July 17–August 18, 2019
Exhibitions can be visited at:
Detroit Public Library
(Main, Skillman & Parkman)
Michigan, USA
In a rare constellation, the exhibition Show me your Shelves! realizes an artistic dialogue between black artists from Germany and the US. First in Detroit, then later this year in Houston, the two-part show brings together eight artists reflecting on existing common structures, experiences, as well as differences between German Afro-diasporic cultures and lifestyles and African American perspectives. The exhibition challenges the question of how libraries can expand on becoming open spaces of encounter and knowledge specifically regarding the connections of African Diasporas.
Beginning on July 17, 2019, Bree Gant (Detroit), Jennifer Harge (Detroit), James Gregory Atkinson (Frankfurt) and Janine Jembere (Berlin) will be presenting their installations, films, sound and performance pieces in different branches of the Detroit Public Library. In Houston Regina Agu (Houston), Tay Butler (Houston), Anika Joyce Sadiq (Stuttgart), and Amelia Umuhire (Berlin) will show their works in spaces of the city’s public library.
Show me your Shelves! is conceived by founders and editors-in-chief of the art magazines Contemporary And (C&) and Contemporary And América Latina (C& AL) Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba. It is facilitated in close collaboration with Jessica Allie, director of ProjectArt Detroit, a free after-school and artists residency program located in several Detroit public libraries.
In addition to the exhibition, C& will be launching a special print issue developed by young arts writers from Detroit and Germany. The issue discusses questions around Afro-German and African American experiences raised during a writing workshop which took place in Detroit in November 2018. The C& special print issue will be launched on July 17 as part of Detroit Art Week and will be distributed for free at different locations in Detroit as well as to the global network of C& readers.
Show me your Shelves! is funded by and takes place within the framework of the German campaign Wunderbar Together – The Year of German-American Friendship, initiated by the German Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Goethe-Institut, and supported by the Federation of German Industries (BDI). This campaign works to highlight the decades-spanning foundation of common values, interests, and goals between the two countries.
Exhibitions can be visited during the opening hours of the respective branches of the Detroit Public Library:
Detroit Public Library Main Branch: James Gregory Atkinson, Janine Jembere
Detroit Public Library Skillman Branch: Bree Gant
Detroit Public Library Parkman Branch: Jennifer Harge
About Contemporary And (C&)
Contemporary And (C&) is an art magazine and a dynamic space for issues and information on contemporary art from Africa and its Global Diaspora. C& publishes weekly features, columns, reviews, and interviews in English and French on contemporaryand.com. C& América Latina (C& AL) focuses on the connections between Latina America, the Caribbean and Africa. Texts here are published in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Being read in around 120 countries, C& collaborates with an international network of major protagonists of the global art scene as well as with young, emerging voices. This happens online and on the ground. Twice a year the C& print issues come out.
Contemporary And was initiated by the Institute for Foreign Relations (ifa), Contemporary And América Latina (C& AL) is co-published by ifa and the Goethe-Institut.
For further details, please contact info [at] contemporaryand.com
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