Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Photos from Clark-MoMA Colloquium

L-R: Raison Naidoo, Judy Hecker, Natasha Becker, Christa Clarke, Dan Leers
All photos: Chika Okeke-Agulu

Seated at table: Senzeni Marasela, Leslie King-Hammond, John Peffer

L-R: Aruna D'Souza, Vuyile Voyiya, Alissa LaGamma, Gary van Wyk, Sue Williamson, Dan Leers

Extreme Right: Jay Levenson


Second Right: Marcia Kure

Monday, June 27, 2011

Alice Walker on board the "Audacity of Hope" flotilla to Gaza

The celebrated American writer Alice Walker is on board the second flotilla headed to Gaza. Like the first flotilla, this journey is meant to call the world's attention one more time to the plight of the people of Gaza and Palestine, the stateless people who continue to suffer incredibly while the world plays its geopolitical chess game. The cries of the children of Palestine, their parent's yearning for a state of their own, for the freedom most of the world now takes for granted will, hopefully, soon be heeded. I hope to see in my lifetime a region where Jews, Arabs, Hebrews, Christians, Muslims will live in dignity and relative peace. Here is Alice Walker's statement about why she is on board the Audacity of Hope published by the Guardian of London

Monday, June 20, 2011

Clark-MoMA Colloquium, June 21-22


The colloquium organized by the Museum of Modern Art and The Clark Art Institute around the exhibition of prints "Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to now" takes place next two days. Looking forward to it. Here below is the program:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Impressions from South Africa” and Beyond
Connecting Perspectives on Africa

A ClarkMoMA Colloquium
June 2122, 2011
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room
The Museum of Modern Art, New York

PROGRAM

We are delighted to welcome you to this colloquium.  All sessions will take place inThe Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room, 4th floor, MoMA Administrative Offices, 11 West 53rd Street. If you need assistance during your stay, please contact Alexandra Diczok at 212.708.9702, Judy Hecker at 212.333.1147 or 646.528.0311 (cell), or Natasha Becker at 347.853.1713 (cell).
Audio-Visual Note: Presentations will be loaded 15 minutes before the start of a session and at the start of a coffee or lunch break. Thanks. 

Tuesday, June 21


9:30–10:45      Welcome and Introduction

Christophe Cherix (MoMA), Jay Levenson (MoMA), and Michael Ann Holly (The Clark)

                        Natasha Becker (The Clark) and Judy Hecker (MoMA)

                        Exhibition viewing of Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now

We will begin with introductions and an overview of the program, followed by a viewing of the exhibition Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now led by Judy Hecker.

10:45–11:00    Coffee break

11:00–12:30    Session I. “Impressions from South Africa”: Content, Reception, Criticism

Our discussion focuses on the specific exhibition, and the issues related to organizing and presenting it, as well as asking what the repercussions of the exhibition are—for both curatorial practice and for future art historical study.
                        Commentators: Jay Clarke (The Clark); Vuyile Voyiya (artist, South Africa); Willie Cole (artist, USA)

                        Moderator: Aruna D’ Souza (The Clark)

12:30 – 1:00    Lunch service begins and continues into the next session

1:00 – 3:00 *   Session II. Curatorial Practice, Institutions, and Scholarship: Regional, Global, Alternative, and Beyond? 
*At 2:30 MoMA staff leave for Curatorial Forum meeting
What are the spaces for the production, dissemination, and exhibition of contemporary “Africanart on the continent and abroad? How is the work of contemporary and modern African artists located/positioned in fine/modern/ contemporary or encyclopedic art museums? How is work understood by curators/scholars/audiences at home and abroad? What models have emerged to deepen our understanding and art historical knowledge?
Commentators: Riason Naidoo (South African National Gallery); Leslie King Hammond (Center for Race and Culture, MICA); Alisa LaGamma (Metropolitan Museum); Doryun Chong (MoMA)

                        Moderator: Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University)


3:00 – 5:30      End of Sessions – Free Time

5:30                 Friends of Education panelists gather for rehearsal, Titus 2 theater, MoMA
                        Panelists: Senzeni Marasela; Vuyile Voyiya; Sue Williamson; Riason Naidoo
                        Introduction: Judy Hecker
6:45 – 8:00      Friends of Education Public Program, Titus 2 theater, MoMA
                        All participants attend
8:15                 Friends of Education Cocktail Reception    

Wednesday June 22, 2011

9:30 – 12:00    Session III. Modernism: Global? Multiple? Cosmopolitan?
This session is directed at cross-cultural discourse about art and modernist art history in particular: How do art history and exhibitions engage with difference and the history of the dynamic interplay between different cultures in the twentieth century? What has the critical exploration of relationships between Europe and Africa contributed to our historical understanding of cultural difference in the visual arts? In a world where multiculturalism, globalization, and contemporaneity have become common, what unanswered questions remain?
There will be a coffee break at 10:30-11:00
Commentators: Lowery Stokes Sims (Museum of Arts and Design); John Peffer (Ramapo College); Erin Haney (National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian)

Moderator:  Natasha Becker (The Clark)

12:00 – 1:30    Lunch

1:30 – 3:30      Session IV. Contemporary Connections: Artistic Practice
This session will consider the flourishing creative scenes—and surge of interest—in several African centers, including Johannesburg/Cape Town, Lagos, Bamako, Dakar, and Luanda. The disciplines of photography, performance, and media will be reflected along with painting, sculpture, and works on paper.  We will discuss transnational, diasporic, and global links among/with these centers, and how the surge of interest in the work of contemporary African artists has recast the theoretical arguments pertaining to contemporary art in general. We will also consider the socio-cultural-political-economic issues that surround the development of the field.
                        There will be a coffee break at 2:30–2:45

Commentators: Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University); Sue Williamson (artist, South Africa); Senzeni Marasela (artist, South Africa); Dan Leers (MoMA)

                        Moderator: Judy Hecker (MoMA)

Friday, June 17, 2011

NYT Review of Environment and Object in Recent African Art

Just in case anyone missed Holland Cotter's review last week of the beautiful show Environment and Object in Recent African Art, organized by John Weber and Lisa Aronson for the Tang Museum of Art, Skidmore College, here is a link to the article.

Ulli Beier tribute by ABC Radio National, Sydney today

The ABC Radio National based in Sydney is presenting today a program "Drums and Gods of the Yoruba" in tribute to Ulli Beier. Part of the Station's "The Rhythm Divine" series, it presented by Geoff Wood. To listen to the broadcast--with Ulli discussing Yoruba religion and culture, click here

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Nka Roundtable III: “Contemporary African Art and the Museum” ends today

Today marks the end of the Roundtable I convened on the subject of contemporary African art and the museum. But anyone interested will continue to have access to the blog in the near future. As with the previous roundtables, this one will be published--with lots of exciting images--in the next issue of Nka. The next roundtable will convene some of the proprietors of the new, exciting independent art spaces and centers around in Africa. Stay tuned; or it is stay logged!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Nigerian Art Patron Tayo Adenirokun: RIP

Tayo Adenirokun (1954-2011)
Aderokun, with Mayor of London and Shonibare at the Trafalgar Square, London: Photo, courtesy 234Next.com
 The great Nigerian arts patron Tayo Aderinokun, MFR, has died. Easily one of the truly self-effacing but important art patrons Nigerian has ever seen, his death is a major blow to the arts and culture industry in Nigeria. Mr. Aderinokun was until his death the CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank. He, along with Fola Adeola founded the GTB in 1990, and literally changed the face of the banking industry in Nigeria: the bank HQ in Victoria Island was at the time a fresh breath in the architectural landscape of the city, and the entire place was filled with soaring paintings of Adeola's favorite painter Abraham Uyovbisere. I fell in love (bought shares, and opened accounts) with the GTB!. Adeola sponsored the irreverent "Statements" exhibition by Olu Oguibe in 1989 at the Lebanese Cultural Center in Ikoyi--a show that, in the shadow of the dictatorship, many were too scared to associate with. And just last year, among the many incredible things these two men did personally and through the GTB, Aderinokun was there at the Trafalgar Square for the unveiling of Yinka Shonibare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle, his project for the famous 4th Plinth, sponsored by the GTB. What was so refreshing about Aderinokun was the genuine and natural commitment to the arts, and if you ask me the good name he and Adeola  made for themselves and for their bank, partly explains why the latter turned out to be--according to reports--perhaps Nigeria's most successful bank today.

Aderinokun's transition is a major loss Nigeria, and of course to his family. Go well.

For more news click here