Okwui Enwezor was a Nigerian curator, art critic, writer, and educator specializing in art history. His work primarily engaged with visual art and its cultural and political contexts. Through his curatorial projects and critical writings, he challenged established notions of art and its role in society. His influence extended beyond traditional art circles, touching upon broader debates on globalization and postcolonialism.
For much of Africa the 20th century was overshadowed by the experience of colonial rule, with political independence arriving for most peoples only in the last 50 years. "The Short Century" is a broad survey of cultural life in Africa from the independence movements through the post-colonial era to the end of apartheid in 1994. Expansive, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated, this book studies achievements in all areas of the performing and fine arts, photography, literature, theatre, architecture, music, and film.
Snap New Positions in Contemporary African Photography gathers approximately 250 works by 30 artists from across the continent, an amazingly wide range of individual artistic responses to the unprecedented shifts taking place in Africa's economic, social and cultural spheres. In addition to introducing audiences to the multiple imaginations and voices of today's African artists, Snap Judgments explores the ways photo-based art has developed across the dialectic of traditional African aesthetic values and Western influences. Contemporary African photography has emerged in the post-World War II de-colonization movements, the quest for independent national identity, and the effects of globalization and modernity. Snap Judgments organizes the work that grew out of all that into four thematic groups--landscape; urban formations; the body and identity; and history and representation--groups that reflect the issues around which Africa's experimental artists have been articulating new styles and visual languages. Nigerian independent curator and art historian Okwui Enwezor, widely recognized as one of the world's foremost experts on contemporary African art, has included an essay by art historian Colin Richard, an appendix on recent exhibitions of African photography, biographical notes on the artists, and a general bibliography.
Die Geschichte der Apartheid in Südafrika – eine umfassende Auseinandersetzung mit Ursprung, Entwicklung und Niedergang Fotografen wie Eli Weinberg, Alf Khumalo, David Goldblatt, Peter Magubane, Ian Berry u. a. spielten eine äußerst wichtige Rolle in der Dokumentation der Apartheid. Ihre Bilder belegen, wie das System die alltäglichsten Aspekte des südafrikanischen Lebens durchdrang, vom Wohnen über öffentliche Einrichtungen und Verkehr bis hin zu Bildung, Tourismus, Religion und Handel. Chronologisch aufgebaut, verbindet der vorliegende Band Fotografien und kenntnisreiche Texte miteinander, um die entscheidenden Aspekte der Apartheid zu ergründen, wie die Institutionalisierung mit Hilfe des Rechtssystems, den wachsenden Widerstand in den 1950er Jahren, die Radikalisierung der Anti-Apartheid-Bewegung sowie Mandelas Rückkehr. Detailliert und umfassend recherchiert, präsentiert Rise and Fall of Apartheid beeindruckendes Fotomaterial aus mehr als 60 Jahren und wird so zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil der historischen Dokumentation Südafrikas.
Das Label ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) wurde 1969 von Manfred Eicher in München gegründet, um improvisierte und Avantgarde-Musik einzuspielen, zu produzieren und zu veröffentlichen. Als eine der ersten von Musikern geführten Plattenfirmen in Europa sprachen ihre Aufnahmen vom Verständnis eines Musikers und setzten Maßstäbe für eine akustische Komplexität, die bis heute die Produktionen prägen. ECM achtete auf Werktreue statt auf kommerzielle Trends und setzte mit seinen kristallklaren Aufnahmen neue Maßstäbe für die Plattenproduktion. Zu seinen Künstlern zählen unter anderem Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Jan Garbarek, das Art Ensemble of Chicago, Don Cherry und Dave Holland: Spitzenmusiker des neuen Jazz. Selten zuvor war Jazz so sorgfältig aufgenommen worden - mit einem Sound, der den individuellen Sound jedes Künstlers genau widerspiegelt. Die Publikation zum Werk von Manfred Eicher wird von Okwui Enwezor (Direktor Haus der Kunst, München) und Markus Müller herausgegeben. Die begleitende Ausstellung ergänzen Livemusik, Filme, Diskussionen, Workshops und Konzerte. Hinzu kommen mehrere Welturaufführungen, Europapremieren und exklusive Kooperationen mit Künstlern, Musikern und Filmemachern.
Focusing on Katharina Grosse's first gallery exhibition in New York at Gagosian, this volume showcases her recent works, emphasizing her innovative in-situ paintings. The book contextualizes her artistic evolution and highlights the unique aspects of her vibrant, immersive style, offering insights into her creative process and thematic explorations.
The book offers an in-depth exploration of El Anatsui's artistic journey, highlighting his evolution from early wood reliefs and terracottas to his iconic monumental metal sculptures. Drawing on over thirty years of research and collaboration with the artist, it delves into the themes of alternative art-making models that permeate his work. Authored by esteemed scholars Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, it stands as a definitive account of Anatsui's contributions to contemporary art.
"Accompanying the exhibition "Postwar: Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945 1965," this extensive catalogue presents the work of more than 200 artists from over 50 countries. Uniquely, it understands the term postwar as a truly global condition, focusing on the increasingly interdependent nature of the world as the result of new geopolitical affinities and technological realities. The catalogue illuminates how these epochal social changes manifested worldwide across the practices of painting, sculpture, installation, performance, cinema, and music, through eight thematic sections: Aftermath: Zero Hour and the Atomic Era; Form Matters; New Images of Man; Realisms; Concrete Visions; Cosmopolitan Modernisms; Nations Seeking Form; and Networks, Media, and Communication. Key historical texts, visual essays, color illustrations, and over 35 original contributions by leading international art historians, curators, and scholars offer new insights into the complex legacies of artistic practice and art historical discourses that emerged in the aftermath of World War II s devastation. Artists biographies, a comprehensive bibliography, and chronologies of the postwar period further supplement what will become an indispensable resource for future research."
Exploring the evolution of photography, the book showcases Thomas Ruff's innovative approaches over three decades. It highlights his latest works that delve into the historical context, processes, and technologies that shape contemporary images. Ruff's investigation offers insights into the significance and status of photography in today's culture, making it a compelling read for art enthusiasts and those interested in the intersection of art and technology.
The catastrophic fate of European Jewry during the years of National Socialism in Germany and the subsequent calamity of the holocaust for both Jews and other minorities under the Third Reich have continued to press on contemporary thinkers and historians the difficult task of coming to terms with its features. While the Holocaust or Shoah remains representative of a form of state crime, its overwhelming singularity is today tested by many cases of state impunity, systemic violence, repression, war crimes, and gross human rights violations--especially in the Balkans and Rwanda. In the wake of the debates around such violations, new and formidable categories of jurisprudence are emerging in which such notions as transitional justice, global justice, and universal jurisdiction are working to reshape the nature of judicial sovereignty on the one hand and accountability on the other in the post-cold war period. Experiments with Truth engages with the vicissitudes of the emerging debates around "Truth and Reconciliation," new forms of global justice, testimonies and memories of communities. In this volume a wide range of intellectuals, artists, filmmakers, and historians respond to the challenge of transitional justice in often difficult but illuminating ways.
