Just few months ago all the art system was shocked by the unexpected waiver of Okwui Enwezor to the Haus der Kunst in Munich.
Now is real... All of our suspects has been confirmed by the recently disappear of the Nigerian curator. The art critic passed away at the age of 55 after a long illness. He was the first curator with African origin that has curated the Venice Biennale in 2015, in addition to being the artistic director of documenta11 and other important manifestations.
Here the last comment before his departure from the Haus der Kunst:
There is never an ideal time to leave, but I am stepping down when the Haus der Kunst is in an artistic position of strength. It has been a great privilege to lead this exceptional institution and work with such a dedicated and talented team.
Born in Calabar in Nigeria in 1963, Enwezor is known for his work as a curator, critic and historian, focused on the analysis of contemporary art languages interspersed in historical, ethnic and social contexts, for a reading of artistic facts that does not disregard the geopolitical dynamics of today's world. In 1994 he founded the magazine NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art together with Salah Hassan and Olu Oguibe, while in 2009 he wrote his essay Contemporary African Art Since 1980, written together with Chika Okeke-Agulu.
In 2002 he was entrusted with the artistic direction of documenta11, an occasion that saw for the first time in the history of the five-year art of Kassel, a non-European curator at the helm of this German huge event. Since 2011 Enwezor was the artistic director of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, and even in this case his appointment at the German institution - the museum was built during the years of Nazism - was considered a strong symbolic value. In 2015 Enwezor was also entrusted with the management of the Venice Biennale "All the World’s Futures". He also curated the Johannesburg Biennial in 1996 and the Gwangju Biennial in 2008.
"GOODBYE ENWEZOR" THE STATEMENT OF THE VENICE BIENNAL DIRECTOR PAOLO BARATTA
Okwui Enwezor was the curator of 2015 Venice Biennale, an important moment in his career that had seen him recognized among the most qualified of the present time. His great openness to artists from all over the world, his great sense of responsibility as a curator, and most of all, his courage in proposing and defending the reasons of the Art, always been inspiring elements of his work, that was carried out in every occasion with great intellectual honesty and a refined capacity of analysis and choice.
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