May 5, 2003

UCSB Symposium and Lecture to Feature Acclaimed Art Director

Bill Schlotter

Okwui Enwezor, critic, curator, and artistic director of the celebrated 2002 Documenta XI contemporary art exhibition in Germany, will give a lecture and participate in a UCSB art symposium in Santa Barbara on Wednesday and Thursday, May 7 and 8. Both lecture and symposium are free and open to the public.

In his lecture, "Verité/Documentary: Towards an Interpretation of Documenta XI" (5 p.m. Wednesday, Isla Vista Theatre), Enwezor will discuss the acclaimed exhibition of contemporary art which featured the works of 116 artists and ran from June to September of 2002 in Kassel, Germany. At the "Symposium of Curatorial Paradigms in Contemporary Art after Documenta XI" (5 p.m. Thursday, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara), Enwezor will join seven other panelists in discussing the emergence of new ways of exhibiting art.

Symposium seating is limited and reservations are suggested (805-893-4809).

The lecture and symposium are presented by the UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Idee Levitan Endowed Lecture Series, the IHC African Research Focus Group, and the UCSB Arts Symposium.

Joining Enwezor on the panel of Thursday's symposium will be Charles Gaines of the California Institute of the Arts School of Art; Renée Green, a professor of art studio at UCSB; Dick Hebdige, director of UCSB's Interdisciplinary Humanities Center; Laurie Monahan and Sylvester Ogbechie, assistant professors of the history of art and architecture at UCSB; and Christopher Scoates, chief curator of the UCSB Art Museum. Stephan Miescher, an assistant professor of history at UCSB, will moderate.

Enwezor has written extensively on contemporary art, paying particular attention to African artists. He is the publisher and founding editor of "Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art." He is either correspondent or contributor to many leading art publications. As a curator, he has put together major shows in Paris, London, Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin and New York.

Born in Nigeria, Enwezor now lives in New York and in Kassel, Germany.

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