News & Events

Re-Viewing Black Mountain College: An International Conference

September 9, 2009

The legacy of Black Mountain College continues to inform contemporary culture in multiple realms. This conference will investigate its history as well as the multiple paths of influence, actual and possible, identifiable in the contemporary world and beyond. 

Co-hosted by the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and the University of North Carolina Asheville

The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and UNC Asheville are pleased to announce Re-Viewing Black Mountain College, a three-day international conference, set for October 9-11, 2009 on the UNC Asheville campus. Scholars from all over the United States and as far away as France will gather in Asheville to share their ideas about the history and ongoing influence of the famous progressive college community located just outside of Black Mountain from 1933-1957.

In addition to over 50 scholarly presentations, the weekend conference will include poetry readings, performances and a clay, color and word workshop. A full conference schedule can be viewed at www.blackmountaincollege.org. Presenters include authors, educators, artists, independent scholars, poets, an architect and an experimental musician. The one thing they all share is a fascination with Black Mountain College and a common belief that it was an extremely significant educational and artistic endeavor that deserves attention, study and discourse.

Selected highlights from the weekend schedule include: 

“Alone Together”: On Merce Cunningham and the Question of Black Mountain College’s Artistic Legacy – Kate Markoski, Johns Hopkins University 

“Like a Girl:” Gendered Sexual Difference at Black Mountain College and the Development of Postmodernism - Jonathan Katz, SUNY Buffalo

Black Mountain College: Form as the Creator of Content - Mary Emma Harris, Scholar, NY

The Weaver and the Architect: Reconstructing the Modern Shelter - Kirsten Dahlquist, University of South Florida

Aftereffects: Buckminster Fuller and the Legacy of Black Mountain College –Eva Diaz, Pratt Institute

What Josef Albers Taught at Black Mountain College, and What Black Mountain College Taught Albers - Frederick A. Horowitz, Washtenaw College

Motion Sculpture Movement Installation: Attack Of The Killer Stripey Tubes!!! - Claire Elizabeth Barratt, Cilla Vee Life Arts

Performance of “This Paradise Apart” a play by David Hopes, UNC-Asheville

The keynote speaker for the conference is BMC alumna and acclaimed artist Dorothea Rockburne. Her presentation will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, on the UNC Asheville campus. Rockburne’s Astronomy Drawings series of paintings is currently on display at BMCM+AC as part of its yearlong celebration of the women of Black Mountain College. A student at BMC in the 1950s, Dorothea Rockburne has been immersed in the contemporary art scene since that time. During the sixties she was involved in Judson Dance Theatre performances with artists such as Oldenburg and Rauschenberg. From 1965 until today she has shown internationally. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a NEA grant, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Department of Art, in 2001 and received the National Academy Museum Artist's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

Admission to the conference is $10 per day or $15 for the weekend with free admission for UNC Asheville faculty, staff and students. For advance tickets please call BMCM+AC at 828/350-8484.

For a complete schedule of conference events, click on www.blackmountaincollege.org.

The Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center preserves and continues the unique legacy of educational and artistic innovation of Black Mountain College for public study and enjoyment. We achieve our mission through collection, conservation, and educational activities including exhibitions, publications, and public programs.