NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) hosted the Stolzenberg-Doan Annual Lecture on Tuesday, November 29. This year’s lecture featured Samson Kambalu, Ph.D. and was presented in conjunction with Samson Kambalu Nyau Cinema on view at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale (running through April 23, 2017.) Kambalu’s talk is titled: “Nyau economics: Play and the economy of gift.”
Kambalu is a London-based, Malawian conceptual artist, ethnomusicologist and writer, whose work includes site-specific installations, video, performance art and novels. Kambalu humorously challenges canonical ideas about the history of ideas, art and religion while exploring issues of identity and freedom of expression. His work is informed by his Malawi culture, his fascination with German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and the Protestant tradition of inquiry, criticism and dissent. Kambalu screens his films in specially designed installations that complement the spirit of the films.
Born in Malawi in 1975, Kambalu has degrees in Fine Art and Ethnomusicology from the University of Malawi, an M.A. from Nottingham Trent University, a Ph.D. from Chelsea College of Art and Design, and has held research fellowships at Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution. His work has been exhibited internationally, and has been featured at the Liverpool Biennial (2016), Venice Biennale (2015), Dakar Biennale (2016, 2014), and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016), among other venues. He is the author of two award-winning books: a memoir, The Jive Talker or, How to Get a British Passport, and Uccello’s Vineyard, a fictional narrative of modern art set in the Middle Ages.
For more information about future lectures please contact David Kilroy, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of History and Political Science via e-mail (dkilroy@nova.edu) or phone (954-262-8021.)