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The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, will present The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994, a monumental exhibition exploring African culture through a range of media, from September 8 through December 30, 2001. The exhibition will occupy the MCA’s fourth-floor Collection Galleries and features artists from more than 20 African Nations.

Curated by Okwui Enwezor for the Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, The Short Century is the first major survey to examine this dynamic and politically-charged era in the African art and history, an how liberation movements and art have been bound together in the forging of a new culture. The Short Century presents a cultural context on which the intense politics of African freedom movements are displayed – from the initial struggles for independence following the Second World War, to the collapse of apartheid in South Africa and the establishment of democratic governments in the nations of Africa. The MCA presentation is coordinated by Manilow Senior Curator Francesco Bonami.

“To be able to bring to Chicago an exhibition like the The Short Century is both a challenge and a privilege,” said Bonami. “With this show the MCA is clearly entering a new phase of its own history – placing itself as a cultural hub expanding its dialogue with the city. The visual arts, the music, the film in The Short Century express the compelling desire of a continent to negotiate autonomously its own modernity. In this show it will appear clear why Africa is going to be a subject of our cultural and social global future.”

The Short Century is divided into seven distinct subject areas: modern and contemporary art, film, photography, graphics, architecture/space, music/recorded sound, and literature and theater, all linked to an historical framework. The exhibition shows the history of African independence – and the resulting postcolonial questions of identity, ethnicity, nationality, Diaspora, and citizenship – as an ongoing narrative told from the vantage point of Africa.

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