CEE NEWS #70
Last week, CAMRA hosted their annual Screening Scholarship Media Festival with the theme of portals, an experiment with crossing boundaries, shifting perceptions, and navigating between worlds. For the organizers, portals were “intersections where multiple realities, experiences, and dimensions converge,” and the projects that were highlighted over the two days of the festival blended material and metaphysical approaches to world/art-making across historical, spiritual, and technological terrains.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Third thursday with ssmf director Azsaneé Truss APRIL 16 | 12 PM | PENN MUSEUM 438
For our April Third Thursday Azsanneé Truss and CAMRA will give a recap of their annual SSMF festival! This years theme is “ Portals” and we will hear about how the 2026 submissions explored and engaged with this theme. Please join us for an exciting conversation over lunch and refreshments!
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Wikipedia edit-a-thonAPRIL 29 | 5:30-7:30 PM | PARKWAY CENTRAL LIBRARY 1901 VINE ST
Join us in the Art Department for a crash course in creating new entries and updating existing articles on Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia. We will focus on Philadelphia’s local art history, and utilize the research resources of the Central Library.
This working session will begin with an introduction to those library resources and a tutorial on how to make a Wikipedia entry. Together we will attempt to fill in gaps in the online encyclopedia relating to Philadelphia’s rich visual arts activity. |
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PAST EVENTS
SSMF 2026 PORTALS march 26 | 7pm | WIDENER AUDITORIUM
SSMF explored and experimented with the idea of Portals: spiritual, virtual, historical, (meta)physical, and technological. Embodying the act of crossing boundaries, shifting perceptions, and navigating between worlds, portals act as gateways between what is and what might be. We understand Portals not just as literal doorways or entry points, but as intersections where multiple realities, experiences, and dimensions converge. As such, this theme encompasses a range of projects and perspectives that explore the notion of portals across diverse mediums, disciplines, and traditions.
Friday, March 27th Opening Performance | Penn Museum's Widener Auditorium @ 7:00PM Register for the SSMF Opening Performance here! Saturday, March 28th Multimodal Conference | Annenberg School for Communication from 9:00AM - 5:30PM The Multimodal Conference Program is now available Keynote by Vashti Dubois | Annenberg School for Communication, Room 110 @ 1:00PM Register for the Multimodal Conference portion of SSMF here! Closing with Katleho Kano Shoro | The Arts League @ 7:00PM Register for the SSMF Closing Performance here! |
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THE EMPTY GRAVE
Mar 25 | 4 pm | RAINEY AUDITORIUM
This last March, we were treated to a screening of The Empty Grave and a visit by activist-artist Konradin Kunze, who joined in conversation with Associate Professor of Bioanthropology at Penn, Dr. Rachel Watkins, about the film “The Empty Grave”. The film followed the mission of Tanzanian John Mbano, whose great-grandfather, Songea Mbano, a leader of the Ngoni people, was executed by the German colonial army. His head was taken to Germany for racist research, hauntingly similar to the fate of the Kaaya family, whose ancestors' remains have been found in a museum in New York. The film captures how both families battle institutional bureaucracy and resist top-down calls for symbolic reconciliation efforts.
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CEE Fall FELLOW final EVENT: ṢèègèsíṢèègèsí (pronounced shay-gay-see) is a durational performance that explores the ritual of hair braiding as a practice of survival. Over 8 hours, performance and visual artist Courtney Desiree Morris will install a set of braid extensions in her hair in the museum. The performance will be accompanied by a soundscape of five mixtapes. Audience members are invited to make offerings of pennies, flowers, sweets, honey, stones/minerals, or shells.
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NOV. 29th | PENN MUSEUM | 10am- 5pm
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