International contemporary art curator and critic Okwui Enwezor to speak at ASU for the Elaine Horwitch Lecture in Contemporary Art Criticism

TEMPE, Ariz. – Okwui Enwezor, an international curator and critic who examines the impact of globalization and the aftermath of colonialism on contemporary artists, will speak at the 11th annual Elaine Horwitch Lecture in Contemporary Art Criticism. Enwezor’s free lecture, entitled “The Artist as Producer in a Time of Crisis,” will be held at 7:30 p.m., March 30 in ASU’s Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 170.

Enwezor was born in Nigeria in 1963 and moved to New York in 1982. Known for his expertise in international and contemporary African art, Enwezor has organized numerous exhibitions and art projects in Europe, the United States, Asia, Mexico and Africa. Most recently he was director ofDocumenta 11, in Kassel, Germany – one of the most important exhibitions of international contemporary art and film that is organized every five years. He also curated the visionary traveling exhibition, The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994, which redefined understanding of contemporary African art.

Enwezor is the founder of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, a critical art journal co-published by the Africana Studies Center at Cornell University. He was the artistic director of the second Johannesburg Biennale in 1997 and visiting professor at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he also was adjunct curator of contemporary art from 1998-2001.

Enwezor’s lecture is organized by the Herberger College of Fine Arts, ASU Art Museum and the School of Art, with generous support from the Elaine Horwitch Cultural Fund – in memory of the distinguished art gallery owner and collector. In-kind promotional support is provided by Shade Magazinethrough a community partnership with Shade Projects.

The ASU Art Museum, named “the single most impressive venue for contemporary art in Arizona” by Art in America, is part of the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University. For more information call 480-965-2787.

Media Contact:
Denise Tanguay 
480.965.7144
denise.tanguay@asu.edu