The term Black melancholia – when melancholia turns Black – speaks to a profound collective gloom... more The term Black melancholia – when melancholia turns Black – speaks to a profound collective gloom born of insistent socio-historical violence. With it, Nana Adusei-Poku takes the concept of melancholy and extracts it from a highly racialized discourse in which notions of loss are pathologized and reserved for white cis (fe-) male subjects. Adusei-Poku subverts the idea of melancholy to describe a particularly Black experience of sadness, one borne of fatigue and the certainty of loss in the future. Her reading of sadness takes into consideration colonial legacies of pain and grief, as well as the aesthetic practices that utilize this emotional space as a creative force. Curated by Adusei-Poku, the exhibition ‘Black Melancholia’, which took place at the Hessel Museum of Art and Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, 25 June 2022–16 October 2022, brought together works by twenty-eight artists of African descent that expand and complicate the notion of melancholy in art historical discourse. While the show included
powerful visual artworks, this interview with Alhena Katsof focuses on the performative aspects of the exhibition to explore the ways Adusei-Poku activated artworks and audiences in the space.
How Institutions Think: Between Contemporary Art and Curatorial Discourse, 2017
A earlier version of this essay was published in "How Institutions Think: Between Contemporary Ar... more A earlier version of this essay was published in "How Institutions Think: Between Contemporary Art and Curatorial Discourse", edited by Paul O'Neill, Lucy Steeds, Mick Wilson (The MIT Press, 2017).
This paper is about the legendary exhibition Times Square Show (1980), which was organized by Col... more This paper is about the legendary exhibition Times Square Show (1980), which was organized by Collaborative Projects Inc. It was published in an anthology of essays edited by Elena Filipovic, which first appeared in The Artist as Curator, a series that occupied eleven issues of Mousse from no. 41 (December 2013/January 2014) to no. 51 (December 2015/January 2016). The series set out to examine what was then a profoundly influential but still under-studied phenomenon, a history that had yet to be written: the fundamental role artists have played as curators. Taking that ontologically ambiguous thing we call “the exhibition” as a critical medium, artists have often radically rethought conventional forms of exhibition making. The anthology surveys seminal examples of such exhibitions from the postwar to the present, including rare documents and illustrations. Edited by Elena Filipovic (Mousse Publishing, 2017)
This essay about Nicole Eisenman's large-scale sculpture Procession (2019-2020) was published as ... more This essay about Nicole Eisenman's large-scale sculpture Procession (2019-2020) was published as part of the first in-depth exploration of Eisenman’s sculptural practice. The monograph was published in conjunction with the 2020 Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize exhibitions—Nicole Eisenman: Sturm und Drang, presented at the Contemporary Austin, and Nicole Eisenman and Keith Boadwee, presented at the FLAG Art Foundation in New York.
This essay was published on the occasion of The Number of Inches Between Them (2017-2018), a seri... more This essay was published on the occasion of The Number of Inches Between Them (2017-2018), a series of exhibitions featuring a sculpture and performances by the artist Gordon Hall.
ANDREA GEYER: DANCE IN A FUTURE WITH ALL PRESENT, 2019
This essay is included in a monographic book that focuses on the artist Andrea Geyer and her body... more This essay is included in a monographic book that focuses on the artist Andrea Geyer and her body of work about the marginalized yet pivotal role that women played in the formulation of American modernisms.
The term Black melancholia – when melancholia turns Black – speaks to a profound collective gloom... more The term Black melancholia – when melancholia turns Black – speaks to a profound collective gloom born of insistent socio-historical violence. With it, Nana Adusei-Poku takes the concept of melancholy and extracts it from a highly racialized discourse in which notions of loss are pathologized and reserved for white cis (fe-) male subjects. Adusei-Poku subverts the idea of melancholy to describe a particularly Black experience of sadness, one borne of fatigue and the certainty of loss in the future. Her reading of sadness takes into consideration colonial legacies of pain and grief, as well as the aesthetic practices that utilize this emotional space as a creative force. Curated by Adusei-Poku, the exhibition ‘Black Melancholia’, which took place at the Hessel Museum of Art and Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, 25 June 2022–16 October 2022, brought together works by twenty-eight artists of African descent that expand and complicate the notion of melancholy in art historical discourse. While the show included
powerful visual artworks, this interview with Alhena Katsof focuses on the performative aspects of the exhibition to explore the ways Adusei-Poku activated artworks and audiences in the space.
How Institutions Think: Between Contemporary Art and Curatorial Discourse, 2017
A earlier version of this essay was published in "How Institutions Think: Between Contemporary Ar... more A earlier version of this essay was published in "How Institutions Think: Between Contemporary Art and Curatorial Discourse", edited by Paul O'Neill, Lucy Steeds, Mick Wilson (The MIT Press, 2017).
This paper is about the legendary exhibition Times Square Show (1980), which was organized by Col... more This paper is about the legendary exhibition Times Square Show (1980), which was organized by Collaborative Projects Inc. It was published in an anthology of essays edited by Elena Filipovic, which first appeared in The Artist as Curator, a series that occupied eleven issues of Mousse from no. 41 (December 2013/January 2014) to no. 51 (December 2015/January 2016). The series set out to examine what was then a profoundly influential but still under-studied phenomenon, a history that had yet to be written: the fundamental role artists have played as curators. Taking that ontologically ambiguous thing we call “the exhibition” as a critical medium, artists have often radically rethought conventional forms of exhibition making. The anthology surveys seminal examples of such exhibitions from the postwar to the present, including rare documents and illustrations. Edited by Elena Filipovic (Mousse Publishing, 2017)
This essay about Nicole Eisenman's large-scale sculpture Procession (2019-2020) was published as ... more This essay about Nicole Eisenman's large-scale sculpture Procession (2019-2020) was published as part of the first in-depth exploration of Eisenman’s sculptural practice. The monograph was published in conjunction with the 2020 Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize exhibitions—Nicole Eisenman: Sturm und Drang, presented at the Contemporary Austin, and Nicole Eisenman and Keith Boadwee, presented at the FLAG Art Foundation in New York.
This essay was published on the occasion of The Number of Inches Between Them (2017-2018), a seri... more This essay was published on the occasion of The Number of Inches Between Them (2017-2018), a series of exhibitions featuring a sculpture and performances by the artist Gordon Hall.
ANDREA GEYER: DANCE IN A FUTURE WITH ALL PRESENT, 2019
This essay is included in a monographic book that focuses on the artist Andrea Geyer and her body... more This essay is included in a monographic book that focuses on the artist Andrea Geyer and her body of work about the marginalized yet pivotal role that women played in the formulation of American modernisms.
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powerful visual artworks, this interview with Alhena Katsof focuses on the performative aspects of the exhibition to explore the ways Adusei-Poku activated artworks and audiences in the space.
powerful visual artworks, this interview with Alhena Katsof focuses on the performative aspects of the exhibition to explore the ways Adusei-Poku activated artworks and audiences in the space.