Artists in Dialogue

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2011-01-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

Artists in Dialogue 2: Sandile Zulu and Henrique Oliveira will open February 2nd and once again, we will be blogging to let you know all about it!

the show goes on

2009-06-16T15:37:00.000-04:00

Aimé’s chalkboard is now almost completely obscured and surrounded by playing cards that visitors have decided not to deposit in the box marked fulu gawa (trash here). The artwork has taken on a life of its own and soon it will have to come down. I find myself busy now with efforts to raise funds to acquire some of the art works. They belong in a museum and it will break my heart to see them leave.

At the same time, I find myself preoccupied with efforts toward future projects. In particular, the next exhibition which will go in the space – the mid-career retrospective of works by Yinka Shonibare MBE. It will go on view on November 10th, 2009, so stay tuned as we will probably be launching a blog about the many trials and travails behind the scenes in getting that great show on view. Another project looks at African earthworks – so, lots going on!

The Living Exhibition

2009-04-03T15:20:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow marks the two-month anniversary of the opening of “Artists in Dialogue.” The artists have returned to their respective homes and are hard at work on their next projects. This exhibition, however, lives on – literally. The fears Aimé asked visitors to write on cards, drop in a vendor box, and transcribe to a chalk board on the wall have multiplied. One-quarter of a way through the exhibition and the board is almost completely obscured beneath the layers of words, pictures, fears. In his hopes that we confront that which scares us, we can learn of a far range of concerns: many are scared of snakes, others the dark, or something particular – like a woman named Jillian – and still others the terrors held close to the heart, like strokes or failure. For those of you who can not make it to Washington DC to visit this exhibition, we invite you to submit your concerns to this blog. They can remain anonymous, but in making them public you – and all of us – can confront and, hopefully, overcome our fears.

Aimé has spoken repeatedly of how there are no “psy” in Congo – no psychiatrists, no psychologists, just dialogue. Only through dialogue is it possible to solve our problems.

Before I sign off, I have questions to ask of you, the quiet public who visit this exhibition and blog. We’d love to hear from you:

- Are there two artists you would like to see in dialogue in a future exhibition?

- What do you think of the format of this exhibition -- with it’s combination of extant and new work? Would you prefer just site-specific installations?

- What are some programs we should try to improve the museum’s dialogue with the public? Twitter? Facebook? Other?

- Anything else?

For those of you who are visiting the exhibition, please know that you can treat this blog as a comment book. We look forward to hearing from you. And we will write back. This is a dialogue, after all.

Open to the public!

2009-02-04T15:02:00.000-05:00

After the press preview yesterday, the artists and I had a follow-up interview with Smithsonian magazine. Then, a reporter from Voice of America showed up unexpectedly, so we chatted with him, too. It’s amazing how an entire day can just evaporate like that. After all the talking, António was able to go to lunch with a friend from the Portuguese embassy, while Aimé and I grabbed a bite before he went to see some exhibitions at other museums on the mall. They decided to have an early night because first thing this morning they were heading to University of Maryland to meet with Dr. Shannen Hill’s Intro to African Art class. If any of the students should read this blog – please write in and tell us about the experience!

Tonight, the artists and I will meet with museum docents. Docents are volunteers who give their time to learn about the art and exhibitions at the museum and then to provide tours to school groups and visitors. They are, quite literally, the “front line,” helping visitors interpret and understand what they see. We have a diverse and dynamic group of docents and this will be my first time working with them as a curator here at the museum. I am looking forward to it, however, as it is always fun to talk with an interested audience!

Oh, the other big news! We are open to the public today! how could I forget... after all this behind the scenes activity, we finally get to see people just wander in of their own volition!

Success!

2009-02-03T14:51:00.000-05:00

The opening was a huge success, if I do say so myself. I am guessing around 250 people came. The ambassadors of Angola and DRC both spoke, which was really quite moving, as did Rosalind Kainyah of De Beers, Inc. Her support has made so much of this exhibition possible.

So, we had Congolese performers, food, wine, and lots of people. I think both artists were happy, which was best of all. This morning, we had the press preview and that also seemed to go well – especially considering it was snowing outside. We weren’t sure how many people would show in these weather conditions. But, they came and more importantly, they stayed. Stay tuned until the weekend to see what people have to say… One of the nice comments was a reporter said we “nailed it” with the entry wall. Others seemed really interested to learn more about the relationship that has developed between Aimé and António.

We’d (me, the artists, museum, etc) also be interested in hearing more from readers about what folks think goes into opening or press previews, the launching of an exhibition in general… It is a team effort of course: designing the invites, sending them out, maintaining the lists, staffing the doors, providing security… I haven't got any pictures yet, but will share when I can...

Opening night!

2009-02-02T16:38:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not, the exhibition opens tonight. I have been gone since Wednesday, due to a death in my family. It’s a bit of a surreal transition coming back at this celebratory moment.

While I have been away, António’s artworks have been re-hung, including “On Taking the Pill” which we retrieved from a paper conservator at the very last moment. This work of art is 40 years old and shows the marks of its journeys through time. The entry wall to the exhibition also was completed during my absence. Now, it bears the profiles of each artist – Aimé and António chose a rich sienna color for their silhouettes, and above this, quotes by both artists, each speaking about the work of the other.

The gallery is also clean now. The work carts and drop cloths have been removed. The 3 ficus trees António included in his installation, “Allegory of Construction I” shed leaves, but these have even been removed. When I was standing next to the trees, Aimé walked over to me to say that he loved seeing the trees, his solid figure “Nude” and “Congo, Shadow of a Shadow” all in a row. Each was made of wood – trees, a solid figure, and the matchsticks. It was an unexpected, and interesting, dialogue of form and material to emerge from the exhibition.

Aime also had a busy weekend. He made a whirlwind trip to New York to install artworks at the Skoto Gallery in Chelsea, where he has an exhibition opening on February 12. I’ve tried to get him to go to the hotel and rest a little before the festivities tonight but he insists he thrives on adrenaline. António’s weekend was a little more restful. He was able to get to some exhibitions over the weekend, and has been raving about “Strange Bodies” over at the Hirshhorn.

I have to say that I am excited about the opening tonight, the press tomorrow, and working with museum docents (volunteers who give informed tours to the public) on Wednesday, but I am also feeling sad that the artists will be leaving us soon! I’ve been joking that they will have to join the staff, as we have all grown so accustomed to having them around.

Artworks in Dialogue

2009-01-27T16:20:00.002-05:00

We are quickly getting the artworks up and in place, but we’ve had a bit of a glitch with António’s. His 6 black and white photographs, the “Untitled” series and the triptych, “Disintegrations” have all been hung but I think a little too low. I would like them all raised 2 inches, so that the base of “Disintegrations” is not obscured by the boat, and so that the photo portraits appear to be closer to standing height. Establishing the height at which to hang an artwork is not a science and people have different views. We’d welcome your feed back as I am quite certain not everyone agrees with me. It’s hard to gage one’s audience – how many children or people in wheelchairs will be visiting? How does an artwork look in relation to the floor? The ceiling? The unfortunate issue today is that the works have already been hung, and I am loathe to add to people’s work by asking them to re-hang the artworks. This dilemma does bring up an issue that is open to input, however, and that is the relationship between artworks.

Up until now, my writing has focused mostly on the actions of the artists, but of course, the designer Alan Knezevich and I have also been around all along. As the curator, I had the most say in what works of art would be included, as well as where they would be placed in the gallery. In terms of the placement, I really have been seeking to create visual dialogues between works of art. I wanted António’s “Untitled” series in a face-off (pun intended) with “Ici on crève.” I also wanted the black and white of the “Untitled” series next to the black and white canvases of “Disintegrations” in a dialogue of forms across media. And, I want to position António’s early pop art influenced work on paper, “On Taking the Pill,” in proximity to Aimé’s “Rail, Massina 3” in which we can see the rich traditions of Congolese popular arts – about which Johannes Fabian, Bogumil Jewsiewicki and others have written so well. So, the dialogues are between the artists, between and amongst their artworks, between genres, between them and me, and hopefully, will include you – audiences around the world.

Monday, Monday...

2009-01-26T15:18:00.008-05:00

It’s Monday and we hope to have the objects pretty much hung or in place today. We’ve been working on António’s “On the Margins of the Borderlands.” It’s amazing that he first exhibited this work – which includes a boat broken into two pieces and welded from iron, taxidermied (a.k.a. “stuffed”) crows, TV sets, bricks, bundled papers, and a fish net –in Luanda in 1996, I believe. Since then, it has traveled to the first South African Biennale in Johannesburg (where David Bowie wrote a review of it) and then on to Portugal, London, Jerusalem, and Rio de Janeiro… I am thrilled that we will be the first North American venue ever to exhibit the work, but it is a real challenge. First, we had to get it here and it is BIG, and heavy. I wrote in an earlier entry of the challenges regarding getting the pied crows through customs – we had to prove they were not endangered species – and building the enormous crate, but in addition to that we had to: 1) find the bricks. This required a series of digital images and emails back and forth between António and me as to just how many bricks he wanted, in what condition, color, and so on. Then, Doug Johnston -- whose job I don’t even know how to describe as it includes everything from overseeing construction contracts at the museum to helping me buy bricks -- found a place where we could by used bricks. Again, this was not as easy as it may seem. As a federal institution, we can not pay cash and we can only buy through licensed vendors. In the end, this gentleman Doug knew agreed to part with 200 bricks for the duration of the exhibition, free of charge. He only asked that we return the bricks to him if we do not still need them at the end of the exhibition. Acquiring the net and TVs took a little longer. António had only ever installed “On the Margins of the Borderlands” with matching, black, tube TVs. Finding 2 tube TVs in the age of flat screen is no mean feet, and Doug was not able to find two that matched. He came up with a few options, however. As for the net, António no longer had his original. He thinks a fisherman in need appropriated it. So, I then went on the hunt for fishnets and found they can be found in bright white, blue, green – an impressive range of colors – but all very new and distracting looking. There was also a question of gage. How big should the the string be? the holes? In the end, I was able to find an “authentic” (used) fish net from a decorative web site. António laughed when he saw it because it was so small (9 feet was the largest size they sold). Nevertheless, he said he could use it. António also decided that he wanted to include DC newspapers in the installation, to draw connections between the Angolan papers and the current venue, so I had been gathering up newspapers from various staff members for months. To meet safety codes, we had to fire proof all the papers.

So, we got all the miscellaneous bits in the gallery and started to position the work paying special attention to the location of electrical outlets in the floor, as we would need to plug in the TVs and the DVD players that would play António’s video of light reflecting on the surface of the ocean. Getting the boat out of the crate turned out to be more of a challenge than positioning it. We all agreed on a location fairly quickly. The equipment itself, however, was very challenging. Although we had, in the end, found TVs that António liked, they could not receive the signal from the DVD player – they were too old. And we only learned this after a day of trial and error – different monitors, different converters… the image would go to grey, or worse, skip and all one could see was a series of undulating lines. In the end, we had to go with computer monitors. They caught the warm, silvery quality of the liquid that António was after and played the DVD without any trouble. Since they were smaller than the TVs, however, the Installation guys had to build wood frames. Thanks to Doug for coming up with the creative solution and getting the timing of the two DVDs in sync. We also discovered that our 200 bricks were not enough, so António supplemented with some cinder-blocks concealed under the bricks and monitors. But, I have to say, I love seeing the boat look as though it is moving across the floor toward the new installation. António created “on the Margins of the Borderlands” at a time of real political and economic crisis in Angola. It speaks to memories and opportunities lost, and now it moves in a new direction – facing his latest work, a “fresco” which celebrates the hope he now feels in the Angola of today, a place where democracy and new structures age being built.

Aimé continues to work on painting his playing cards. And, he’s begun to position his installation piece, “Congo, Shadow of the Shadow.” This extraordinary piece consists of a life-size standing figure made of approximately 4, 652 matchsticks – there may be more now, as he has added some new ones to the feet. The figure stands over a grave marked “Congo… 1885” -- 1885 is the year Europe carved Africa into various colonies and Congo became the personal possession of Belgium’s King Leopold II. The grave is supposed to include two wooden legs that bridge between the feet of the figure, and the grave marker itself. Unfortunately, the legs were misplaced during the packing of a previous installation. After several days thinking they were lost for good, we learned today that the gallery has located the legs and will be fed-exing them to us. In the meanwhile, however, Aimé has decided that he wants to craft new legs – ones that are longer and he feels are better suited to the larger space we have provided for the work. So, he will add shellac and position these new legs later today. We’ve just finished positioning the flat silhouettes of a pregnant woman and child, which are also part of the installation.

Tomorrow, we want to have everything in place, as the artists will be going to University of Maryland first thing Wednesday morning to begin outreach activities with students. Thursday, they meet with students from Gallaudet, and Friday, Howard University. So, we can be working on lighting and cleaning the gallery while they are so occupied.

the new installations are pretty much finished!

2009-01-24T12:50:00.006-05:00

I picked the artists up at their hotel this morning, after having a bit of a scrape with a DC taxi. Aside from this unfortunate incident, the work has not turned out to be quite as much as we feared and the day has gone well. We’ve even managed to get the artists’ laundry done! – a pile of dirty clothes is a definite peril of an extended stay. But the better news is that António has finished his installation. It has been pretty amazing to watch. The melted aluminum we found dirty and in a pile under some signs at the scrap yard now looks like it is pouring out from the hand of a pictographic figure on a bright orange traffic sign. I just love the placement of this detail. Other fascinating things to watch happen include watching António work with Keith Conway, Kevin Etherton, and Andy Sutton from the Design department. They are cutting plastic, wood, and all sorts of odd bits that António then places quickly and confidently into his composition: a bit of green here, amp up the orange there… And my favorite part, the addition of orange and red pictographic images from the DC tourist map. The left side of the “fresco” consists of the maps António brought from Angola, and the pairing of the abstract map images with actual maps is wonderful. Of course, I am making it all sound pretty easy when it has required a lot of measuring, re-cutting, etc. to get each piece to fit just right. In fact, it's a bit of a miracle that we managed to put this together in just two weeks -- from finding the "junk," to Antonio conceiving his layout, to cutting, fabricating, painting and in all ways crafting this work.

Aimé spent the morning working on a new element for “Rail, Massina 3.” He would like for it to be interactive – a dialogue with the public, as well as António and me. He wants visitors to be able to write messages on playing cards, one side of which has been made blank. And so, he spent the morning painting over the numbered sides of cards. The message he wants people to be able to write is something that scares them, particular fears in relation to the Unknown. Once the fears have been written on the cards, he wants them placed in one of the boxes that stand in the foreground of his installation. The particular box holds a flag of Congo, and bears the words “fulu awa,” or , “trash here.” Aimé is proposing to have school groups come in, write their fears, and then reach in the box, remove the fears one at a time, and re-write them on a chalk board. We have been moving the chalkboard around in the gallery this morning to get the position just right. Initially, he had it closer to “Ici on crève.” I suggested that he move it farther away, so that it would be clear that it was part of “Rail Massina 3” and not one of the painted squares. He moved the piece, but also commented that to him, the works are one and the same. They are in dialogue with one another. He also chose to hang the black board quite low, so that it would be easily accessible by school children. You can see the realtionship between the 50 squares, the black board, and the facade of the new wall and boxes in the photo. Now, we just have to reach out to some local schools and see if they can come in and do this project with the artist.

Seeing the two artworks so near completion is pretty amazing and has me wondering about the difference between visual and verbal dialogues. Over the past two or so weeks, Aime and Antonio have really become friends. You can see a real camaraderie between them. This comes out, of course, in their verbal conversations, but they have been here as part of a visual dialogue. Their colors resonate with one another, both address issues of territorialism (in very different ways)... Anyone else's thoughts on the differences -- or lack thereof -- between visual and verbal dialogues are most welcome!

Later this afternoon, the artists will be going gallery hopping with Stephanie Hornbeck, one of the museum’s conservators, and tomorrow they get a much deserved break!

Art beyond the walls!

2009-01-23T16:51:00.001-05:00

The good news today is that more art is coming into the gallery. While Aimé waits for his plastic table to arrive, he is working on hanging his piece, “Ici on crève.” It is a composition of approximately 50 square panels of painted and carved wood. The artist has made more than 100 of these squares and they have been exhibited in other configurations at other venues internationally, but this is the first time he has made this assemblage. Crèver is a French verb which means simultaneously “to die,” “burst” and “wear out.” To get this idea across, Aimé uses his adze to carve the images, as well as paint them, and often breaks through the surface altogether.

For this installation, Aimé had initially suggested scattering the paintings across the back wall of the gallery, surrounding the door and creating the effect of them “bursting” across this large expanse. Now that he is here, he has decided to position them in the corner, radiating out in two directions. It is going to be quite powerful. We are also working to position a standing figure by Aimé, called simply “Nude.” We’ve had a problem with this piece because, in the past, Aimé has always installed it directly on the ground. We can’t do that here for safety reasons – if a wheelchair backed into it, it could potentially fall over and someone could be hurt (and the artwork could be hurt). And so, we need it to be on a base. How to conceal, or minimize, this base has been an issue. Originally, we proposed putting it on a small, low pedestal painted grey – the color of the floor—with a red edge. Aimé did not like this. And so, now, we are placing it on a metal plate painted a lovely golden bronze. It picks up the honey tones of the wonderfully striated wood. Aimé has proposed that we light the pedestal, instead of the figure.

António is not having such a good day. His foot has been troubling him a bit and so today we debated whether or not to take him to a doctor. He has insisted on working on, but we are all pushing him to take it easier. He has also insisted on carrying on with happy hour tonight. But, I have learned my lesson. We will not wander so far afield but meet at the National Gallery Sculpture Garden tonight and watch the ice-skaters.

The slow pace of progress

2009-01-22T16:28:00.004-05:00

Well, it is Thursday and it looks like we will need to come in on Saturday after all. Both artists are hard at work; it’s just that there is a lot to do.

António’s windows are now in place, but he is still busy cutting the corrugated plastic and metal, painting the doors and pacing his colors. Also, the wood shop is still working on cutting some shapes that he would like to integrate into the composition. The windows do look great, however. António decided to keep them dirty so they have a smoky, opaque look to them. It’s nice because one see the light, without be distracted by the light fixtures.

Aimé’s wall is also coming together. Initially, he was troubled by the presence of the white platform in front of the wall. He wanted visitors to be able to walk straight through the open doors, but now he is reconsidering. António is similarly troubled by the platform in front of his wall, though he has said that he will keep his mind open to it as he works. He would prefer it be grey, so that it just look like floor. The problem is, then it would be a tripping hazard. As it is now, it frames the work in progress, and keeps it clear that visitors shouldn’t get close enough to the work to touch it. But, back to Aimé’s platform. We talked about whether or not to remove it, and I had the Installation guys all ready to pull it out, when Aimé decided that he liked seeing the scuff marks left by his feet on the once-pristine, white platform. He liked them patterns enough, in fact, that he stepped on some paint and then shuffled his feet through the doors – to leave traces of how one has, or could, move across this deck to the other side of the wall, to António’s side of the dialogue. The white platform also provides as great contrast to the crumbled bits of wood, plaster, and paint that have fallen as Aimé has carved images of overturned tables and a skull into the surface of the wall. These chips have now become part of the installation and reflect the artist’s ongoing interest in artworks that illustrate or embody the creative process.

So, we will be back tomorrow, and Saturday, as we hurry to have everything finished on Monday. That leaves the artists a little time to themselves before next week, when Aimé and António will be meeting with students from local schools and universities .

The walls are rising

2009-01-21T15:40:00.004-05:00

Barack Obama is now president, and we are all exhausted. The artists and I came to the museum last night for an Inaugural ball – and no, we didn’t get to meet the president. Alas. We did see AKON and actor Jeffrey Wright, however! We also did not get to our respective homes/hotels until past 1am. So I have to say that I am very impressed by the dedication of these two men, as they were back at the museum bright and early this morning.

Aimé and António are both aiming to have their installations finished by Friday. It is going to be challenging, but possible. Aimé has finished painting his wall and has begun working its surface with an adze – a trademark feature of his work. For him, the making of the work of art – the process – is the essence of the artwork. Thus, he works in a manner that leaves a trace. As he explains it, the adze is the tool of his forefathers. It is the tool used by so many of Africa’s artists; it is also a symbol of power. He is also intrigued by the tension between the surface of a work of art, and what is going on behind, or beneath the surface – and so one can see how he works his way through the surface to what is behind. He will be pairing this façade with three boxes that were used by street vendors in Kinshasa, Congo. The artist bought them from the vendors, then carried them back with him to Brussels. The museum then shipped the three boxes along with his other artworks to the museum. He will add flags from Angola, Congo, and the USA to the boxes. He’s got flags for the two African nations, and we have been shopping around to find the best place to get an American flag of the right dimensions. That’s not the only shopping we have been doing, however. Aimé would like to include plastic tables and chairs in the installation – the kind that you find on patios and street corners all over the world when the weather is warm. The problem is, the weather is NOT warm. It’s about 17 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and none of the stores we’ve been able to think of (not to advertise for anyone, but Ikea, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc) has them in stock or on their websites! There are some staff members willing to part with their own personal plastic chairs – which is actually great as they will look a bit dirty or used (just as the artist wants them) – but we aren’t having as much luck with the table. A couple of people on staff have leads they are looking into, however. Aimé says that you just find chairs like these in the streets of Kinshasa. People sit in them for hours, talk, and watch the day go by. He wants the museum visitors to have something of this experience – slowing down, talking, engaging with art. He also wants playing cards, one side of which he is talking about painting over, but these should not be so hard to find.

We might also need to do some more “dumpster diving” with António – a different form of shopping, I suppose. He may want more doors, shutters and other materials to complete his massive fresco. Right now, there are squares of brown paper positioned on the wall to mark where 5 windows will be hung. They have not yet been fitted into place as the designer and guys in the wood shop have been figuring out how to build light boxes behind them. This isn’t as easy a process as it may seem. First of all, there are no electrical outlets along the wall, and so the museum has brought in an electrician today to run the wiring. Then, Don Llewellyn and Melvin Vega from the Installation Department will custom craft wooden frames from which to hang the windows, and in which will be concealed the lights that Jim Minor managed to find in a local hardware shop. The effect should be startling, however – glowing open windows looking on to the installation by Mpane.

It is pretty wonderful to see the two artists talk to one another, observe one another’s work, and continue with this process of creating a visual dialogue. They are around and happy to answer questions from any of you, as well!

Inuagural madness

2009-01-18T16:43:00.000-05:00

I had planned to write a post yesterday, but came into the museum and there was some kind of bizarre power outage that seems to have been localized to my office. I was in the middle of writing when zap both computer and lights went out. It took the electricians awhile to remedy the situation, so I gave up my effort for the day. Both artists remained valiantly at work, however.

Poor António nearly froze to death Friday night when I walked the artists to Fádo’s, a local pub, for happy hour. The last time I walked there it was warm, and hadn’t seemed nearly so far! But, he came to work first thing Saturday morning and got right to work laying out his large wall “fresco” – the installation he is creating in the gallery on the wall opposite Aimé’s. The only glitch came up today, however. After I left the museum yesterday, António grew the installation about 6-8 feet wider than we had previously discussed. So, today, I ran around making sure it wouldn’t be a security issue to have the exposed metal and other elements of his installation so close to the edge of the platform where visitors could touch them. It’s all worked out in the end, and António’s artistic vision will remain uncompromised.

Aime has made a lot of progress with his wall, as well. The first word he painted on it is “dialogue.” I will have to ask him about it, or better yet – you ask him! This blog is meant to be interactive! Please send any kind of questions or comments…

And, for the picture today, rather than sending an update of the artists at work, I’ve decided to upload a scene of what’s going on around us on the mall. People are everywhere, and so are port-a-potties. I believe some 5,000 port-a-johns have been delivered to the mall, although I have no idea how accurate this number is. All I can attest to is that there are a lot.

2009-01-16T16:16:00.002-05:00

Today, both artists are really anxious to get their work underway. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get their badges yesterday, so they will need to return to the Smithsonian Security office this afternoon. Plus, it turns out Aime forgot to pack a pair of work shoes. In his hurry to get to the airport after getting his passport back from the US Embassy in Brussels, he forgot to pack more than his good shoes. So, he will sneak out at some point this afternoon to get something cheap and canvas.

António’s installation, “Allegories of Construction II” is now finished and so we hope to get the lighting set on it today, as well as putting some paper labels in place for the Inaugural weekend. The final labels will be rubbed directly onto the wall – a form of decal – and these labels are not yet in from the printer as we are still about 2 weeks ahead of the opening.

Aimé’s goal is to have one section of his wall painted in by the end of the day, so he is busy taping and getting things set up. After work today, we are heading out for happy hour at a local bar. Hopefully, this will be a chance for local folks interested in African art and artists, as well as just everyone getting to work with these two talents, a chance just to hang out and talk. We won’t be able to stay out too late, however, as we are planning to work Saturday and Sunday. Monday is a holiday (MLK Jr. day) and Tuesday the Inauguration – and we’ve been asked to not come down to the mall at all. Should be an adventure for the artists to see, at least!

The work begins

2009-01-15T16:01:00.000-05:00

Unbelievably, both artists are at the museum now. Jim Minor, who is in charge of the facilities here at NMAfA, picked them up at 8:30 this morning and they came and began work straight away. A few months back Aimé had been able to send the museum mock-ups of how he wanted the wall he shared with António to look. He and António had met in Portugal in August so that they could discuss the exhibition and the space they shared. Both artists came to an agreement as to how to how to construct the wall they shared, and so with both artists’ blessing and a schematic diagram from Aimé, Andy Sutton – NMAfA’s painter – was able to prepare the wall in advance of the artist’s arrival. Since we do not know what delays the Inauguration or other challenges may pose, this advance preparation feels comforting.

When the artists arrived this morning, António went straight to work on his the “totems” for his “Allegories of Construction II” – the sculptural piece which will appear at the base of the stairs. He has been splitting his time between finalizing the painting of the surface of the totems and laying out the materials for “Allegories of Construction I” – the wall assemblage he is creating in the gallery in response to Aimé’s work. For his “totems,” he has chosen bright, vibrant yellows, oranges, blue, and green to express what he is referring to as his current optimism. Rather than working with subdued, natural pigments and exploring the beauty of crumbling, decaying things, he is celebrating the building of a new future. The colors and constructive materials of Luanda’s new buildings and changing skylines seem to be informing this work. He also says that he wants his palette to engage with the of Aimé’s wall, which makes sense as the artists are creating these two façades in response to one another. Aimé is using a similarly bold palette, but his is inspired by a particular wall in Kinshasa, found in the Massina district. It is a wall that the artist walks past on his way to his studio and he says it makes him happy: in a city that is grey and dusty; the colors stand out. I am not sure how far the artists will get this afternoon, however, as this afternoon both Aimé and António are going to get Smithsonian identity badges so that they can get around the museum without escort. Aimé was also hoping to project an image of the text he wants to paint onto his wall but the battery in his computer is dead and he forgot the power cord, so he will be taking his first metro ride back to the hotel with his translator extraordinaire, Xavier Courouble, to pick up the power cable.

He made it!

2009-01-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

I got to Dulles airport in Virginia yesterday afternoon just before Aimé’s flight was scheduled to arrive. Fortunately, I brought a book. By the time I figured out where to park, how to get into the airport, where he would be arriving, I feared that I would find him wandering around looking lost. Instead, I encountered a large monitor listing off where various passengers were in customs. His flight had landed but it took another 45 minutes before I caught sight of him. It was still fairly early so we decided to stop by the hotel to drop off his things before heading on to dinner. We bumped into António at the hotel and gave him a lift to the home of the museum’s Acting Director, as she was having a little soiree to introduce him to South African painter, Joni Brenner. Aimé and I continued on for sushi. I remembered that he loved sushi, but it wasn’t until we were seated that I realized I didn’t have a clue how to translate the menu. I couldn’t get any more technical than poisson (fish), but fortunately Aimé had brought his iPhone with him and was able to do a little instant on-line translation.

I met Aimé for the first time when I traveled to Brussels to see him and finalize the selection of artworks for the exhibition. I regret that I didn’t get to visit Kinshasa, the city of mirrors as anthropologist Filip de Boeck describes it, in which the legacy of colonization and the complexities of contemporary ethnic, gender, spatial and economic politics mingle with ideas of the “good life,” and reflect one another. Though I would have loved to see first hand this city that has shaped Mpane’s vision, I was able to eat some excellent Congolese food in the Matonge district of Brussels.

Visiting Aimé in Brussels was a blast, in part just because we had so much fun together. The first morning, we went to the home/gallery of Walter de Weerdt where a number of carved and painted squares Aimé was proposing to use for the work, “Ici on crève” (“here one dies, bursts, gives out”) were on view along with several other of his works and some photographs by Belgian artist Karel Fonteyne. We talked for hours, drank strong coffee, and ate Moroccan food in a theatre building. During my time in Brussels, I also visited Aimé’s studio, home, and perhaps the most fun – visited the museums. It was a delight to find that in the Musées Royeaux des Beaux Arts we both just wanted to take in the minutia of Bruegal, stare at David’s “Death of Marat,” and absorb the surface of “Scenes from the Life of the Virgin” by a Belgian “primitif.” On my last day, Aimé was kind enough to drive me out to the Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale in Tervuren, where he had arranged for me to have a tour by the curator of history, Sabine Cornelis, who had generously taken the afternoon away from her kids to meet me. As she works primarily with photographs and paper documents, it really provided a new spin on the museum for me. After the tour, Aimé discussed how disconcerting the museum felt because of its colonial history. It did not stop us from appreciating the art, however, and we gave one another a hard time when I challenged him to select the one work of art he would choose should he have to be locked in a windowless, white room for the rest of his days. It was how a studio teacher of mine used to challenge the class to evaluate our art. The problem was, neither of us could choose just one object. He did share with me, however, that he loved Kongo minkisi because one can still see the process by which they were made and used. Action remains a part of their form.

Unlike with António, where I finalized the object list for this exhibition while I was with him, I did not make the final selection of Aimé’s pieces until my return. Fortunately, there was not quite as much of an ordeal getting them here as with António – just a few delays due to loan paperwork and the busy schedule of the Belgian crating. I say this calmly now, of course; at the time, NMAfA’s heroic registrars, Julie Haifley and Clarissa Fostel, and I were all a little stressy. But now, both artists and their artworks are here. So, all is good.

A miracle?

2009-01-13T15:52:00.001-05:00

I arrived this morning to a flurry of emails: the first saying Aimé got my message and would call me as soon as he had called the Embassy at 7am; the next saying “all was shit” (C'est de la merde, je ne comprends rien…)and he didn’t understand what the problem was; and then “Okay. I have my passport and I am leaving to catch the plane!” To be honest, I don’t know what to think. We have called the airlines and confirmed that one Aimé Mpane Enkobo has checked in for the flight, so I suppose some kind of miracle has happened. No one is answering at Aime's home or his cell... I just can’t imagine how he got his passport from the Embassy and managed to pack and get to the airport by 10am. I guess I will find out when I get to the airport this afternoon.

Meanwhile, I hope that António will start getting some art on the wall. I know that he is anxious to see something happen. Yesterday was really focused on explaining his ideas to the designer, figuring out how to make it happen, and then doing the prep work. The goal is to have one of his two new site-specific installations – a three-dimensional work over top a round space that used to be a fountain at the base of the museum’s grand stairway – finished by Friday so that it will be on view by the time the crowds arrive for the Inauguration. Right now, all that is there is some brown butcher paper to keep the pedestal clean, and a tower of plywood that António is working on as a central element of the sculpture.

A new week, and a new complication

2009-01-12T17:01:00.002-05:00

Monday morning and the making of art begins. Over the weekend, we were able to get most of the supplies we had found on Friday delivered to the museum. So they were all in the building and the process of cleaning them and making them fit for work had begun. António arrived bright and early (before me in fact) and headed straight to the gallery. When I arrived, he was laying shutters, doors, and windows out on the ground. At the far end of the room, a really great contractor named Chai(sp?) was scrubbing the found objects with a hard brush and vacuuming them. With most of the dust off, he and António can begin painting them the vivid colors the artist has in mind. António also met with Andy Sutton from NMAfA’s Exhibitions Department, to select the paints with which he wants to work.

Later in the day… As the museum is also scrambling to prepare for the Obama’s inauguration (we are trying to put a painting of Obama by a contemporary Togolese artist and some textiles on view, and arranging for other activities and events), I have been running between the gallery, my office, other parts of the museum, and participating in scores of impromptu meetings in the halls. The other HUGE issue to come up today is that we have learned the other artist, Aimé Mpane, is having troubles with his visa. Last week –after two previous failed attempts to get a visa – Francine Berkowitz at the Smithsonian’s travel office was able to process a J-1 work visa for Mpane and he went to the US Embassy in Brussels in person. They approved the visa, said all was well, and he would get his passport in the mail in two days. Well, now it’s the night before he is supposed to fly and he still doesn’t have his passport. I’ve been scrambling, but it doesn’t seem like the State Department or anyone else can help. We’ve been able to track down that everything is issued; my colleague Frank Esposito has been coordinating with the airlines that Mpane’s flight can be changed, and I’ve told the artist to be at the Embassy to pick up his passport in person or find out in which post office it is waiting. And just when I thought getting António here would be the cliff-hanger…

Freezing our toes

2009-01-10T14:12:00.004-05:00

Okay. So it is Saturday now and António has been given the weekend off. He is free to wander Georgetown, Dupont Circle and get used to the neighborhood around his hotel.
We had set the day aside in case we needed more time to gather supplies for the artwork he will be creating specifically for the National Museum of African Art. As he wants to build both a sculpture in the round and a large wall-assemblage, we weren’t sure how long it would take to find enough abandoned doors, windows, street signs and other miscellaneous bits. Fortunately, it only took one day, and so now we all have the weekend to recuperate.

We set out first thing in the morning -- “we” meaning myself (curator Karen Milbourne), the artist, the exhibition designer Alan Knezevich, and the museum’s chief conservator Steve Mellor. Steve was to look out for insects and potential problems that could arise from bringing these materials into the museum; Alan could help António think through what was possible in terms of cutting, installing, and working with the materials; and I was really just along for the ride – to take pictures and talk about artistic process.

The first stop was a fabulous place in east DC called The Community Forklift. It’s a non-profit organization which salvages housing materials to help communities re-build and re-furbish their homes. The occasional artist also passes through scrounging for materials. We were helped by the friendly and informative Ruthie, who first showed us the free stuff and then helped us get a cart to load up our goods. The Community Forklift is a cavernous warehouse filled with old fireplace mantles, toilets, cupboards, screws, and pretty much everything but heat. Unfortunately for us, the high on Friday was 17 degrees. So I have to say I was wishing I’d put on some warmer gloves, though I was able to thaw out in the van after António had made his selection of doors, windows, shutters, and what appear to be three legs and the cross-support to an old wooden table.

Next, it was on to a roofing store (where we did not find corrugated tin roofing), and then two different Home Depots, the last one located in Hyattsville, MD. It was a lot of time in the car, but as I work in an underground office, I was pretty happy just to have a window through which I could look out. After setting aside a stash of corrugated metal and plastic, and a bunch of tools, we stopped for lunch. At this point we were all getting a little testy, so the warm sandwiches did us some good. We were all nervous about how bad the traffic would be on the beltway and the infamous 270 and debated whether to call it a day or plow on. Once we committed to continuing on to Monrovia (in rural Maryland north of DC) and started driving, then kept driving, and kept driving, the van grew pretty quiet as we wondered 1) if we were going to find the scrap yard and 2) if it would still be open when we did. António was perhaps less concerned, as by this time he had dozed off as his jetlag was catching up with him. When we did eventually reach Raymond R. Loun, Inc., we discovered that the proprietor was out. After a series of conversations with neighbors about whether or not we could go ahead and rummage about the heaps of junk in his yard (and after Steve had bought a stash of chocolate whoopie pies from one of the neighbors), we got the go ahead and António and I started prowling. We found some really interesting aluminum melted in random, organic shapes, bunches of old street signs, abandoned step ladders, and even a snow saucer like I used to sled in as a kid. António plans to use the saucer as a symbolic moon or sun in his installation. Just as we were finishing up, Mr. Loun arrived and was kind enough to let us pay him and load up our “junk.” He charged $2 per pound. A bargain.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting day. I have to say the most interesting part was watching António’s process of selection. There were a number of occasions during which Alan or I would find something we found really interesting and we would grab António, he would say “hmm” and move on. Sometimes his reasons were practical, like a material would be too hard to attach. But he just knew what he wanted to transform a blank white wall into grand commentary on the growth and modernization of Luanda… who knew abandoned plastic shutters could be so eloquent?

Dumpster diving

2009-01-09T20:33:00.000-05:00

António did arrive safely, though not until one leg of his journey was ticketed incorrectly, delaying him by a day and then his last flight was canceled. In the end, he was just a few hours late and a couple of margaritas and fish tacos later, we were both willing to forget all the problems.

Today’s agenda was “dumpster diving” – rummaging through the scraps and re-purposed building materials of the greater DC region, but as I am tired from it all, I will write it down tomorrow.

Let the fun begin

2009-01-08T20:19:00.002-05:00

Late this afternoon, António Ole will be arriving – we hope. The adventure of getting both this artist and his art to Washington DC is a subject to which I will probably return a few times.

For now, let’s begin with the art. When the two enormous crates containing 5 bodies of work by Ole came wheeling down the corridor that leads from the truck (un)loading dock and into the museum, folks from around the museum came out of their offices and began to applaud. We had accomplished the seemingly impossible.

When looking at the photo of the Smithsonian Institutes security dog sniffing the crates, the scene seems quite sweet but it also gives a little insight into the staggering amount of political, procedural, and practical obstacles that prevented the seamless delivery of these artworks. In order to bring them in the building, we had to make arrangements for a dog to come in after hours and sniff for contraband so that we would be in compliance with federal regulations. No box can enter the museum without first being checked. But, at least jumping through this hoop came with the added pleasure of Labrador kisses.

When I visited in António in Angola, it had seemed the most insurmountable feature of this exhibition would be finding available hotel space in Luanda, negotiating the infuriating complications of getting the plane ticket, and just surviving the 2-day series of flights. Once in Luanda, it was a full-on multi-sensory marathon of looking, smelling, listening and taking in an African city unlike any I had visited before. I could feel the pulsing energy of this metropolis of 4 million. Alongside crumbling walls, new structures were going up. People mingled with cars in the busy streets, and along the edges of the roads. Luanda seethes. Moving along its congested streets makes it easy to see how Luanda’s architecture, textures, history and frustrations have inspired António Ole. I was in the city to finalize the checklist for the Artists in Dialogue exhibition and see what I could of the contemporary art scene, and so each busy day was filled with visiting António’s studio, his apartment, museums, cultural centers, banks and the various offices which include Ole’s work in their collections. By the end of four days, António and I had both agreed that the museum would borrow the work which really marked the start of his career forty years ago – a vivid gouache on paper piece entitled, On Taking the Pill; an untitled series of six photographic portraits from his days working as a documentary film maker with Angolan national television; N/S, a series of seven delicate and subtle assemblages made of objects found largely on the beaches of Luanda’s cost; the triptych, Disintegrations, made from the torn pieces of a vinyl banner that once advertised the theater group that perform in the same building as António’s studio; and On the Margins of the Borderlands, the artist’s first large scale installation, and one that features a boat made of welded iron – not an easy thing to pack and ship across the ocean.

The first challenge in shipping the artwork actually proved to be even finding a shipping company. This was the first time the National Museum of African Art had tried to bring artwork from Angola and we had no contacts over there. So, we asked the Portuguese embassy, the American embassy, and even an oil cargo company in our efforts to find people who could build, pack, and travel crates that were big and strong enough. And let me pause right here to thank some folks from the US Embassy in Luanda who really made this all possible, Abby Dressel the Public Affairs Officer and her team, Coe Economou and Ana Paula Fereira. They also went to heroic lengths helping us find experts in Luanda who could identify the genus and species of two crows, a crab claw, and a fishbone incorporated into some of the artworks. But that is another story unto itself. For today let’s just say that we actually found two experts who could look at the desiccated spine of a fish, delicately pasted on handmade paper and framed in a wood box, and somehow identify in what kind of fish it had once swum. And, armed with that information we were able to fill out paper work to prove that we were not illegally transporting parts of endangered animals.

It took five months to find a shipping company, measure the artworks, build the crates, identify the animal elements of the artworks, fill the crates with the art and discarded cardboard boxes for protective filling, get approval from the powers that be at the Smithsonian to spend the exorbitant amount of money required to pay the crate-makers and shippers, and then put the crates on an airplane.

Here’s where the next glitch came in… The Angolan shipping company put the crates on a plane on New Years even, forwarded the flight information, and then went on vacation. The only problem was they sent the wrong flight information. This is a big deal in the art world because, typically, art cargo is accompanied by an art handler. This person ensures that the crates are kept in climate controlled environments so that rapid changes in temperature won’t hurt the art, that the crates are not banged against anything, and other precautionary measures. I may never know for sure what became of our crates, but based on the fact they arrived with splatters of salt water, and the pattern of the splatters, I would guess they were turned on end when a vehicle went by and doused them in salted slush. But for now, I am happy because we opened the crates and everything was fine. More than fine. Beautiful. Whatever else may be said, António Ole creates artwork that I just love to look at.

Welcome

2009-01-07T22:15:00.007-05:00

Today is the last before artists begin arriving for the exhibition, Artists in Dialogue: António Ole and Aimé Mpane at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.

This exhibition came about as the result of the museum’s desire to bring lesser known African artists to the United States. It has also been my first exhibition since I joined the staff of the museum (called NMAfA in house). I proposed the concept of having the artists respond to one another, to invite them to a visual dialogue. And within my first week I reached out to António Ole of Angola and Aimé Mpane of Congo (Kinshasa) and Belgium to find out if they would be interested in joining me to launch this new series. They both agreed.

First, I would like to thank both of these extraordinary artists for agreeing to participate in an unusual and challenging endeavor. Artists in Dialogue is conceived as a series of conversations: the exchange of past accomplishments and new ideas between two artists, the ongoing correspondence between artists and curator, and an effort by both artists and museum reaching out to its communities – be they DC natives, national and international visitors, or interested parties bouncing about cyber space.

This blog is intended to tell the story of this exhibition and it serves as an open invitation to readers and anyone you think might be interested to engage me, the artists, the museum, one another… in dialogue – the hopefully open, but often complicated exchange of words, ideas, and images.

As Mikhail Bakhtin wrote, “There is neither a first nor a last word and there are no limits to the dialogic context (it extends into the boundless past and the boundless future).” A blog is the perfect way to put this notion to the test.