Programme of events to explore diversity issues at Iniva

Photo: www.iniva.org

In coming weeks the Youth Advisory Board from the Institute of International Visual Arts (aka the Inivators from Iniva) have planned three events to focus on diversity in the arts.

Teaming up with artist Yara El-Sherbini, they have produced an alternative version of popular board game Guess Who? Visitors to the Education Space at Rivington Place, home of Iniva, can now play around with cultural difference and public perception.

Things get heavy on February 27 when the capital’s major art institutions go on trial in a Pop-Up Court. With the help of artist and former litigator Jack Tann, the Inivators will seek to enforce their 10 laws of diversity.

On March 4 they borrow a format from BBC’s Question Time to stage Questionnable Times. Yara El-Sherbini will be joined on the panel by artist and writer Sonya Dyer, Tony Panayiotou from the Arts Council and Prof. Sarat Maharaj, Director at Iniva.

Despite globalisation, the arts are still more homogenous than you might think. Between 2007-2009, US artists were twice as likely to crop up in London galleries than artists from India. Meanwhile only 22% of work shown at the Tate was by women.

All three events tie in with the Institute’s current exhibition. Progress Reports: Art in an Era of Diversity celebrates 15 years since Iniva was founded.

Written for Culture24.

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