In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to Marketplace and Okwui Enwezor (eds.) London: I NI VA& MI T Press 1999 A spect er i s haunt i ng cont em por ar y Af r i can a r t —t h e spect er of gl obal i zat i on. Al l t he f orces of t he market and t he st ud i o —a r t hi st or i ans, cur at or s, gal l eries and museums of Europe and t he Uni t ed St at es and, of cour se, a r t i st s—h a v e ent er ed i nt o a hol y al l iance t o domest i cat e t he spect er. The work am ong t hem "si t s pr ecar iousl y in t he di sj unct i ve spaces bet ween home and exi l e, " t o borrow t he wor ds of Okwui Enwezor. It i s produced f or and i n "t hat exempl ary com m uni t y of t he t r ansnat i onal moment made up of . . . domai ns of shar ed di scr epant meani ngs, adj acent maps and hi st or i es, a broad, compl ex f rat ernit y t hat hi nges on nonabsol ut i st w ays of pr act i ci ng c i t i ze n sh i p s" (Enwezor, "Travel Not es, " p. 12, in t he cat al ogue of t he Second Johannesbur g Bi ennal e, 1997) . The i ncr easi ng presence of Af r i can- i dent i f i ed peopl e i n West ern cent ers as producers, consumer s or market ers of t hese art works was compl ement ed by t he gl ob al pol i t i cal changes bracket ed by t he di ssol ut i on of Sovi et com m uni sm and t he end of t he apar t hei d syst em i n Sout h Af r ica. The massi ve f l i ght of academics t o Eur o-Amer i can i nst i t ut i ons w oul d br oaden t he f ield of Af r i can art hi st or y t o coi nci de w i t h t he ascendance of t heor i es and aest het i cs dr awi ng st r engt h f r om suppr essed or di st or t ed art ist ic t r adi t i ons. Reading t he Cont emporary: African Art from Theory t o t he Market place is an ar t i cul at i on of t he pr ocesses coal esci ng in t hi s shi f t . The leap i s far f rom quant um , t he whol e poi nt of a cat al yt ic exhi bi t like Magiciens de la Terre (Par i s, 1989) bei ng t o si gnal t he event ual ar r i val of cont em por ar y Af r i can-w or ked obj ect s at t he t er mi nus of Eurocent ric assent . The edi t or s—OLu Ogui be and Enw ezor —r ecogni ze t he st at us of t hat exhi bi t ("bot h not or i ous and sem i nal ") , it s sel f -i nser t i on as a mi l est one w or t hy of not e, even i f t he t raveler, seei ng an i mper f ect sit e, w oul d pr ompt l y set sai l . Most of t he cont r i but i ons in t hi s ant hol ogy are t hus f ramed by a keen sense of negot i at i on and r el at i vi sm, usef ul habi t s in t he...

pdf

Share