuart Hall Library.
Black Atlantic, Diaspora, Black Art



Crossing black waters   410.111 CRO
Allan Desouza, Shaheen Merali
London: Working Press, 1992
Accompanying an exhibition of the same name, this book documents the work of 13 South Asian artists, of which seven are based in Britain. Through essays, interviews and photographs, Crossing Black Waters analyses the artists' handling of the colonial legacy and their attempts to extend and develop a contemporary cultural practice. Artists Include: Said Adrus; Anand Moy Banerji; Arpana Caur; Allan Desouza; Nina Edge; Sushanta Guha; Bhajan Hunjan; Manjeet Lamba; Shaheen Merali; Quddus Mirza; Samena Rana; Anwar Saeed; Sashidharan. Contributors Include: Chopra, Suneet; Wilson, Amrit; Rashid, Ian; Grech, Joyoti; Alexander, Meena; Dutta, Pulak; Gaze, Harriett; Gupta, Sunil; Hashmi, Salima; Merali, Jamila; Minissale, Gregory; Min, Yong Soon.
Asian art, Asian British artists, Colonialism, Representation issues



Entanglement: the ambivalence of identity   410.111 INI ENT
Tessa Jackson
London: Iniva, 2011
Pamphlet to accompany Entanglement: the Ambivalence of Identity, 14 September to 19 November 2011 curated by Iniva at Rivington place. Artists include Simon Fujiwara, Anthony Key, Dave Lewis, Nina Mangalanayagam and Navin Rawanchaikul. Introduction by Tessa Jackson; text by Alice Correira. The exhibition takes a contemporary look at cultural identity in the context of globalisation and cosmopolitanism.
Cultural Identity, Globalisation, Hybridity, Multiculturalism



Global feminisms : new directions in contemporary art  747 GLO
Maura Reilly, Linda Nochlin
New York: Merrel, 2007
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Global Feminisms, organised by the Brooklyn Museum, New York, March 23-July 1 2007.
Feminism, Contemporary art, Painting, Sculpture, Women, Asia, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, Transnational


Sonia Boyce : performance  410.111 INI SON
Mark Crinson
London: Institute of International Visual Arts, 1998
Volume 2 from the "Annotations" series. Records and interprets work produced by Sonia Boyce during her residency at the University of Manchester and published on the occasion of the exhibition at Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1998. With essays by Marcus Verhagen, Nikos Papastergiadis, Paul Bayley and Vicky Charnock. The book also includes an interview between the artist, Christine Woods and Andrea Mackean, extracts from a diary of the residency and artist's pages.
UK, Black artists


Steve Ouditt: Creole in-site    410.111 INI STE
Gilane Tawadros
London: Institute of International Visual Arts, 1998
Volume 4 of the "Annotations" series. Diary writings originally published as part of "Creole in-site", an online diary commissioned by inIVA for its website, plus other writings documenting the artist's work and a residency at the 198 Gallery, Brixton, in 1997 culminating in the exhibition "Works(on process)".
Trinidad, Artists' writings



The hybrid state  747 HYB
Papo Colo
New York: Exit Art, 1992
Catalogue of the exhibition presented at Exit Art in 1991. Contributors include: Cam-nitzer, Luis; Colo, Papo; Decter, Joshua; Durham, Jimmie; Gómez-Peña, Guillermo; Olalquiaga, Celeste; Niesluchowski, Warren; Wodiczko, Krzysztof. Artists include: Ida Applebroog; Luis Camnitzer; Juan Downey; Jimmie Durham; Ming Fay; Guillermo Gómez-Peña; Nancy Grossman; David Hammons; Jerry Kearns; Juan Sanchez; Anton Van Dalen; Cecilia Vicuña; Ursula Von Rydingsvard; Martin Wong; Krzysztof Wodiczko.


Third Eye: struggle for black and third world cinema   410.111 THI
Fatimah Tobing Rony
Durham: NCGLC Race Equality Unit, 1986
Includes: Part I - Third Eye Symposium (31 October - 4 November 1983); Part II - Black film sector: which way forward. Contributors: Mike Phillips; Miguel Littin; N.V.K. Murthy; Haile Gerima; Segun Oyekunle; Tapan K. Bose; Jose Massip; Black Audio Film Collective (Reece Auguste); Sankofa Film and Video Workshop (Isaac Julien); Penumbra Production (H.O. Nazareth); Retake Film and Video Collective (Mahmood Jamal); Star Productions (Raj Patel); Ceddo Film and Video Workshop (Ujebe Masokoane); Community Cable Productions (Claudine Boothe); Parminder Vir. Topics include: The changing face of Indian cinema; Afro-American cinema; The role of cinema in imperialist culture; Representation of women in Third World Cinema.
Black film studies, Cinema, Film, Imperialism, Third World cinema, Women's issues


Transculture : la biennale di Venezia 1995  450.341 BIE 1995
Fumio Nanjo, Dana Friis-Hansen
Tokyo: Japan Foundation, 1995
The Transculture exhibition was on view in Venice at the Palazzo Giustinian Lolin (Fondazione Levi) in conjunction with the 46th Venice Biennale. The exhibition, whose themes were identity and communication between different cultures, presented the work of the following artists: Gordon Bennett; Frédéric Bruly Bouabré; Guo Qiang Cai; Ping Chong; Simryn Gill; Joseph Grigely; Masao Kohmura; Shani Mootoo; Takashi Mu-rakami; Shirin Neshat; Reamillo And Juliet; Technocrat; Adriana Varejão; World Tea Party; Rene Yung. Contributors Include: Guy Brett; Chris Dercon; Paulo Herkenhoff; Kurt Hollander; André Magnin; Fumio Nanjo; Ryuta Imafuku; Ivo Mesquita; Apinan Poshyananda; Joshua Quittner; Dana Friis-Hansen; Shani Mootoo. Country Of Origin Of Artists Includes: Hong Kong; Philippines; Ireland; USA, Brazil; Iran; Japan; Singapore; China; Australia; Canada; Ivory Coast.
Biennials, Multiculturalism, Identity, Venice, Italy



AUDIOVISUAL

Burning an illusion: the story of a black woman's awakening  CD 256
Shabazz Menelik
London: BFI, 1981
Menelik Shabazz's first feature film powerfully evokes the lives of young black londoners in the thatcher era through exploring the growth and transformation of a young couple. Performers include: Cassie McFarlane; Victor Romero.


Changing states: contemporary art and culture in the 21st century  MD 19-20
London: Iniva, 2002
First in the 'Changing States' series recorded in Conway Hall, London on 23 January 2002. This question-style discussion is aimed to chart the state of contemporary art and culture at the beginning of the 21st century. Chaired by Susan Hiller, speakers are Matthew Collings, Adrian Searle, David A. Bailey and Gilane Tawadros. The Changing States series is curated by Niru Ratnam and Gilane Tawadros.


Changing States: Interview with Francesco Bonami  MD 25
London: Iniva, 2002
Gilane Tawadros in conversation with Francesco Bonami, curator of the 2003 Venice Biennale At The CCA (Centre For Contemporary Arts) Glasgow, 19 November 2002. Curated By Niru Ratnam.


Changing states: protest! art and anti-globalisation VD 212
Nils  Norman
London: Iniva, 2002
The third talk in the Changing States series featuring papers from Julian Stallabrass artist Nils Norman. Themes addressed include the appropriation of public space by private interests and the challenge to corporate globalisation by politicised artistic practice and guerilla protest movements. Chaired by Niru Ratnam.


Documenta 11 – Press 2 CD 173
Kassell: Documenta GmbH, 2002
Images, biographical information and press releases of Documenta 11, 2002.


Fatima’s letter VD 202
Alia Syed
1992
Contains 'Fatima's letter' (an account of transcultural experience) and the Watershed' by Alia Syed.


Frantz Fanon: black skin white mask VD 66
Isaac Julien
A film that articulates both the mid-century moment of anti-colonial struggle and the insurgencies and intimacies of our post-colonial position.


I’m British but...
Gurinder Chadha VD 169
London: 1989
Travelling from Manchester to Belfast to the Welsh countryside, the documentary re-flects the diversity of the Asian diaspora in Britain.


Inside and out: Kader Attia and the French Algerian experience CD 202
London: Iniva, 2005
Coinciding with the first UK showing of his work at Sketch Gallery, London in 2005 this conversation explores the work of Algerian-born artist Kader Attia. Contributors are Hélène Hazera and Gilane Tawadros.


Modernity and difference TP 103
London: Iniva , [no date]
Discussion: modernity and difference. It consists of a conversation between Stuart Hall And Sarat Maharaj on modernity, difference and untranslatability, which took place at the Lux Centre, London, at an event organised by the Institute of International Visual Arts.


Paul Gilroy in conversation VD 23
London: ICA, c.2000
Paul Gilroy and Barnor Hesse in conversation. Paul Gilroy presents a synthesis of his arguments against the simplications of Black Nationalism and ethnocentrism and proposes an embracing of more complex alternatives in which routes count for as much roots and displacement is more common than stasis.


Territories VD 90
Isaac Julien, c.2000
An experimental documentary about black culture. Critiques the ways traditional media represent black people and portrays the Notting Hill Carnival as an event about resistance.



PERIODICALS
 

Meridians: feminism, race and transnationalism
Wesleyan University, 2002 to 2012 (incomplete)
A feminist, interdisciplinary journal which make scholarship by and about women of colour central to contemporary definitions of feminisms in the explorations of women's economic conditions, cultures, and sexualities, as well as of the forms and meanings of resistance and activist strategies.


Re-inventing Britain: identity, transnationalism and the arts    410 REI
British Council, 1997
Issue no. 9 of the British Council's international magazine British Studies Now. Includes manifesto for re-inventing Britain by Homi Bhabha and texts by: Naseem Khan; Hou Hanru on Parisien(ne)s; Ghislaine Boddington; Graham Harwood; Keith Khan.


Third text: a critical perspective on contemporary art and culture
Routledge, 1981 to 2012 (incomplete)
Third text is an international scholarly journal providing critical perspectives on art and visual culture. Third text provides a forum for the discussion and reappraisal of the theory and practice of art, art history and criticism, and the work of artists hitherto marginalised through racial, gender, religious and cultural differences.


Transition: an international review
Duke University Press
Holding: 1981 to 2012 (incomplete)
Transition publishes works dealing with race, ethnicity, culture, and politics.
Issue no. 55: “Beyond identity”.


Small axe: a Caribbean journal of criticism
Small axe Collective, 1997 to 2012 (incomplete)
Small axe is an oppositional idiom of criticism that alters the context about sovereignty, self-determination, and ideological forms of possible political futures in the caribbean's modernity. This periodical aim to give a new vocabulary of criticism necessary to understand and address the social, cultural, and political forms of our present

ZINES

Adventures close to home: a zine about the Slits
Melissa Steiner
A zine documenting Melissa's love for the Slits and their influence on music and
Diy feminist communities.


Angry black-white girl
Nia King
A personal account of growing up mixed race in Massachusetts.
Iss 1, 2007


Diy or don't we? A zine about community
Nicki Sabalu
A compilation zine exploring perspectives of community in activism and diy subcul-tures.
Iss 1, 2009


Electra
Sarah Jane
Crtical zines discussing music, popular culture, black issues and feminism.


 
Kiahan (a tale of migration)
Kiahan
Perzine focusing on migration politics and Afghanistan featuring drawings.
2008


No history, no self
Johanna
Perzine with stories on moving to the UK, race, identity, and the problematic definitions of identifying as 'Asian American'.
Iss 1, 2009


Race revolt
Humaira Saeed
Race revolt compiles contributions focusing on race, ethnicity, and identity in queer, feminist, and DIY subcultures. Donated by Humaira Saeed.
Iss 4, 2009 - Iss 5, 2010


Ungrateful black-white girl
Nia King
A perzine examining race and identity and queer gender politics.
Iss 1, 2008


The first 7-inch was better: how I became an ex-punk
Nia King
Perzine by Nia King discussing her personal experiences within the punk scene in terms of class, race, and gender politics.
2009



Charlotte Seegers is an Anthropology graduate from University Bordeaux II in France. Since moving to London two years ago, she has worked as a researcher on two observational documentaries and has completed an internship at Iniva while studying for an MA in Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

'My aim is to merge the Visual with Anthropology to open up a whole range of possibilities for conducting and communicating my research. My subject interests range from the Displacement of Identity to Subcultures and the Deconstruction of commonness in visual representation.
All these themes have influenced the research that I was able to carry out during my time at the Stuart Hall Library'.