“Three Moments of Fixed Attention: A Multi-Site Review of ‘Disguise: Masks & Global African Art, Introduction” [exhibition review]

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Elizabeth A. Perrill, Associate Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: The exhibition "Disguise: Masks and Global African Art" was initially conceived of and installed at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) by the curatorial duo of Pamela McClusky, curator of African and Oceanic Art for SAM, and Erika Dalya Massaquoi, consultant curator. This exhibition, which featured twelve contemporary artists utilizing a range of media—sculpture, photography, installation, performance, video, and more—exemplifies the potential for and necessity that traveling exhibitions adapt to multiple venues. Yi-Fu Tuan, in Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience (University of Minnesota Press, 1977, p. 161) hypothesized that, among other things, "place is whatever stable object catches our attention. … Each pause is time enough to create an image of place that looms large momentarily in our view." For art historians and curators, the place that we fix through objects is often the museum. Thus, the touring exhibition allows us a unique moment to reflect upon construction of place. Following its SAM installation, "Disguise" traveled to the Fowler Museum at UCLA and the Brooklyn Museum. At each additional venue in-house curatorial hands were allowed to augment or edit the exhibition checklist. Each reinstallation incorporated objects from the venue's permanent collection, as well as expanded loans and didactic materials.

Additional Information

Publication
African Arts vol. 50, no. 3, 85
Language: English
Date: 2017
Keywords
exhibition review, African art

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