4/30: Peter Haffner

Please join us at our next Chew on This
Tuesday, 4/30 at 12pm
Kaufman conference room 160

Aesthetic Beneficence: Tourism and Art Production in Haiti

Art objects from are sold to tourists and collectors throughout the Caribbean and the Americas as souvenirs and decorative objects that signify notions of exoticism, tropicality, and primitivism. How have writers, art dealers, curators, and collectors helped to shape and advance such problematic narratives? How did “Haitian art” come to be classified as such and by whom? What discourses are advanced as a result of such classifications? How can theories of tourism help us analyze the history of contemporary art in Haiti and understand the responses by artists in Haiti and abroad?

Peter Haffner is a second year PhD student in the Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on the connections between tourism and the production of art in Haiti through an interdisciplinary approach that includes visual studies, museum studies, cultural studies, tourism studies, and art history. After receiving his BA in Art History from Bard College, he worked in several New York City art galleries in a variety of positions. In addition to his academic work, Peter is a co-leader of the upcoming student-curated section of the Fowler Museum at UCLA’s 50th anniversary exhibitions.