Public Engagement
CARLA researchers and artists people have engaged widely with publics in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia and internationally. Key features include an online exhibition, a Festival of Anti-Racist and Decolonial Art held in Manchester (23 April 2022), and many events in Latin America. With 750 subscribers, CARLA’s YouTube channel hosts over 40 videos, with online discussions, interviews with artists and bespoke films. In April 2022, we launched a tri-lingual online exhibition curated by CARLA researchers, featuring 21 artists and over 30 artworks.
The exhibition launch coincided with a Festival of Decolonial and Anti-Racist Art in Manchester’s Contact Theatre (23/4/2022), which attracted over 100 people and featured many of the artists in person (with 3-way simultaneous translation). Audience feedback from the Festival included these comments: “I was able to experience how antiracist fights can be expressed through diverse cultural practices such as art, dance, video, performance”.
A documentary of the festival was launched on 8 March 2023 and was included in the official selection for the section “Vanguardias Afro” in the Festival Internacional de Cine de Cali, October 2024.
In April 2024, Peter Wade participated in PeopleFest, a public festival of anthropology, organised by the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK on 5-7 April in Manchester. He gave a talk titled “Art and Anti-Racism” at the Anthony Burgess Centre, which showcased CARLA’s online exhibition; the event also featured an audience-participation activity led by local Manchester artist SuAndi in which audience members responded to images chosen by Suandi, including some from the exhibition.
