“What is art and what is not art? Or, more simply, what is beautiful, or feigned, or ugly? Indeed, from the less than innocent position I have chosen, the problems of authenticity and the more ambiguous one of elucidating whether there is an African art become arbitrary. In effect, what is really designated by the concept of art and from what perspective?” —V. Y. Mudimbe
Facilitated by writer, curator, and translator Omar Berrada, this group will read and discuss an excerpt from V. Y. Mudimbe’s “The Idea of Africa” in the context of the exhibition Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination. Mudimbe’s ideas will guide our examination of works by west- and central-African photographers in the exhibition: What cultural memory do they bear witness to, and what political spaces do they open up?
This session will take place in-person at MoMA. No prior preparation or background is necessary to participate. We will read the text together during the session and you will receive advance access to the text as well. There will be time for collective and small group discussions during this program, and time to view the installation.
This session is part of MoMA’s Reading Group series. Our intention is to create space for people to gather to consider a range of perspectives and think critically through guided readings of key texts that can help illuminate new ways of looking at art in MoMA’s galleries. Our priority is to create a space comfortable enough for participants to take risks with their thinking and possibly find a sense of fellowship, community, and camaraderie with the facilitator and their fellow readers. This program is free, open to all, and takes place in the galleries and in the Crown Creativity Lab.
Omar Berrada is a writer and curator whose work focuses on the politics of translation and intergenerational transmission. He is the author of the poetry collection Clonal Hum and the editor of several volumes, including The Africans, about racial dynamics in North Africa, and La Septième Porte, a history of Moroccan cinema by Ahmed Bouanani. His writing has been included in numerous exhibition catalogues, magazines, and anthologies, including Frieze, Bidoun, Mizna, Asymptote, and The University of California Book of North African Literature. Born and raised in Casablanca, he currently lives in New York.
Accessibility
American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation is available for public programs upon request with two weeks’ advance notice. MoMA will make every effort to provide accommodation for requests made with less than two weeks’ notice. Please contact [email protected] to make a request for these accommodations.
Wheelchair accessible seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information on accessibility at MoMA, please visit moma.org/Visit/Accessibility/.
Major funding is provided by the Agnes Gund Education Endowment Fund for Public Programs, the Jeanne Thayer Young Scholars Fund, and the Annual Education Fund.