Benin – Kings and Rituals
Court Arts from Nigeria
International Symposium
May 9th-10th 2007
Organized by the
Museum für Völkerkunde
1010 Wien, Austria
Neue Burg
Vortragssaal/Lecture hall
Information:
Tel.: 0043 1 53430-212/270 or 53430-5002/5003
[email protected]
Conference language is English
The exhibition Benin — Kings and Rituals, Court Arts from Nigeria marks the first time that masterpieces from Benin dispersed in European and American collections since the late nineteenth century are reunited. Over 300 carefully selected objects offer a broad survey of the royal arts and culture of the Kingdom of Benin from its inception in the fourteenth century to its overthrow by British forces in the late nineteenth century. The exhibition further documents the kingdom’s reconstitution during the colonial period and its continuity into the twenty-first century.
On the occasion of the opening of this important Benin-exhibition the Museum für Völkerkunde Wien organizes an international symposium to highlight the latest research results on art and cultural history of the Benin kingdom from a broad perspective. For the symposium the most well-known experts from Nigeria, Europe and the United States are invited to present the latest results of historical, anthropological and iconographic research.
This offers the singular opportunity for the researchers with differing disciplinary backgrounds to exchange and discuss their research results in the context of a scholarly meeting open to the public. Members of the Benin royal family and representatives of the artists' guilds in Benin will contribute with their important inside view.
Program
Wednesday May 9, 2007
Benin Art and its Turbulent History.
From 08:30 on Registration
09:45 Official Welcome and Opening Session
10:00 Barbara Plankensteiner, Curator, Museum für Völkerkunde Wien
Benin Art. The Causes and Routes of its Dispersal Worldwide
10:30 Prince G.I. Akenzua, Benin City
The Loss of the Benin Artworks and their Original Function
11:00 Coffee Break
11:30 Joseph Eboreime, Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria
Benin Art in the Future Scheme of Nigerian Museums
12:00 Christian Feest, Director, Museum für Völkerkunde Wien
Observations on the Restitution of Cultural Property in a Global Perspective
12:30 Lunch Break
The State of Research on Benin Art and History
History
14:00 Patrick Darling, Bournemouth University, UK
Re-Writing Benin’s History: The Conflicting Roles of Archaeologists, Historians, Ethnographers and Traditional Politics over time
14:30 Adam Jones, Institut für Afrikanistik, Universität Leipzig
European Sources for Benin and its Art in the 17th and 18th Centuries
15:00 Benson Osarhieme Osadolor, University of Benin, Benin City
Benin History Studies. The State of the Discipline and the Flowering of Local History
15:30 Stefan Eisenhofer, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde München
Local Histories in Benin and their Problematic
16:00 Coffee Break
Art
16:30 Kathy Curnow, Philadelphia, USA
Benin Art and its Position and Relations in a larger Regional Perspective
17:00 Barbara Blackmun, Las Mesa College San Diego, California, USA
State of Research on the Interpretation of Benin Iconography
Thursday May 10, 2007
Continuation : The State of Research on Benin Art and History
Memory
08:30 Flora Edouwaye Kaplan, New York University
Photography in Benin. A Source of Memories
09:00 Peju Layiwola, Lagos University
New Forms of Commemoration and Remembrance: Commemorative Textiles in Benin
09:30 Charles Gore, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) London
Memory-Making in Art, Ritual and Performance of Benin
10:00 Coffee Break
Collection Histories
10:30 Gisela Völger, Köln
Felix von Luschan and his Relevance for Contemporary Research on Benin
11:00 Silvia Dolz, Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden
History and Relevance of the Fairly Known Dresden Benin Collection
11:30 Kay Heymer, Essen
Benin Art and Modernism
Benin Art today and the Quest for Authenticity
12:00 Daniel Inneh, Benin City
Surviving Guilds in Benin. Their Function in Society and Relation to the Royal Palace
12:30 Chief K. Osarhenhen Inneh, Benin City, Ine of the Bronzecasters Guild
Prospects for the Bronzecasters Guild in Benin
13:00 Lunch Break
14:30 Joseph Nevadomsky, Fullerton University California, USA
Contemporary Brass-Casting Production and Styles in Benin
15:00 Paula Ben-Amos Girshick, Indiana University, USA
Benin Art in the Global Market: Circulating across the African Continent
15:30 Chika Okeke-Agulu, Philadelphia
The Burden of Tradition: Modern Edo Artists and the Legacy of "Benin" Art
16:00 Coffee Break
16:30 Thomas Fillitz, Universität Wien
The Issue of Authenticity in Relation to African Art
17:00 Peter Junge, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
The Chronology of Benin Art. Limitations of Stylistic and Scientific Methods of Dating
17:30 Break
Benin as Trademark. The Production and Market of Fake Benin Bronzes
18:00 Roundtable Discussion with:
Barbara Blackmun, Alexander von Berswordt-Wallrabe, Joseph Nevadomsky, Peter
Junge, Peter Krejsa
Moderation/Chair: Barbara Plankensteiner
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Participation Fee: € 40,-
Reduction (Students, Friends of the Museum): €15,-
Roundtable Discussion: Benin as Trademark: Free Admission
Limited number of participants
Information and Registration:
Tel.: 0043 1 53430-212/270 or 53430-5002/5003
[email protected]
Registration and Payment will be closed by 27th April 2007.
