Intersections Conference: Dialogues on Memory, Restitution, and Justice
The INTERSECTIONS Conference is thrilled to present Yale Law School’s first student-run art law conference on Friday, March 3rd at the Sterling Law Building in New Haven, CT. The theme for INTERSECTIONS this year is “Dialogues on Memory, Restitution, and Justice,” given the recent focus by governments, public institutions, and advocates on questions of repatriation and memory. The conference will put lawyers, artists, and activists in direct conversations to ask the question: How can the vision, language, and tools of art and the law be mobilized to rectify loss and historic injustice?
The conference will feature two expert panels, an artist keynote address, catered meals, and a tour of the Yale Art Gallery (YUAG). The first panel, “Modern Approaches to Restitution and Repatriation,” and will feature Emmanuelle Polack, the Louvre’s “art sleuth,” Laurel Zuckerman, the named plaintiff in Zuckerman v. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Antonia V. Bartoli, the Curator of Provenance Research at YUAG, and Nicholas O’Donnell, partner at Sullivan & Worcester and leading art law practitioner. The panel will be co-moderated by Sreya Pinnamaneni (YLS ‘24) and Katherine Wilson-Milne, partner at Schindler, Cohen & Hoffman and YLS alumna.
The second panel, “Memory, Reparations, and Transitional Justice,” will feature Amina Krvavac, the Executive Director of the War Childhood Museum (recipient of a 2018 European Museum of the Year Award), Sarah Case, the Deputy Program Director for the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, traci kato-kiriyama, playwright and organizer of the National Nikkei Reparations Coalition, and Cécile Fromont, Professor in the History of Art at Yale University.
The rest of the conference is dedicated to experiences that connect the issues of memory, justice, and repatriation to art in person. A curator-guided tour of the Yale University Art Gallery designed for the conference will take participants to see and discuss objects with contentious histories that continue to be researched and pieces of contemporary art that deal directly with themes of justice and redress.
Finally, our keynote address will be delivered by Ana de Orbegoso, an amazing Peruvian artist and the creator of “So What Do We Do with Our History?” and “Urban Virgins,” two series that explore the embodied relationship between colonization, restitution, memory, identity, and reclamation.
The conference is open to the public and free of charge. Please visit the event page to complete mandatory registration and browse the website for additional details about our program!