NDMOA Hosts Human Rights Symposium
The North Dakota Museum of Art (NDMOA) is hosting a human right symposium beginning Sunday November 29 and running through Wednesday December 2. It will feature lectures, concerts, readings, and some incomparable art.
As prelude to this four-day event, the museum opened the critically acclaimed exhibition The Disappeared, curated by Museum Director Laurel Reuter, on Thursday, November 19. This haunting exhibit debuted at the North Dakota Museum of Art in March 2005. In its current form, it presents the work of 27 artists, some with solo work, some with collaborative pieces, who understand all too well what “to disappear” means in Latin American countries where citizens lived under military dictatorships during the 1970s. In this context, persons thought to be threats to the government were kidnapped and brutally tortured and often killed. Many in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay were never heard from again.
Some of the artists had family members had family members who were disappeared;others worked in the resistance; still others fled. And, some were born after their countries overcame their dictators and others still live were wars still rage. As a flyer for the exhibit explains: “Through their art, these artists fight amnesia in their own countries as a stay against such atrocities happening again.”
Since 2005, this exhibit has toured five Latin American countries and four U.S. Cities, including New York. In April 2007, it mounted a three year tour throughout both North and South America with a bilingual catalog of the work. The NY Times wrote the exhibit when it was mounted at El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem that spring saying: “From Ms. Reuter’s stunning essay to the supplementary material, it is a total- immersion emotional experience……And why is it that an on-the-road exhibition from a small museum in the Midwest is the most potent show of contemporary art, political or otherwise, in town? All I can say is that curators in our local museums should pay a visit, and ask themselves that question.”
With The Disappeared as the cornerstone for the human rights symposium, NDMOA has brought in scholars, musicians, and activists to broaden our awareness of other human rights issues in other parts of the world. On Sunday, November 29 at 4 pm, Laurel Reuter, curator of The Disappeared, will give a tour and lecture about the exhibition.
Then at 5 pm, Father Jack Davis, a priest who was born in Devils Lake ND and who has spent his life in service to the poor in Chimbote, Peru, will speak about life there during the Shining Path movement.
At Monday noon, Father Jack will host a conversation with Dr. Jack Weinstein, Founding Director of the Institute of Philosophy in Public Life.
That evening, Ishmael Beah, former child soldier from Sierra Leone, will read from his New York Times bestselling book , A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, and will give a lecture. He is a UNICEF advocate for Children Affected by War, a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Advisory Committee, Advisory board member of the Center for the Study of Youth and Political Violence at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Co–Founder of The Network for Young People Affected by War (NYPAW), and President of the Ishmael Beah Foundation. He earned a BA in Political Science from Oberlin College in Ohio and presently lives in Brooklyn.
Tuesday’s events continue to put an additional human spin on life in areas of hardship and violence as refugees now living in Grand Forks share their personal stories. Laurel Reuter will lead another exhibition tour of The Disappeared in the afternoon and Cristian Correa, Senior Associate for the International Center for Transitional Justice, will give a lecture. Correa previously was Legal Advisor to the Commission for Human Rights Policies of the Presidency of the Republic of Chile that was created to investigate and provide remedies for the errors made on the identification of remains of the disappeared and to suggest reparation policies for victims of human rights violations.
The evening will be rounded out with a multi-media performance by pianist and composer Sarah Cahill at the Empire Arts Center. She will perform “A Sweeter Music,” a new project she developed with video artist John Sanborn. The project’s title is from Dr. Martin Luther King’s Nobel Lecture where he said: “We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war.” Cahill took this idea and commissioned a diverse group of composers to write new works about war and peace that Sanborn would respond to in video.
Some of those composers followers of classical music might know, such as Larry Polansky (a guitarist, mandolin player, professor at Dartmouth, and a non-pop new music composer), Terry Riley (associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music), Frederic Rzewski (a pianist and composer), and even Meredith Monk (a performer, director, vocalist, film-maker, and choreographer who has composed multi-disciplinary works). But Cahill also included Paul Dresher (minimalist composer with world music influences), Carl Stone (composer of live electronic music), The Residents (avant-garde, noise rock, and experimental music), Pauline Oliveros (a composer and accordionist), Bernice Johnson Reagon (founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock), and Yoko Ono (who no one ever said was lyrical, but certainly was a peace activist).
Cahill’s performance Tuesday will consist of six to eight piano compositions performed with a 3-channel, 3-screen synchronized video projection for each composition.
The final day of the symposium will feature a live interview for radio broadcast at 10 pm, hosted by Dr. Jack Weinstein with Sarah Cahill, Emmanuel Jal, Father Jack Davis and Cristian Correa. At noon, the UND Memorial Union will host a screening of War Child, a documentary detailing the life of Emmanuel Jal, another child soldier, and his return to Sudan 17 years after his exile. Laurel Reuter will give one final tour of The Disappeared in the afternoon. And, in the evening Emmanuel Jal will offer a hip-hop performance and lecture at the Empire Arts Center, and will sign his book, War Child, at NDMOA.
[For more about Emmanuel Jal, see the companion piece I wrote this summer for Biermag.com reprised here on Refrain.]
Here is the complete human rights symposium schedule. All events at NDMOA, unless otherwise noted.
Sunday, November 29
4 pm – Laurel Reuter, curator of The Disappeared will lead an exhibition tour.
5 pm – Father Jack Davis will speak about life in Peru during the Shining Path movement. Reception to follow.
Monday, November 30
12 pm – Father Jack Davis in conversation with Dr. Jack Weinstein, Founding Director of the Institute of Philosophy in Public Life.
[1:30 pm – Ishmael Beah will speak with middle and high school students, $2 student tickets]
7 pm – Ishmael Beah reading and lecture at the Empire Arts Center. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults. Reception and book signing to follow at the North Dakota Museum of Art.
Tuesday, December 1
12 pm – Stories From Those Who Live Among Us: Refugees in North Dakota. Refugees now living in Grand Forks will share personal stories.
4 pm – Laurel Reuter, curator of The Disappeared will lead an exhibition tour.
6 pm – Cristian Correa lecture
8 pm – Sarah Cahill performance, The Empire Arts Center. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults
Wednesday, December 2
10 am – Dr. Jack Weinstein interview for radio broadcast with Sarah Cahill, Emmanuel Jal, Father Jack Davis and Cristian Correa. Free and open to the public.
12 pm – Screening of War Child, a documentary detailing the life of Emmanuel Jal and his return to Sudan 17 years after his exile, UND Student Union
4 pm – Laurel Reuter, curator of The Disappeared, will lead a tour of the exhibition.
7 pm – Emmanuel Jal performance and lecture, The Empire Arts Center Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults. Reception and book signing to follow at the North Dakota Museum of Art.
Tickets for Beah’s reading and talk, Cahill’s performance, and Jal’s performance and lecture, which will be held at the Empire Arts Center, Grand Forks ND, are available by calling NDMOA at 701-777-4195. All other events are free and open to the public.
The Symposium is underwritten by Jean Dean Holland, and cosponsored by Amnesty International and the Multicultural Awareness Committee, a Division of Student Government.
