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Brown Arts Initiative Presents ‘Terra: Art | Land | Justice’ Symposium

The Brown Arts Initiative (BAI) at Brown University is presenting its third public symposium on Arts & Environment on September 19‒20, 2019 at the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts on campus.
Inspired by the French concept of paysagisme—which integrates land art, landscape design, land use, agriculture, urban planning, public space and ecology—Terra: Art | Land | Justice addresses humanity’s relationship to land. The exploration is conducted through a social justice lens that considers issues of nurturance, sustenance, access, respite and intervention. Participants, including activist artists and scholars, a designer, curator, poet, chef and food provider, will share their visionary work examining modes of expression that respond to contemporary culture, embrace the environment and engage the public sphere.

BAI Managing Director Anne Bergeron said, “We look forward to welcoming a distinguished roster of cultural innovators to examine the critical juncture of art, land and justice at this pivotal time for our planet. The Arts & Environment symposia continue to provide the Brown and Providence community with enriching opportunities for discussion and exchange through presentations across a range of practices and disciplines—a core tenet of the BAI’s mission.”

The keynote speaker will be Jackie Sumell, an artist and prison abolitionist best known for her multi-dimensional work, The House that Herman Built [2003 ‒ Present], based on a correspondence relationship between the artist and Herman Wallace, a man who spent 41 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana State Penitentiary.

The symposium is free and open to the public. Advance registration (brown.edu/go/terra) is required. Tickets are valid for 15 minutes prior to the start of each event. Standby audience will then be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis as space permits. Granoff Center, 154 Angell Street, Providence. For more information about the symposium including panelists’ biographies, registration and lodging, go here brown.edu/go/terra.