Conference
Worldmaking: Reflections on Decolonial Societal Futures Through Exhibitions and Curating
Conference with Adom Getachew (keynote), Nick Aikens and Anthony Gardner
Monday, 19. Oktober 2026
4 pm to 7 pm
Taking political scientist Adom Getachew’s groundbreaking publication Worldmaking after Empire as a point of departure the conference explores how concepts of worldmaking are articulated through Pan-African, Global South, and anti-imperial solidarities in exhibition-making and curatorial practice. Bringing its author together with art historian Anthony Gardner and curator and researcher Nick Aikens, it examines how exhibitions have mediated transnational alliances, challenged imperial geographies, and opened spaces for imagining forms of political community beyond the nation-state.
Speakers:
Adom Getachew (Keynote)
Adom Getachew is Professor of Political Science and Race, Diaspora & Indigeneity at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination.
- Anthony Gardner
Anthony Gardner is Professor of Contemporary Art History at the University of Oxford, where he is also the Director of Graduate Studies at the Ruskin School of Art and a Fellow of The Queen’s College.
- Nick Aikens
Nick Aikens is a curator, researcher, editor and educator. He is Researcher at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg and Managing Editor / Research Responsible for L’Internationale Online.
- Introduction: Nina Möntmann (University of Cologne)
- Moderation: Agnes Stillger (University of Cologne)
Venue
Seminar building 106, Room 0.04 Universitätsstr. 37, 50931 Köln
Registration
Registration required. Please register by email to a.stillger(at)uni-koeln(dot)de.
Organization
Institute for Art and Art Theory in cooperation with the Global South Studies Center (GSSC) Research Area "Co-Producing Knowledge & South-South Relations“