Art and Answerability | In Conversation with Adel Iskandar, Jeff Derksen and Pantea Haghighi

The Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin proposed that the three domains of human culture—science, art and life—gain unity in the individual person.

Inspired by Bakhtin’s proposal that to live is to be in dialogue with all these complexities, this conversation will bring together three fascinating thinkers to respond to the exhibition Parviz Tanavoli: Poets, Locks, Cages

Join us for an in-depth conversation with distinguished scholars Jeff Derksen—curator, critic and Professor, Dean and Associate Provost, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Simon Fraser University—and Adel Iskandar—Associate Professor of Global Communication at Simon Fraser University and Director of the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies—to discuss the possibility and answerability of art during moments of social change. The conversation will be moderated by exhibition curator Pantea Haghighi.

Come early or stay after to visit the exhibition on its final day, which will include special performances in the Gallery by the Kereshmeh Ensemble.

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This program is in conjunction with the exhibition Parviz Tanavoli: Poets, Locks, Cages—the first major Canadian exhibition of works by the Iranian-born, Vancouver-based artist Parviz Tanavoli.

WHEN: Saturday, November 18 | 2 PM, doors open at 1:30 PM
WHERE: 4East, Vancouver Art Gallery

REGISTER HERE

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Jeff Derksen is a poet, critic and professor who lives in Vancouver and Vienna. His critical books include After Euphoria; Annihilated Time: Poetry and Other Politics; and the folio How High is the City, How Deep is Our Love. His poetry books include The Vestiges; Transnational Muscle Cars; and Down Time. He works on artistic research projects with the collective Urban Subjects, whose books include The Militant Image Reader; Momentarily: Learning from Mega-Events; and Autogestion: Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade. As curators, they brought The Vienna Model: Housing for the 21st Century to the Museum of Vancouver and curated the exhibition If Time Is Still Alive at Camera Austria. He was a founding member of both the Kootenay School of Writing and Artspeak Gallery. Derksen works at Simon Fraser University and is a Fullbright Fellow and former research fellow at the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at The Graduate Center, CUNY. 

Vancouver-based Pantea Haghighi is an independent curator and currently a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University. With a BA in Art History from UBC, she undertook graduate-level research on modernism and architecture at her alma mater. Drawing upon her collaborations with individuals from diverse cultures, she brings communities together for discussion and exchanging ideas. Her curatorial projects include Gohar Dashti: Dissonance, West Vancouver Art Museum (2020); Looking at Persepolis: The Camera in Iran, 1850–1930, The Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver (2018); Modernism in Iran, Griffin Art Projects, North Vancouver (2018); and Unsent Dispatches from the Iranian Revolution, 1978–1979, Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver; Kenderdine Art Gallery, Saskatoon; and Windsor Art Gallery, Ontario (2005). 

Adel Iskandar is an Associate Professor of Global Communication at Simon Fraser University; Director of the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies (CCMS); and the Chair of Graduate Studies in the School of Communication. He is the author, co-author and editor of several works including Egypt In Flux: Essays on an Unfinished Revolution (AUCP/OUP); Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism (Basic Books); Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation (University of California Press); Mediating the Arab Uprisings (Tadween Publishing); and Media Evolution on the Eve of the Arab Spring (Palgrave Macmillan). Iskandar’s work deals with media, identity and politics; and he has lectured extensively on these topics at universities worldwide. His forthcoming publications are two monographs, one addressing the political role of memes and digital satire and the other about contemporary forms of imperial transculturalism. Iskandar’s engaged participatory research includes supporting knowledge production through scholarly digital publishing such as Jadaliyya and academic podcasting such as Status. His community research agenda involves showcasing local grassroots participatory creative production by communities in the Middle East to confront the rise of extremism. Iskandar’s work also involves the autobiographical documentation and self-representation of Syrian newcomer women in the Lower Mainland illustrating their ingenuity in the face of adversity. Prior to his arrival at SFU, Iskandar taught at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.