APC's April 2016 Research Development Workshop

15 Aug 2016
Workshop participants in Smuts Hall, examining the walls bare of artworks. The artworks had been removed and burned in the student housing standoff.
15 Aug 2016

 

From 6 to 8 April this year, the APC hosted the first of our regular two Research Development Workshops for 2016. A forum for discussion, comment and exchange, the Research Development workshop has for some years been an important incubator for fellows’ and affiliates’ work in development.

The April Workshop took place against the backdrop of student protests about housing and fees, and fierce debate about UCT’s art curatorial policies. We placed emphasis on facilitating emergent thinking—new, fresh approaches to the set of challenges presented in higher learning, archives and forms of public culture today. Part of this involved a workshop walkabout, to examine some of the places on campus where artwork had been removed or covered up as part of the new UCT curatorial policy.

The provocative work brought to the table by workshop participants spanned themes from positivist history to video art, from museum curation to transnational migrancy. A display of the APC’s interdisciplinary strength, the papers represented a compelling mix of responses to contemporary issues. Our following workshop takes place from 9--11 November.