About the event

This event has sold out and can be livestreamed here.

Saturday, June 11, 2022 at Judson Memorial Church

Saturday–Sunday, June 18–19, 2022, at The Poetry Project

Through conversations and performances, the symposium asks: How can we re-imagine nation, tribe, and community? What practices of listening, sharing, and making could be enacted across varying visions of community, decolonization and self-determination?

The symposium convenes writers, artists, and performers to explore the affective and emotional ties of nationalism with participants LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Bhanu Kapil, Layli Long Soldier, Maaza Mengiste, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Ann Pellegrini, and more.


Symposium Schedule


| Saturday, June 11 – Judson Memorial Church |

9:00 – Doors Open
9:30 – Introduction from Claudia Rankine
10:00 – Performance: Testimony
11:00 – Conversation: Urayoan Noel, Josefina Baez, and Maryam Ivette Parhizkar, moderated by Daniel Borzutzky
12:15 -1:30 – Lunch
1:30 – Conversation: Tavia Nyong’o and Jackie Wang, moderated by Anaïs Duplan
3:00 – Performance: Layli Long Soldier
3:15 – Conversation: Viet Thanh Nguyen and Maaza Mengiste, moderated by Miriam Ticktin
5:00 – Performance: Bhanu Kapil
5:00 – Roundtable with all participants


| Saturday, June 18 – St Mark’s Church |

2:00 – Performance & Conversation: LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs and other guests to be announced


| Sunday, June 19 – St Mark’s Church |

4:00 – Presentations & Conversation: Lara & Steven Sheehi, Ann Pellegrini, and David Eng

We invite you to join our effort to support these artists by visiting The Racial Imaginary Institute’s GoFundMe page.


Symposium co-organized by The Racial Imaginary Institute, CUNY Graduate Center, and The Poetry Project, and is part of On Nationalism: the Fragility and Possibilities of ‘We’ network of exhibitions and programming in collaboration with The Racial Imaginary Institute throughout 2022-23 at sites including David Kordansky Gallery in LA, FOAM in Amsterdam, and the CUNY James Gallery in New York.

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