Who knows tomorrow

TY - JOUR

T1 - Who knows tomorrow

AU - Okeke-Agulu, Chika

N1 - Funding Information: Organizing exhibitions of work by contemporary African artists (and. for that matter. artists from other underrepresented parts of the world) is often dogged by questions ofrepresentation simply because such opportunities are few and far between. The burden of the curators of the "African" exhibition is thus increased by the usual expectation ofan imagined inclusiveness in the selection ofartists and works." This was a problem Who Knows Tomorrow confronted at the onset of the curatorial process, dispensing with the idea ofa group show of"African artists" originally anticipated by the office ofthe federal president.The scope of the eventual show also benefited from the appointment of Udo Kittelmann as director of the Nationalgalerie; upon his joining the curatorial team ofWho Knows Tomorrow. the idea of expanding the exhibition site from the Hamburger Bahnhof to three other Nationalgalerie museums. which had never collaborated on a single project. became an imaginable reality.This expansion of the space available to the show inevitably meant that the artists could imagine more ambitious work to match the scale of the buildings assigned to them. This is especially the case with the outdoor installations by Anatsui, Ole, and Tayou. Although each venue presented unique sets of challenges during the conception and installation of the works. none matched the difficulty of securing permissions for the Anatsui work at the Alte Nationalgalerie on Museum Island. a UNESCO-designatedWorld Heritage Site.The permission might not have been given without the intervention of the federal president and the vigorous support of diverse German scholars and cultural advocates. who made representations to the authorities on behalf of the project. Additionally. the personal commitment to the project by the German president and the Prussian Heritage Foundation. which oversees the Berlin State Museums of which the Nationalgalerie is a part, in the end made the exhibition possible. For in the wake of the global recession of 2007-8. major sponsors of the exhibition withdrew, forcing a one-year postponement. Eventually, funds from various state agencies guaranteed the realization of the project. This experience raises anew the question of state funding of the arts. for quite clearly financial support ofmuseums by state agencies makes it possible for European museums to play unparalleled roles in championing the cause of contemporary African art through the production of major exhibitions that have brought the work to international attention. "The story is different in the United States, where museums, more beholden to the market, are less likely to make risky, major investment in as-yet-unfashionable non-Western art and artists. So for now, large-scale projects and exhibitions featuring contemporary African artists will most likely continue to depend on the generous support of museums and foundations in Europe.

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79952632467&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79952632467&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/00043249.2010.10791399

DO - 10.1080/00043249.2010.10791399

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:79952632467

SN - 0004-3249

VL - 69

SP - 49

EP - 65

JO - Art Journal

JF - Art Journal

IS - 4

ER -