A conference to member-in the cultural vitality and consequences of the Puerto Rican sector of the Lower East Side into the Downtown scene, past and present.
The Centro Library and Archives at Hunter College holds the archives of several important writers and artists, notably, Clemente Soto Vélez, Pedro Pietri, Marlis Momber and Ed Vega, whose works reflect a supplemental narrative of ‘Loisaida’ to the ethos of the Lower East Side. This event will gather archivists, scholars, photographers, artists and activists who produce scholarship on the history and contributions of Puerto Ricans and Latinos to the revitalization of the Lower East Side, and will integrate connoisseurship with the relevance of the Centro’s collection. This conference falls within the activities celebrating the centennial of poet and community activist Clemente Soto Vélez.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18th, 6:00 pm
On Archiving and ‘Lure of the Retro Lens’: the technique and transaction to assemble the present through organizing the past. Historians and cultural critics discuss issues of institutional politics, material culture, artist community affiliations, different types of cultural belongings, and the shadow and situational sphere of peripheral players to the art-world canon.
Panelists:
Gregory Sholette– Artist/writer/founding member of REPOhistory, Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Queens College, CUNY. Urayoán Noel– Poet/ critic/co-founder of ‘Spanic Attack/Assistant Professor of English, University at Albany, SUNY. Marvin J. Taylor– Founder of the Downtown New York Collection, Director of the Fales Library and Special Collections at NYU. Mario H. Ramirez– Project Archivist at Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. Carolina Gonzalez– Author, journalist.
Alfredo Irizarry– Former artistic director of El Teatro Ambulante and founder of The Quality of Life Magazine in Loisaida.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20th, 6:00 pm
Visualizing Loisaida: The panel will compare instances of local cultural practices within the phenomena of cultural appropriation that leads to the re-invention of place identity. Insiders, poets and documenters of everyday life from the 1970’s forward, will trace and re-present the Puerto Rican sway in the Loisaida scene.
Round Table: Luis Aponte-Parés– Architect/urban planner/ Director of Latino Studies at CPCS, UMASS Boston; Ed Morales Author/journalist/documentary filmmaker; Alan W. Moore– Independent Scholar, member of Colab, co-founder ABC No Rio;
Panelists: Edwin Torres– Poet/Performer, Marlise Momber– Photographer, María Dominquez– Muralist/visual artist, Clayton Patterson– Artist/documentarian.
CURATED/CHAIRED BY: Libertad O.Guerra and Yasmin Ramirez. Sponsored by New York City Council Member Rosie Méndez and the Clemente Soto-Vélez Cultural Center.