- SPEAKERS
We are very excited to welcome our International speakers to Glasgow. They are all innovators in community engagement and will share their philosophies and practice. Each speaker will be actively participating in roundtable discussions to spark debate and encourage us to rethink museums.
Michael Mel
Michael Mel was born in Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands Province. He is a performance artist, teacher and writer and is currently an Associate Professor in Indigenous Art and Education at the University of Goroka. Renowned for his expertise in the arts and oral traditions of his people, he uses performance to explore issues of cultural identity and dispossession. Through works that engage many senses and use music, dance, body painting and decoration, he encourages Papua New Guineans to take pride in their indigenous cultures and to challenge assumptions of Colonialism.
“Western art is concerned with objects and entities, whereas our (PNG) art is a process. That’s the real translation of power, because as a power process, you are negotiating with people in making things. And if that’s the real power base, it’s where I want to be. Not in a political process, but in a political process manifested through art, which changes people, changes ideas, and introduces new ones”
Luiz Guilherme Vergara and Jessica Gogan
Luiz Guilherme Vergara is the Professor of Art and Coordinator for the Cultural Production Program at the Universidade Federal Flumineuse, Niteroi, Brazil. Jessica Gogan was previously curator of special projects at The Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA and is now an independent curator/educator and PhD candidate in History of Art at the University of Pittsburgh. They have worked on collaborative projects including “Comuniarte” connecting art, health and social justice. They are in the process of jointly creating Instituto Mesa.
“We want to take some of the best practices of The Warhol working in the community, like our RUST (Radical Urban Silkscreen Team) program, and share it with the Brazilians, and then take some of the programs that MAC has been doing in collaboration with local preventive health initiatives, and bring them here.”
Vera Tamari
Vera Tamari is a ceramic artist, lecturer on Islamic Art and Architecture at Birzeit University, Palestine and curator at Birzeit University’s Ethnographic and Art Museum. She founded the Paltel Virtual Gallery www.virtualgallery.birzeit.edu and was a partner in the innovative Discover Islamic Art project (Museums with No Frontiers) www.discoverislamicart.org which exemplifies International dialogue and communication.
“In these hard times, when the Wall, military barriers and travel restrictions hamper our chances to practice our lives normally , when access to most Palestinian and International galleries and museums for most Palestinians becomes almost impossible we resort to alternative ways and methods that enable us to remain in touch with our own history, passions and interests. The Internet in this context becomes an exciting and essential tool that transcends physical barriers. It maintains the dissemination of information as it creates virtual spaces for dialogue and builds bridges between people”.
Adisa Dzino and Dr Diana Walters from Cultural Heritage without borders (CHwB)
Cultural Heritage without Borders was founded in 1995 and is a private Swedish foundation working in the spirit of the Hague convention from 1954 for protection of cultural property endangered by war, natural disasters, neglect, poverty or political and social conflict.
“The role of the museums and cultural heritage in inspiring dialogue and involving with their communities to affect social agendas was and still is crucial for inter-ethnical understanding, the rebuilding process, after years of dictatorship and war in the Balkan region and it will be my honour to take part in such event and share experience and work of CHwB in this region”
Rooksana Omar
Rooksana Omar has work in the Heritage for the past 30 years. In May 2010 she was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Iziko Museums of Cape Town. She was the President of the South African Museums Association, 2001-2003 and in 2009 she became the 2nd Vice President of the Commonwealth Association of Museums. Ms Omar is on the Board of ICOM-SA. She has trained Heritage workers in South Africa and Kenya and has authored a number of publications about the value of Museums and public culture.
“I am passionate about providing leadership of museums within an age of contested information and ideas from internal and external stakeholders, academics, politicians, scientists, lobby groups and the corporate world”.
