It is with great pleasure that we share with you the news of
the appointment, by the Board of Directors of la Biennale di Venezia, of our
dear colleague and friend Okwui Enwezor as Director of the Visual Arts Sector
and Curator of the 56th International Art Exhibition scheduled for
May 9-Nov 22, 2015. There is no greater testament to Okwui’s stature as one of
the most important curators and brilliant critical thinkers of our times. We
note that by this appointment, he has accomplished a historic feat: he is the
second person in history (after Harald Szeemann) to organize the Documenta and
Venice Biennale.
As editors of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art
we are proud to have shared with him the incredible journey that began with the
first issue of the journal in 1994–a critical platform, which he initiated and
has tirelessly championed. We have absolute confidence that Okwui will
produce a memorable exhibition in Venice. For we believe that it is his acute
sense of history, his unflinching belief in the art exhibition as a platform
for proposing new ways of imagining our world in all its artistic, cultural,
political and ideological complexities, and his knack for making rigorously
conceived, and spectacularly staged exhibitions that recommended his
appointment as the director of the flagship of international biennales!
Please join us in extending our heartfelt congratulations
and warmest wishes to our dear friend as he begins the necessary work on this
thrilling project.
We share with our friends, colleagues and readers the press
announcement from the Venice Biennale Foundation:
Congratulations Okwui!
Salah M. Hassan (Cornell University)
Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University)
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