Project ‘1975’ Essay Gerardo Mosquera

In every newsletter of the exhibitions of Project ’1975′ a guest curator or art critic writes an essay on the topic of post-colonialism in contemporary art. The second one is by Gerardo Mosquera: curator, critic and art historian based in Havana. He is Adjunct Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, and advisor at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. He is also a member of the advisory board of several art journals. Mosquera co-founded the Havana Biennial in 1984, and has curated many international exhibitions.

Art and Cultural Interactions in a Globalised World

The relationships between contemporary art, culture and internationalisation have been silently yet dramatically transformed in the last fifteen years. We have left behind the times of art trends and manifestos. The key issue for contemporary art today is the tremendous expansion of its international circulation. There are approximately 200 biennials and other periodic artistic events in the world, only to mention one aspect in the growth of art circuits. This explosion involves a vast multiplicity of new cultural and artistic actors circulating internationally and whoe ither did not exist before or were confined to local environments. See Universes-in-Universe just to have an idea of how diverse the international art circuits are today.

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Review Dak’ Art 2010: Looking back, facing forward? (Nafas Art Magazine)

In a review for Nafas Art Magazine, Jelle Bouwhuis and Kerstin Winking discuss the ninth edition of the Dak’Art Biennial. Unlike the other editions, the exhibition was now divided into an international and a retrospective part. This latter part consisted of works of artists who won the Grand Prix Leopold Sedar Senghor, amongst others Mounir Fatmi (2006), Viyé Diba (1998) and also the late Moustapha Dimé. Because of this retrospective emphasis, the international part of the exhibition was a small presentation of only 27 artists. However, the work of the 2010 Senghor Award, the Congolese-living in France Moridja Kitenge Banza, was memorable, Bouwhuis and Winking argue.

Click here to read the full review ‘Looking back, facing forward’ of Jelle Bouwhuis and Kerstin Winking on the website of Nafas Art Magazine.