The Black Lunch Table seeks to democratize the writing of contemporary art history by animating discourse among the people living this history.
These roundtable sessions provide both physical space and allotted time for interdisciplinary and intergenerational discussions, bringing together a diversity of community members and fostering candid conversations.
In its 16 year existence, The Black Lunch Table has taken a variety of forms including Wikipedia edit-a-thons. Black Lunch Table Wikimedians mobilize the creation and improvement of a specific set of Wikipedia articles that pertain to the lives and works of Black artists. In the field of mainstream contemporary art, Black artists are still marginalized within our field.
Wikipedia estimates that 77% of their editors are white and 91% of their editors are men. Our work shifts this demographic and empowers people to write their own history. Our sessions and events, including BLT Photobooth and edit-a-thons, equip new editors with the skills and resources to create, update, and improve Wikipedia articles and encourages existing editors to focus on Wikipedia knowledge gaps.
Along with our Roundtables, our Wikipedia Edit-a-thons and Photo Booth events have taken place all across the United States and the world!
The archive contains recorded conversations from BLT’s roundtable series which began in 2005 as a collaborative social practice art project founded by Heather Hart and jina valentine. The roundtable sessions on which the archive is built, provide both physical space and allotted time for interdisciplinary and intergenerational discussions, bringing together a diversity of community members and fostering candid conversations.
The audio recordings in the archive include conversations from Artists’ Tables and People’s Tables events highlighting creative reflections, shared histories, communal struggles and joys.
