Okwui Enwezor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2006) |
| Okwui Enwezor | |
| Born | 1963 Kalaba, Nigeria |
|---|---|
Okwui Enwezor is an Nigerian-born American educator, poet, writer, art critic, and curator specializing in art history. He lives in New York and San Francisco.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Okwui Enwezor was born in Kalaba, Nigeria, in 1963. He moved to New York in 1983 to study political science at the Jersey City State College.[citation needed]
[edit] Professional work
[edit] Educator
He is currently Dean of Academic Affairs and Senior Vice President at San Francisco Art Institute. He has held positions as Visiting Professor in art history at University of Pittsburgh; Columbia University, New York; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and University of Umea, Sweden. Enwezor is the Artistic Director of Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo de Sevilla, in Seville, Spain.[2]
[edit] Curator
Enwezor was artistic director of documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (1998–2002) and the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (1996–1997).
He has curated numerous exhibitions in some of the most distinguished museums around the world, including Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art, International Center of Photography; The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and P.S.1 and Museum of Modern Art, New York; Century City, Tate Modern, London; Mirror’s Edge, Bildmuseet, Umea, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Tramway, Glasgow, Castello di Rivoli, Torino; In/Sight: African Photographers, 1940–Present, Guggenheim Museum; Global Conceptualism, Queens Museum, New York, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, List Gallery at MIT, Cambridge; David Goldblatt: Fifty One Years, Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, AXA Gallery, New York, Palais des Beaux Art, Brussels, Lenbach Haus, Munich, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, Witte de With, Rotterdam; co-curator of Echigo-Tsumari Sculpture Biennale in Japan; co-curator of Cinco Continente: Biennale of Painting, Mexico City; Stan Douglas: Le Detroit, Art Institute of Chicago.
Enwezor is also the Artistic Director of Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo de Sevilla, in Seville, Spain.
[edit] Advisory work
He has served on numerous juries, advisory bodies, and curatorial teams including: the advisory team of Carnegie International in 1999; Venice Biennale; Hugo Boss Prize, Guggenheim Museum; Foto Press, Barcelona; Carnegie Prize; International Center for Photography Infinity Awards; Young Palestinian Artist Award, Ramallah; and the Cairo, Istanbul, Sharjah, and Shanghai Biennales.
[edit] Bibliography and other written works
As a writer, critic, and editor, Enwezor has been a regular contributor to numerous exhibition catalogues, anthologies, and journals. He is founder and editor of the critical art journal Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art published by the Africana Study Center, Cornell University.
His writings have appeared in numerous journals, catalogues, books, and magazines including: Third Text, Documents, Texte zur Kunst, Grand Street, Parkett, Artforum, Frieze, Art Journal, Research in African Literatures, Index on Censorship, Engage, Glendora, and Atlantica.
Among his books are: "Reading the Contemporary: African Art, from Theory to the Marketplace" (MIT Press, Cambridge and INIVA, London) and "Mega Exhibitions: Antinomies of a Transnational Global Form" (Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich) and the four volume publication of "Documenta 11 Platforms: Democracy Unrealized; Experiments with Truth: Transitional Justice and the Processes of Truth and Reconciliation; Creolité and Creolization; Under Siege: Four African Cities, Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos" (Hatje Cantz, Verlag, Stuttgart), which Enwezor edited.
Enwezor, Okwui "Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art" (Paperback - Feb 1, 2008)
Enwezor, Okwui "The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society" (Paperback - Dec 1, 2006)
