Zineb Sedira, whose work expands the conceptual, historical and spatial parameters of photography and videography, will give a Studio VU Lecture Series: The Department of Art 2011-12 lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in Furman Hall, Room 114.
A reception with the artist and an Art Papers issue launch will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at Zeitgeist Gallery, 1819 21st Ave. S., Nashville.
Over the last 15 years, Sedira’s work has purposely and poetically constructed an archive of revolution that posits memory as a distributed, living resource. It also casts Sedira, her numerous collaborators and visitors to her exhibitions as memory keepers.
Staging the artist and her family, Sedira’s early work mobilized the documentary to explore language and storytelling. In 2003, she returned to Algeria after 15 years of absence due to the civil war. This took her work in a new direction. Since then, the Mediterranean Sea and the landscape, architecture and complex history of Algeria – sequencing the colonial era, the Algerian War, the civil war and the struggles of migrant youth – have consistently played major roles in her productions.
Born in Paris to Algerian parents in 1963, Sedira lives in London and works in Algiers, Paris and London. She was named Chevalier des Ordres des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Ministry of Culture.
The StudioVU Lecture Series is sponsored by the Vanderbilt Department of Art and Vanderbilt University College of Arts and Science in conjunction with Art Papers Live!, the premier contemporary art lecture series.The reception is sponsored by the Department of Art and hosted by Zeitgeist Gallery. These events are free, wheelchair accessible and open to the public.
For more information on Sedira, including interviews, press and video clips, visit her website.
Contact: Diane Acree, (615) 343-7241
diane.acree@vanderbilt.edu