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# A Symposium Casts a Critical Eye on Whiteness
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/on-whiteness-symposium-racial-imaginary-institute-kitchen/
- Published: 2018-06-26T22:08:43.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:55:18.000Z
- Description: Co-organized by the Racial Imaginary Institute and the Kitchen, this weekend's event boasts a powerful lineup of artists, writers, and thinkers on race.
- Author: Benjamin Sutton
- Tags: Art, Events, Racial Imaginary Institute, The Kitchen, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-18 14:37 (2018)

![Mel Chin, "Aileen" (2015) (courtesy of the artist)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/06/mel-chin-aileen-on-whiteness.jpg)

Mel Chin, “Aileen” (2015) (courtesy of the artist)

As many [have argued](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1442203080/?tag=hyperallergic-20&ref=hyperallergic.com), the essential work of dismantling white supremacy involves not only centering the voices of those who have been historically marginalized, but also of critically examining and deconstructing whiteness itself. This will be the focus of a rich symposium presented by the [Racial Imaginary Institute](https://theracialimaginary.org/on-whiteness-symposium-june-30th/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [the Kitchen](http://thekitchen.org/event/on-whiteness-a-symposium?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Saturday, June 30\. The event’s three keynote speakers alone would make for a fascinating program, with Princeton University professor-turned-artist [Nell Painter](https://hyperallergic.com/learning-to-be-a-painter-at-64/) speaking in the morning, Hunter College philosophy professor [Linda Martín Alcoff](http://www.alcoff.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (whose new book [*The Future of Whiteness*](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0745685455/?tag=hyperallergic-20&ref=hyperallergic.com) symposium attendees may want to pick up) in the afternoon, and legal scholar [Patricia J. Williams](https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/patricia-williams?ref=hyperallergic.com) toward the end of the day.

The symposium boasts a pair of major panels, with the first focusing on the limits of diversity in a context of pervasive whiteness, featuring Jeff Chang, Aruna D’Souza, Daniel Borzutsky, Sarah Lewis, and Doreen St. Felix (with Chris Chen moderating). Participants in the afternoon’s panel will seek to diagnose the symptoms of whiteness and the challenges to empathy; participants include Lauren Berlant, Sadhana Bery, Jane Caflish, Lori Gruen, and Saidiya Hartman (with Rizvana Bradley moderating). Between events, be sure to pop upstairs to the Kitchen’s gallery, which is hosting the companion group exhibition organized by the Racial Imaginary Institute, [*On Whiteness*](http://thekitchen.org/event/on-whiteness-exhibition?ref=hyperallergic.com).

(Registration for the *On Whiteness* symposium has reached full capacity, and though there is a wait list, the entire symposium will also be livestreamed [on the Kitchen’s website](http://thekitchen.org/event/on-whiteness-a-symposium?ref=hyperallergic.com).)

**When:** Saturday, June 30, 10am–6pm  
**Where:** The Kitchen (512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)

![Ken Gonzales-Day, "The Wonder Gaze (St. James Park)" (2007–13), C-print mounted on aluminum and framed with UV museum acrylic, 40 × 80 in (courtesy the artist)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/06/gonzales-day-wonde-gaze-on-whiteness.jpg)

Ken Gonzales-Day, “The Wonder Gaze (St. James Park)” (2007–13), C-print mounted on aluminum and framed with UV museum acrylic, 40 × 80 in (courtesy the artist)

*More info at* [*the Kitchen*](http://thekitchen.org/event/on-whiteness-a-symposium?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*