Iconoclasm in Africa

FAIN: GM-50556-05

Museum for African Art (Long Island City, NY 10029-8405)
Enid Schildkrout (Project Director: March 2005 to July 2006)

Consultation with scholars and interpretive specialists to develop a traveling exhibition and catalog about the reasons that some African art forms are designed to be ephemeral or are intentionally destroyed.

This major traveling exhibition will contrast African art, which is often made NOT to last, with the Western belief that much of art's importance comes from its permanence and its triumph over time. The Museum for African Art proposes to convene a meeting of consulting scholars to clarify the exhibition's themes and to discuss the best ways to present and interpret them to the general public. Preliminary audience evaluations will then be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the project team's conclusions.