From Cane Field to Tea Cup: The Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on
Art and Design
V&A Lecture Theatre
23 - 24 February 2007
10:30 - 17:00
To mark the bicentenary commemoration of the 1807 Parliamentary bill that
outlawed British slave trading, the Victoria and Albert Museum is hosting
a two-day interdisciplinary conference. Rarely are the realities that link
so-called Western art and design to the Transatlantic slave trade openly
addressed. Museum collections not featuring African collections often
maintain a misleading distance from engagement with the complex histories
of slavery.
This conference aims to challenge this stance, to examine, document and
recontextualise these links between the trade, slaves and slavery and the
production and collection of such objects of material culture as domestic
and decorative artefacts. The material focus of the conference will mirror
the V&A collections, including furniture, ceramics, metalwork and
textiles, sculpture, architecture, prints and painting.
The conference will be structured thematically and aims to include new
research focused on the following themes:
- The slave economy's generation of wealth and that wealth's subsequent
use for patronage of art, architecture and designed goods
- The representations of slaves and free blacks in art, design or
literature
- The aesthetic and economic influence of slavery on the collecting
policies of British institutions and their collections during the 18th and
19th centuries
- The creation of particular kinds of objects through the importation of
materials and commodities (e.g. mahogany, cotton, and sugar) as a result
of international trade
- The impact of the abolitionist movement on art and design
Booking details:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/courses/conferences/index.html#slavetrade
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