Until recently, I had never heard of the Museum of Arts and Design. I was just looking around online for some new exhibits and I stumbled upon this museum which is now featuring, since November 17th, an exhibit called The Global Africa Project.
The Global Africa Project explores contemporary African art, design, and crafts, featuring the work of over 100 artists from Africa, Europe, Asia, the US, and the Caribbean. The exhibit features a broad variety of African arts, such as ceramics, basketry, textiles, jewelry, furniture, fashion, and selective examples of architecture, photography, painting, and sculpture. Lowery Stokes Sims and Leslie King-Hammond are co-curators of this exhibit. Their aim was to include a diverse group of creators and expose the various dimensions of the work of African artists and artisans worldwide. Some themes of the exhibit include, “the phenomenon of intersecting cultures and cultural fusion; the branding and co-opting of cultural references; how art and design is promoted in the international market and the creative global scene; the use of local materials; and the impact of art-making on the economic and social condition of local communities”.
I think that this exhibit would be really interesting to go see. I like that the exhibit includes a large variety and I find African art to be interesting. I also think that this exhibit could teach us a bit about African culture.
Check out some pictures from the exhibit 🙂 Here is the site if anybody is interested!
Beth wrote just a few posts back about “futuristic” design. These designs have an unmistakable African influence. I think it demonstrates the need for design to have a “personality.”