The Power Plant

Cultural theorist and critic Mieke Bal is based at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam. Her interests range from biblical and classical antiquity to 17th century and contemporary art and modern literature, feminism and migratory culture, and madness. Her many books include A Mieke Bal Reader (2006), Loving Yusuf (2008), Narratology (3rd edition, 2009), and Of What One Cannot Speak: Doris Salcedo’s Political Art (2010). She is also a video artist, making experimental documentaries on migration, while her first fiction feature, A Long History of Madness, about psychoanalysis and madness in cultural history, is currently being presented internationally.

As the inaugural talk in Vtape's Artists Squared (artists to the power of artists) series, Bal will speak on Stan Douglas’s work (currently on view at The Power Plant), examining how he practices a re-examination of cultural history that actualizes the relevance today of both media and stories — the one through the other. Bal has written about Douglas’s work in Stan Douglas: Past Imperfect — Works 1986 – 2007 (2007).

Primary Education Sponsor

PRESENTED BY

Vtape with the participation of the
Department of Art, Visual Studies
program at the University of Toronto.