07.06.2024 – 22.09.2024
Avant-garde and Liberation sheds light on the significance of global modernism for contemporary art. The exhibition, curated by Christian Kravagna and co-curated by Matthias Michalka, poses questions about the political circumstances that motivate contemporary artists to draw on those non-European avant-gardes that formed in the 1920s to 1970s in opposition to the dominant Western modernism. What potential do artists see in linking up with decolonial avant-gardes in Africa, Asia and the “Black Atlantic” in order to take a stand against current forms of racism, fundamentalism or neocolonialism? And what artistic methods are used when threats to personal freedom and social cohesion are addressed with recourse to pioneering anti-colonial and anti-racist positions of the early and mid-20th century?
With numerous works by artists from South Asia, Africa, Europe and America, Avant-garde and Liberation opens up a view of global modernisms through the prism of their explosive relevance for contemporary art. In the complex connection between the present and the past, the exhibition reflects on questions of temporality as well as on possibilities for engaging with old and new liberation movements.
Artists: Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Omar Ba, Radcliffe Bailey, Yto Barrada, Mohamed Bourouissa, Diedrick Brackens, Serge Attukwei Clottey, william cordova, Atul Dodiya, Robert Gabris, Jojo Gronostay, Leslie Hewitt, Iman Issa, Janine Jembere, patricia kaersenhout, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Zoe Leonard, Vincent Meessen, The Otolith Group, Fahamu Pecou, Cauleen Smith, Maud Sulter, Vivan Sundaram, MoffatTakadiwa.
Avant-Garde and Liberation – Contemporary Art and Decolonial Modernism
07.06.2024 – 22.09.2024
mumok
Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Wien
www.mumok.at
