“Decolonizing Appearance“ (installation view). Photo: Mads Holm.
Presse Release, September 2018
Decolonizing Appearance is a large group exhibition at CAMP / Center for Art on Migration Politics curated by visual culture theorist Nicholas Mirzoeff from New York University.
Decolonizing Appearance is the work of asking questions. What does decolonizing look like? How do the colonized and the colonizer appear to each other? How can the colonized have the right to look, the right to be seen – in short, the right to appear? Decolonization is not a metaphor. It is not a matter for art alone. The work on the walls in this exhibition resonates with conversations in the space, in the Trampoline House refugee justice community center where it is housed, in Copenhagen and beyond.
As nationalism, racism, and xenophobia claim to be the 'common sense' of the global now, it is vital to continue to imagine other presents and possible futures. And to live in them. What would happen when appearance is decolonized? To whom can we appear? By what means? Who is that 'we'? What has to happen for decolonizing to take place where you live?
John Akomfrah (left), Khalid Albaih (center) and Jane Jin Kaisen (right). Photo: Mads Holm.
Khalid Albaih “Africa light,“ 2018. Photo: Mads Holm.
Jane Jin Kaisen “The Andersons,” 2015.
Photo: Mads Holm.
Exhibition
Decolonizing Appearance brings together collectives and individuals working on these questions in different ways in photography, video, installation, and text. The work addresses issues from Gaza to Caribbean, Africa, US and Denmark. It is not just something to see, it is something to do, from painting murals and making banners to decolonizing assemblies and workshops. In Decolonizing Appearance, solidarity is a verb and a question: what does solidarity look like? Direct action is a work of art. Militant research is the creation of a new perception – decolonized appearance. It is the making of worlds where no one is illegal, where Black and Brown lives matter, where no one has to use #metoo. In short, where each and every person is fully human, without preconditions and without hierarchy.
Abdul Dube (left) and Jeannette Ehlers (right). Photo: Mads Holm.
Jeannette Ehlers “The Gaze,” 2018. Photo: Mads Holm.
Jeannette Ehlers “The Gaze,” 2018. Courtesy of the artist.
The works help us to learn what that might mean, whether it’s Forensic Architecture showing how to use social media to understand history; John Akomfrah giving material form to the tabula rasa of decolonizing in his The Utopian Palimpsest; Jeannette Ehlers confronting us with structural issues of coloniality, racialization, and migration; or Carl Pope’s letterpress posters on the meaning of Black and blackness. With so much more: Khalid Albaih networking Africa, while Pedro Lasch maps the global indigenous; Jane Jin Kaisen visualizing intersectional lives; Abdul Dube and Dread Scott question who can claim to be human; and Marronage and MTL Collective engage us with decolonial organizing and the Decolonizing Assembly.
Marronage (left) and Carl Pope (right). Photo: Mads Holm.
About the curator
Nicholas Mirzoeff is a writer and visual activist. He is Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University (NYU). Among his many books, How To See The World (2015) has been translated into ten languages and The Appearance of Black Lives Matter (2017) was published as a limited edition project with the artist Carl Pope (2018). A frequent blogger and writer, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Time, and The New Republic. He grew up in London and now lives in New York City.
Forensic Architecture “The Killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Abu Daher, Beitunia, Palestine, Nakba Day: 15 May 2014,” 2015. Photo: Mads Holm.
Forensic Architecture “The Killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Abu Daher…” 2015. Photo: Mads Holm.
Forensic Architecture “The Killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Abu Daher…” 2015. Courtesy of Forensic Architecture.
Programme
Join us on Friday, September 21st for the opening party of CAMP’s new focus! exhibition Decolonizing Appearance and hear guest curator Nicholas Mirzoeff talk about his thoughts and ideas behind the exhibition. There will also be artist talks by Copenhagen-based artists Khalid Albaih, Abdul Dube, and Jeannette Ehlers, who have all contributed to the exhibition. The opening will be followed by three additional events: Decolonizing Assembly, Culture Night / The Politics of Migrant Images, and the closing event Another World is Possible: poetry, performance and practice.
Exhibition catalog
The exhibition is accompanied by a printed exhibition catalog that can be purchased in CAMP or downloaded here. In addition to introductions to the works and projects in the exhibition, the catalog contains essays by Nicholas Mirzoeff, Gurminder K. Bhambra, and Marronage.
Pedro Lasch (left) and Dread Scott (right). Photo: Mads Holm.
Pedro Lasch “Global Indianization,” 2009/2018. Photo: Mads Holm.
MTL Collective (banners). Photo: Mads Holm.
MTL Collective (banners). Photo: Mads Holm.
CAMP focus! 2018–2020 / State of Integration:
Artistic analyses of the challenges of coexistence
Decolonizing Appearance is the first exhibition in CAMP’s new 2-year focus! exhibition program State of Integration: Artistic analyses of the challenges of coexistence, in which some of the most visionary curators and artists of today will examine why immigration poses such a major challenge to the West, and how refugees, immigrants, and diaspora populations experience demands of integration or assimilation into the majority culture. Five internationally acclaimed curators and artists – Nicholas Mirzoeff, Tania Bruguera, Temi Odumosu, Galit Eilat and Sandi Hilal – will each guest curate an ambitious group exhibition on coexistence and the politics of belonging. Read more about the exhibition programme here.
The exhibition is generously supported by Det Obelske Familiefond / Statens Kunstfond / Foreningen Roskilde Festival / European Cultural Foundation / Københavns Billedkunstudvalg.