Tina Sherwell: Key Note Lecture at the KUNO Conference

Dr. Tina Sherwell lives in Occupied East Jerusalem. She graduated from Goldsmiths’ College, London in Textiles and Critical Theory and received her Ph.D. from the University of Kent at Canterbury in Image Studies. She is currently the Director of The International Academy of Art, Palestine a post she has held since 2007. Previously she was Programme Leader of Fine Art at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton (2005-2007) She was also Executive Director of the Virtual Gallery at Birzeit University, and has worked on the Tate Online with their digital archives (2004-2006) She won prize of Alexandria Biennele in 2001 for her map series of Palestine. The author of various texts on Palestinian art published in catalogues, journals and books, including monograph on Sliman Mansour for which she was also the curator of the retrospective Exhibition: Terrains of Belonging in (2011). She has also curated the annual Degree Show of The International Academy of Art, Palestine between 2011-2015 and most recently Disrupted Intimacies at the French German Cultural Centre, Ramallah (2015). Recent publications and papers include: Nearness and Distance:

Cartographies of Contemporary Palestinian Artists Photographic Practices, Photography’s Shifting Terrain NYUAD (2015) Curatorial Expeditions: The Ramallah Safari, Stedelijk Museum Journal (2014). Measures of Uncertainty Ibraaz Platform, (2014) Time Loop in Palestinian Video Art; Constellation of the Moving Image, Ed. B. Makhoul. (2013) Contemplation on Public Art in Palestine, Henrich Boell Foundation Kiel Muthesius, Germany. (2012) She has undertaken consultancy work for various organizations including UNESCO, Birzeit University Museum, Riwaq and The Danish Centre for Culture and Development.

Tina Sherwell ́s presentation will discuss the complex question of autonomy in relation to the Palestinian context, and how to understand autonomy in the current geographical fragmentation. The presentation will look specifically at the transformation of the contexts of art production and art practice in Palestine over the last 40 years and will also present the work of the International Academy of Art, Palestine and the new initiative of Birzeit University- The Faculty of Art and Music.

Photo: Creative Time 2015 Summit