Nandipha Mntambo, “Europa,” 2008
Contemporary African Art Since 1980 [by Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu] is the first major survey of the work of contemporary African artists from diverse situations, locations, and generations who work either in or outside of Africa, but whose practices engage and occupy the social and cultural complexities of the continent since the past 30 years. Its frame of analysis is absorbed with historical transitions: from the end of the postcolonial utopias of the sixties during the 1980s to the geopolitical, economic, technological, and cultural shifts incited by globalization.
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Moving between discursive and theoretical registers, the principal questions the book analyzes are:
What and when is contemporary African art?
Who might be included in the framing of such a conceptual identity?
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It periodizes and cross references artistic sensibilities in order to elicit multiple conceptual relationships, as well as breaks with prevailing binaries of center and periphery, vernacular and academic, urban and non-urban forms, indigenous and diasporic models of identification.
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The main claim of this book is that contemporary African art can be best understood by examining the tension between the period of great political changes of the era of decolonization that enabled new and exciting imaginations of the future to be formulated, and the slow, skeptical, and social decline marked by the era of neo-liberalism and Structural Adjustment programs of the 1980s. These issues are addressed in chapters covering the themes of “Politics, Culture, Critique,” “Memory and Archive,” “Abstraction, Figuration and Subjectivity,” and “The Body, Gender and Sexuality.”
In addition, the book employs sidebars to provide brief and incisive accounts of and commentaries on important contemporary political, economic and cultural events, and on exhibitions, biennales, workshops, artist groups and more. Rather than a comprehensive survey, this richly illustrated book presents examples of ambitious and important work by more than 160 African artists since the last 30 years. This list includes Georges Adeagbo Tayo Adenaike, Ghada Amer, El Anatsui, Kader Attia, Luis Basto, Candice Breitz, Moustapha Dime, Marlene Dumas, Victor Ekpuk, Samuel Fosso, Jak Katarikawe, William Kentridge, Rachid Koraichi, Mona Mazouk, Julie Mehretu, Nandipha Mntambo, Hassan Musa, Donald Odita, Iba Ndiaye, Richard Onyango, Ibrahim El Salahi, Issa Samb, Cheri Samba, Ousmane Sembene, Yinka Shonibare, Barthelemy Toguo, Obiora Udechukwu, and Sue Williamson.
Gawk at more amazing & diverse images courtesy of BoingBoing.
Contemporary African Art Since 1980 is available on Amazon. Mine’s in the post 
Hat tip @Matathia via @Potash on Twitter.
8 Comments
22 December, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Now this has been a long time coming even though Revue Noire editions have touched on some of these themes….wonderful to have something in English & that has a much more accomodating price point. Thank you for this.
25 December, 2009 at 10:41 pm
@Khiranji thanks for your comment – i agree. i instantly noticed the affordable price too, very likely because it’s in paperback. suits me just fine.
24 December, 2009 at 8:11 pm
[...] Sci-Cultura reviews the book, Contemporary African Art Since 1980 by Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, which looks at the work of contemporary African artists from diverse situations, locations, and generations since the past 30 years. Cancel this reply [...]
25 December, 2009 at 10:20 am
Found your blog via twitter. Great stuff. Much appreciated and whoever says Art is elitist is wrong!
25 December, 2009 at 10:45 pm
@Raymond thanks for stopping by via Twitter. i must admit Twitter has been a wonderful knowledge sharing platform & more.. yeah, who said art is elitist? life = art & art = life; where does one end and the other begin?
4 January, 2010 at 4:43 pm
[...] Sci-Cultura recensisce il libro [in] Contemporary African Art Since 1980 di Okwui Enwezor e Chika Okeke-Agulu, la prima importante rassegna illustrata delle opere di artisti contemporanei africani (oltre 160 artisti) degli ultimi 30 anni. Il merito del libro è quello di esaminare le opere attraverso i diversi periodi politici riflettendo le complessità sociali e culturali del continente: dalla fine delle utopie post-coloniali degli anni ‘60 al presente, dove i cambiamenti geopolitici, economici, tecnologici e culturali riflettono l'epoca globalizzata. Le principali questioni a cui gli autori provano a rispondere sono “quando e cos'è arte comtemporanea in Africa [it]?” e “chi dovremmo includere in questa cornice concettuale?”. Il tutto nel volume disponibile su Amazon [in] a un prezzo decisamente accettabile. [...]
10 January, 2010 at 2:30 pm
[...] Sci-Cultura recensisce il libro [in] Contemporary African Art Since 1980 di Okwui Enwezor e Chika Okeke-Agulu, la prima importante rassegna illustrata delle opere di artisti contemporanei africani (oltre 160 artisti) degli ultimi 30 anni. Il merito del libro è quello di esaminare le opere attraverso i diversi periodi politici riflettendo le complessità sociali e culturali del continente: dalla fine delle utopie post-coloniali degli anni ‘60 al presente, dove i cambiamenti geopolitici, economici, tecnologici e culturali riflettono l'epoca globalizzata. Le principali questioni a cui gli autori provano a rispondere sono “quando e cos'è arte contemporanea in Africa [it]?” e “chi dovremmo includere in questa cornice concettuale?”. Il tutto nel volume disponibile su Amazon [in] a un prezzo decisamente accettabile. [...]
18 January, 2010 at 3:25 pm
what an amazing book!