Conferences & Talks
Keynote Addresses & Invited Talks | Other International Conferences | Other Conferences in South Africa
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Simbao, Ruth. 2024. “With My Toes in the Soil: From a Plateau to a Spiritual Atlantica”. Keynote address at the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and the University of Exeter, UK. This joint conference at the University of Lagos, Nigeria is part of a new collaborative platform, Atlantica Art.
Simbao, Ruth. 2024. “‘Can a camera pray?’ Lens-based Art and Metaphysical Approaches to Land and Place”. A symposium connected to the exhibition, Seekers, Seers, Soothsayers, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA). Cape Town, South Africa.
Simbao, Ruth. 2024. “Tulelosha: Intimacy and Intervention at the TAZARA Memorial Park in Zambia”, Africa-China: Cultural Dimensions symposium organized by the Yale University Council on African Studies with support from the Council on East Asian Studies. At the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique, March 14-15.
Simbao, Ruth. 2022. “Old Stories, Contemporary Politics, Shared Futures: Chinese Soft Power and Visual Narratives in Zambia”. Keynote address at the Centre for Chinese Visual Art (CCVA) at the City University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Simbao, Ruth. 2022. "In Spite of Museums: The Unpredictable Delight of 'Taking Care' Otherwise". Invited plenary talk at the seminar, "The Future of Curating in Africa". The Center for Africa Studies, Harvard University. 23 to 23 June 2022.
Simbao, Ruth. 2022. “Re-burying the Remains of Chinese Martyrs: The Rumours, Controversies and Revised Solidarities of the New TAZARA Memorial Park in Zambia”, presentation for Chinese in Africa/Africans and Lingnan University symposium series, Lingnan University (online), January 2022. Convener of the seminar, Distances and Intimacies: African and Chinese Entanglements in Art, Heritage and Material Culture, in collaboration with the Centre for Cultural Research and Development at Lingnan University, Hong Kong.
Simbao, Ruth. 2021. “Malema Mirrors Mao, Fanon Faces Dao: Afro-Asian Solidarities and Revolutionary Portraiture”. Invited plenary presenter for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) symposium, Transversal Orientations (online participation).
Simbao, Ruth. 2021. “Socialist Exhibition Cultures: International Art Exhibitions in the Socialist World, Iron Will (铁魂): Recasting Zambian-Chinese Comradeship,” Presentation for Socialisms for the 1950 – 1990, organised by Sven Spieker, University of California, Santa Barbara (online participation).
Simbao, Ruth. 2021. Discussion of A letter to my cousin in China, for the film screening of Henion Han’s 1999 film at the symposium Multifaceted Relations: Africa-Asia. 5 July 2021, Bayreuth University, Germany (online participation).
Simbao, Ruth. 2020. Resisting Soft Power, Subverting Solidarity: Visual Narratives of Chinese Presence in Zambia. AfricAsia: Overlooked Histories of Exchange, hosted by the National Museum of Asian Art and the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian, USA. 14-16 September 2020 (online participation).
Simbao, Ruth. 2019. “Hushed Resistances and Solidarities: Reframing China-South Africa in the Shadows”. Invited plenary speaker for the thirtieth anniversary programme, “1989: Movements, Impulses, Upheavals” at the Department of Film Studies at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Simbao, Ruth. 2019. “Reaching sideways as we cast new shadows: Counter-narratives and geopolitics of proximity in the remaking of ‘African Studies’” at the Centre for Institute for Diaspora and African Studies (IDAS) at the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Simbao, Ruth. 2018. “Strategic Southernness, Reciprocal Epistemologies: Re-situating Africa-China through the Arts”. Keynote at Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Simbao, Ruth. 2018. “When ‘African Art’ meets ‘China-Africa’: Space-Time Imaginaries and a Pursuit for New Scripts”. Keynote address presented at the International Bandung School Workshop: Thinking the Third World Today: Art, Translation and the Media, organised by the Institute for Asian, African and Latin American Culture and Art, Nanshan Campus of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China.
Simbao, Ruth. 2018. “Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa: A Walk with Ngugi wa Thiongo” and Moderator of the panel, “Localizing Art Histories”. Invited speaker for the Condition Report 3 symposium on Art History in Africa. RAW Material Company, Dakar, Senegal, 20 -22 September 2018.
Simbao, Ruth. 2018. “Unlearning, Unscripting: Visualizing the Future of ‘China-Africa’”. Invited Guest Speaker at the Center for African Studies at Peking University in Beijing, China. 6 June 2018. Sponsored by the Center for African Studies, the School of Foreign Languages and the Institute of Area Studies at Peking University.
Simbao, Ruth. 2017. “The Direction of Place and the Orientation of Discourse: Portrayals of ‘China’ that Reach Sideways”. Keynote address at the Referencing China and East Asia in Southern African Visual Culture and ChinAfrika joint symposium, Goethe Institute, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Simbao, Ruth. 2017. “A Song of Uhuru and a Difficult Dance: Anawana Haloba’s Sound Memories of TAZARA” Invited speaker for the Referencing China and East Asia in Southern African Visual Culture and ChinAfrika joint symposium, Goethe Institute, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Simbao, Ruth. 2017. “Chapungu Rising: The Centre of Gravity and an Alter-geopolitics of Knowledge”. Invited speaker for the International Conference of African Cultures (ICAC) at the National Gallery of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Simbao, Ruth. 2016. “From socialist camaraderie to neo-liberal investment: Zambia-China relations in the works of Anawana Haloba and Stary Mwaba.: Invited speaker for the Cape Town Art Fair seminar series.
Simbao, Ruth. 2015. “Learning Sideways: Struggles of ‘Africanisation’ in the Eurocentric Discipline of Art History”. African Arts Institute conference on African Tertiary Arts Education. Cape Town, December 2015.
Simbao, Ruth. 2015. The European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) Leadership Symposium, “Dominance, Diversity, Disruption”. University of Cape Town, December 2015. Panel discussion on tertiary arts education in Africa with Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa and Maude Dikobe. Chaired by Mike van Graan.
Simbao, Ruth. 2015. “Walking into Africa in a Chinese Way: Mindful Entry as Counterbalance”. Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) project Espaces de la culture chinoise en Afrique in association with the Congress of the Asia and Pacific Network/Asian Studies association, Paris, France, September 2015.
Simbao, Ruth. 2015. “‘Africanisation’ versus Afrophobia: Diversity as Vitality in South African Art Institutions”. Gallerie Noko, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Simbao, Ruth. 2012. “Artists and New Mobilities: Re-Visualising the China-Africa Debate” presented at the international conference Chinese in Africa/Africans in China, Monash University, Johannesburg, September 2012.
Simbao, Ruth. 2011. Gordon Institute of Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA), University of Cape Town, South Africa “Everyone has a relative named ‘local’”.
Simbao, Ruth. 2010. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Próximo Futuro/Next Future conference on contemporary art and the Global South, Lisbon, Portugal.
Simbao, Ruth. 2009. “The Promiscuity of Place: Contemporary ‘Zambian Art’ and the Afriglobal Interface”. University of Western Cape Heritage Symposium.
Simbao, Ruth. 2009. Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) colloquium on Crime Stories, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa. “Forensic Aesthetics and Cartoon Crimes: Playing Detective in Contemporary South African Art”.
Simbao, Ruth. 2008. Public talk for the official opening of the Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent exhibition curated by Simon Njami. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum, Port Elizabeth. April 2008.
Simbao, Ruth. 2007. Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER), Wits University. “Performing Cultural Custodianship: Chieftainess Nkomeshya’s Political Revival of the Chakwela Makumbi Ceremony, Zambia.” October 2007.
Simbao, Ruth. 2007. Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG). South Africa. Plenary panel discussion on the Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent exhibition with Colin Richards, Anitra Nettleton, Clive van der Berg and David Bunn. Wits University, September 2007.
Simbao, Ruth. 2005. University of Kwazulu-Natal. Department of Fine Art, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. “The Dialectical Dance of the Beaded Veil: Soli Girl Initiates at the Chakwela Makumbi Ceremony.” August 2005. (Conference theme: Dress in Southern Africa).
Simbao, Ruth. 2005. South African Association of Art and Architectural Historians (SAAAH). Department of Fine Art, Rhodes University, South Africa. “‘Tisangalale!’ Stylistic Slippage and the Politics of Celebration in Contemporary Zambian Ceremonies.” September 2005.
Simbao, Ruth. 2003. University of California Los Angeles. Art History Department. “Theatrical Interface: The Performance of Migration at the 2002 Mutomboko Ceremony.” November 2003.
Simbao, Ruth. 2002. Princeton University. New Jersey, USA. Department of Art and Archaeology graduate student conference. “Superimposed: The Western Nude and an African Mermaid.” March 2002.
Simbao, Ruth. 2002. Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston, USA. “Exhibit A: The Camera’s Complicity in South African Forensic Aesthetics.” March 2002.
Simbao, Ruth. 2000. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. “A Deadly Explosive on Her Tongue: Panya Clark Espinal’s African Body.” May 2000.
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Simbao, Ruth. 2024. “Breathing Archives: Releasing the Text of the St. Helena Archives Through Creative Film and Community Collaboration.” Online conference, St Helena: A Unique Environment, A Rich Tapestry organised by the St. Helena Research Institute, 27-28 November 2023.
Simbao, Ruth. 2024. “Audacious Art Histories: A Collaborative Publishing Model”. Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA), Chicago University, USA. August 2024.
Simbao, Ruth. 2023. “Audacious Art Histories as Emancipatory Knowledge: Manifesto, Theory, Praxis”. The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand symposium at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
Simbao, Ruth. Organizer of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence panel, Creative Resistances: Africa-China and the Art of Pushing Back with the panelists Bright Ackwerh, Ruth Simbao, Victor Ndula, Myriam Dao, Jana Hönke and Ming-Cheau Lin. 16 July 2021. Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, Bayreuth University, Germany (online participation).
Simbao, Ruth. “Creative Resistances and the Art of Pushing Back” for the panel Creative Resistances: Africa-China and the Art of Pushing Back, 16 July 2021. Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, Bayreuth University, Germany (online participation).
Simbao, Ruth. 2019. “The step begins on the ground where one stands”: Womxn artists trouble the China-Africa discourse. College Art Association (CAA) conference in New York, NY. February 2019.
Simbao, Ruth. 2017. “Between Place and a Raised Foot: The Pace, Protest and Sway of Ambulatory Art”. Arts Council of the African Studies Association Triennial at the University of Accra, Ghana.
Simbao, Ruth. 2016. “A trickster named Audacity: Place as a wandering signifier”. Plenary paper at the international conference: Signifying Spaces: Theory, Method, Textual Practice. Maria Curie Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland, 25-29 September 2016.
Simbao, Ruth. 2016. “Site-Situational Performance in Cosmolocal Places: Athi-Patra Ruga and Anthea Moys”. Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA), Brooklyn Museum of Fine Art, New York.
Simbao, Ruth. 2016. “Inter-Performance: Reciprocity and ‘Strangeness’ in South Africa”. College Art Association (CAA). Los Angeles, USA. February 2012.
Simbao, Ruth. 2014. “Contemporary Art and China-Africa Relations”. Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA), Brooklyn Museum of Fine Art, New York.
Simbao, Ruth. 2011. Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ). “Making Way: Contemporary Afropolitan and Sinopolitan Engagements”. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. December 2011.
Simbao, Ruth. 2011. Panel Chair: “The Proximity of Distance: (South) Africa in relation to (Global) Africa”. Paper: “Afrophobia, Afrophilia, Afro-Indifference”. Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA). Los Angeles, USA. April 2011.
Simbao, Ruth. 2011. “Cosmolocalism: Small Change in Small Places”. South African Association of Visual Art Histories (SAVAH) association and Comité international d’histoire de l’art (CIHA) symposium, Wits University, South Africa, January 2011.
Simbao, Ruth. 2009. “Geo-Performance in the City: Animating ‘Topographic Archives’ through Site-Specific Performance and Art”. African Studies Association (ASA). New Orleans, USA. November 2009.
Simbao, Ruth. 2008. “Entangling the Spiritual and the Spectacle: Leya Performances at Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls, Zambia.” International Conference of the Association of Cultural Studies (ACS). University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. July 2008. (Conference theme: Crossroads).
Simbao, Ruth. 2008. “Creating Africanicities: Contemporary Zambian Artists at an Afriglobal Interface.” (Funded by Getty and Mellon Foundations). Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art (CIHA). Melbourne University, Australia. January 2008.
Simbao, Ruth. 2007. “The Living Stone: Leya Performance and the Re-Localization of Victoria Falls.” Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA). School of Art & Art History and Center for African Studies, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. March/April 2007. (Conference theme: The African Diaspora).
Simbao, Ruth. 2007. Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA). School of Art & Art History and Center for African Studies, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. March/April 2007. Roundtable discussion on the production of a Contemporary African Art textbook.
Simbao, Ruth. 2006. “Visual Culture and Performance in Zambia.” Paper: “Inside Out: Internal/External Dialogues in Zambian Cultural Ceremonies.” African Studies Association (ASA). San Francisco, USA. Conceived and co-chaired panel with Elisabeth Cameron: November 2006.
Simbao, Ruth. 2005. “The Matriarch of Snow, Rain and Fire: Communion with Soli Ancestors at the Chakwela Makumbi Ceremony.” African Studies Association (ASA). Washington D.C., USA. November 2005.
Simbao, Ruth. 2003. Conceived and co-chaired panel with Leora Maltz: “Troubled Inheritance: Imagining Home in Contemporary South African Art.” Paper: “‘Road Zero’: Randolph Hartzenberg at the Threshold of District Six.” African Studies Association (ASA). Boston, USA October 2003.
Simbao, Ruth. 2003. “Conceptualizing Photojournalism: Re-Visions of the Soweto Uprising in Contemporary Installations.” College Art Association (CAA). New York, USA. February 2003.
Simbao, Ruth. “The Soweto Uprising and Contemporary Photography.” Boston University African Studies Center. Boston, USA. March 2003.
Simbao, Ruth. 2002.. “Techno Tongue: The Opacity of Words in a Zambian Performance.” African Studies Association (ASA). Washington D.C., USA December 2002.
Simbao, Ruth. 2002. “The Dona Fish in Luapula Province, Zambia.” Boston University African Studies Center, Boston, USA. March 2002.
Simbao, Ruth. 2001. “Double-Stitched: Colonial Pattern Making in the Works of Yinka Shonibare and Seydou Keita.” College Art Association (CAA). Chicago, USA. February 2001.
Simbao, Ruth. 2001. “Issues of Authenticity in West African Photography.” Boston University African Studies Center. Boston, USA. March 2001.
Simbao, Ruth. 1999. “There’s a Bomb in this Exhibition: Kendell Geers Charged.” Arts Association of Canada (UAAC). Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Canada.
Simbao, Ruth. 1998. “Displacements: The Body’s Place in a Non-Body Space.” University Arts Association of Canada (UAAC). University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Simbao, Ruth. 1997. “From Exile to Liberation: South African Art Before, During and Beyond the ‘New’ South Africa.” College Art Association (CAA). New York, USA. 1997.
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Simbao, Ruth. 2016. “Learning Sideways: Struggles of ‘Africanisation’ in the Eurocentric Discipline of Art History”. Rhodes University Teaching and Learning Showcase. November 2015.
Simbao, Ruth. 2016. “Blanks, Failure and Ways of Not Seeing”. Rhodes University Fine Art symposium Blind Spots and Ways of Not Seeing, October 2014.
Simbao, Ruth. 2008. South African Association of Visual Art Historians (SAVAH). Stellenbosch University, “The Aftermath of Deterritorialization: Victor Mutelekesha and Contemporary Zambian Art in the Wake of Diaspora”, September 2008.
Simbao, Ruth. 2007. South African Association of Visual Art Historians (SAVAH). Wits School of the Arts, Witwatersrand University. “The Deterritorialization of an Imaginary Continent: Cape 07 and the Search for ‘Africa’ in Contemporary African Art.” September 2007.
Simbao, Ruth. 2006. South African Association of Visual Art Historians (SAVAH). Department of Fine Art, Vaal University of Technology. “The Thirtieth Anniversary of June 16: Reading the Shadow in Sam Nzima’s Photograph.” September 2006.