Institute of Contemporary Art Miami ICA Miami

Enrollment is now open for Knight Art + Research Center Spring 2025  Semester: Afro-Brazil at Knight Foundation Art + Research Center!

This seminar series focuses on the arts and culture of Afro-Brazil as part of the center’s interest in the global cultural legacies of the African diaspora. These seminars take the late Afro-Brazilian painter Rubem Valentim (b. 1922, Salvador, Brazil; d. 1991, São Paulo) as a starting point and are grounded in the artist’s experimentation in geometric abstraction, high modernism and the spiritual and popular traditions of Afro-Brazil. Building from Valentim’s engagement with Afro-Brazilian culture, these seminars will think about the social and cultural context of Afro-Brazil across the modern and contemporary era, the persisting legacies of African slavery in Brazil, the question of racial violence today, the historical and contemporary transformations in religion, ritual and ancestrality, and the impact of Afro-Brazilian culture on contemporary art and urban life. Scholarly and artistic perspectives will span art history and anthropology, as well as curatorial and performance studies.

Virtual Seminar Schedule:

Week 1: Robert Conduru: Post-captivity Art: Afro-Brazilian Spaces of Emancipation. May 12-15, 2025, Mon-Wed Seminars 5:30pm-7:30pm EST, Public Talk on Thursday at 6pm

Week 2: Luis Nicolau Parés: Afro-Brazilian Slavery, Religion and Heritage. May 19-22, 2025, Mon-Weds Seminars from 5:30pm-7:30pm EST, Public Talk on Thursday at 6pm

Please review seminar descriptions, times, and dates prior to applying. Seminars are free for participants accepted into the program. Advanced reading and course materials may be required.