The Museum Of Contemporary Art Detroit presents Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context. Featuring works and themes by artists from the nations of Southern Africa, the exhibition opens Oct. 25 and runs through Jan. 5.

Members of the public also are invited to an Opening Reception from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 25 and a Public Talk on the exhibition beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26 at MOCAD in Detroit.

The Public Talk is an afternoon of conversation with the curators of Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context: Larry Ossei-Mensah, Susanne Feld, Hilberry Senior Curator, Josh Ginsburg, Director at the A4 Arts Foundation and Jova Lynne, Ford Curatorial Fellow at MOCAD as they discuss the exhibition and its themes. The curators will be joined by participating exhibiting artists.

Click here to visit MOCAD online.

The image above is detail of Nicholas Hlobo, utsale umnxeba, 2008, a photograph by John Kennard, courtsey of Stevenson Gallery.


Details on Crossing Night from MOCAD:

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) announces Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context, a group exhibition presented in collaboration with the A4 Arts Foundation based in Cape Town, South Africa. As a means of expanding the scope and breadth of the exhibition a selection of works from the Toronto-based Wedge Collection will be included in the show.

Crossing Night is an exhibition series organized by the A4 Arts Foundation that explores the work of contemporary artists from the Southern African region. Presented and organized by MOCAD and A4, Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context is the second iteration of the series that will highlight states of flux and liminality in urban landscapes of the Southern African region.

The first iteration of Crossing Night, curated by Francisco Berzunza in Oaxaca, Mexico–investigated societal relationships between death practices in Southern Africa and Mexico to unearth historical preoccupations in the two postcolonial regions. Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context presents work that addresses the concerns, thoughts, and desires of contemporary artists from the Southern African region as they grapple with the legacy of post-colonial structures. With an emphasis on transition and transformation this exhibition explores how local politics, urban landscape, and place shape the personal identities that define regional culture. In addition, the exhibition queries the efficacy of regionality itself in the context of the hyper-networked digital contemporary.  Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context will feature photography, video, sculpture and installation works.

MOCAD and A4 Art Foundation are proud to partner with Wedge Collection as a contributor to Crossing Night: Regional Identities X Global Context. Based in Toronto, Wedge collection is  one of Canada’s largest, privately owned contemporary art collections focusing on exploring African diasporic culture and contemporary Black life.

Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context will include a range of works that push the form of lens-based practice that include but are not  limited to the artists Jody Brand, Calvin Dondo, Lebohang Kganye, Athi-Patra Ruga, Mikhael Subotzky, Guy Tillim, Andrew Tshabangu, Kyle Weeks, Binelde Hyrcan, Margaret Courtney-Clarke, Sabelo Mlangeni, Santu Mofokeng, Zanele Muholi, Samson Kambalu, Robin Rhode, William Kentridge, Penny Siopis. Additionally, MOCAD is proud to announce that artists Moshekwa Langa and Nicholas Hlobo will travel to Detroit to create site specific sculptural installations for the exhibition. We look forward to these two artists traveling to the United States to represent the interests and considerations of artists working in the Southern African region.

As a means to engage the local community with opportunities to interpret the exhibition Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context will present States of Flux–a public program series in which Detroit based artists, thinkers and organizers will respond to themes within the exhibition. States of Flux will include talks, performances and workshops that will serve as a platform for robust understanding and intercultural dialogue between Southeastern Michigan and Southern African regions.

Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. “We remain deeply grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts for generously supporting our ongoing efforts as a national leader in interdisciplinary practice with a major grant to support this groundbreaking exhibition,” says Elysia Borowy-Reeder, Executive Director of MOCAD. As an international presenting institution MOCAD is proud to be on the front-line of bringing global conversations to Detroit.