MoMA reconstructs its vision of contemporary architecture

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, an exhibition at MoMA that explores the relationship between the spaces of African-American communities and architecture. The exhibition presents ten projects with the aim of making histories visible and building equity.

Reconstructions seeks to illustrate and propose solutions to centuries of racially motivated disenfranchisement and violence embodied in the built environment. Many of these injustices remain rooted in multiple aspects of American design: in the legacy of segregated neighborhoods, compromised infrastructure, and unequal access to financial and educational institutions.

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Installation view of Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 27, 2021 – May 31, 2021. © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Robert Gerhardt. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

On 11 February, the Museum of Modern Art in New York announced the opening of the exhibition Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, the fourth installment of the Issues in Contemporary Architecture series. The exhibition will be on view at MoMA from February through the end of May.

Issues in Contemporary Architecture is an ongoing series of architecture and design exhibitions focusing on current issues in contemporary architecture, with a focus on the urban dimension, with the aim of having a greater dialogue with the public on these issues.

The exhibition, Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, revisits the unfinished project of Reconstruction (1863-77), a brief period after the American Civil War in which an attempt was made to redress the injustices of slavery. Reconstructions seeks to transcend the unequal conditions of African American and diasporic communities, extending its aspirations to the present day of the 21st century and beyond. The exhibition centres black cultural forms, amplifying black life and black joy, while creating an imaginary of community, care, knowledge and ultimately, liberation.

The projects commissioned for the exhibition respond to conditions found in ten American cities, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Oakland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Syracuse, in which the various artists propose intervention projects. Reconstructions seeks to examine the intersection between urban spaces, anti-black racism and blackness, with the aim of repairing the meaning of being American.

The exhibited projects were commissioned from architects, designers and artists, including Emanuel Admassu, Germane Barnes, Sekou Cooke, J. Yolande Daniels, Felecia Davis, Mario Gooden, Walter Hood, Olalekan Jeyifous, V. Mitch McEwen and Amanda Williams, as well as new photographs by artist David Hartt.

The publication, designed by Morcos Key, that accompanies the exhibition features scholarly essays by the curators, advisory board members and guest scholars, as well as texts, photographs, drawings and digital renderings of each of the 10 projects in the exhibition.

The exhibition projects are.-

-Immeasurability
Emanuel Admassu. Atlanta, GA

-A Spectrum of Blackness: The Search for Sedimentation
Germane Barnes. Miami, FL

-We Outchea: Hip-Hop Fabrications and Public Space
Sekou Cooke. Syracuse, NY

-black city: the los angeles edition
Yolande Daniels. Los Angeles, CA

-Fabricating Networks: Transmissions and Receptions
Felecia Davis. Pittsburgh, PA

-The Refusal of Space
Mario Gooden. Nashville, TN

-On Exactitude in Science (Watts)
David Hartt. Watts, Los Angeles, CA

-Black Towers / Black Power
Walter J. Hood. Oakland, CA

-The Frozen Neighborhoods
Olalekan Jeyifous. Brooklyn, NY

-R:R
V. Mitch McEwen. New Orleans, LA

-We’re Not Down There, We’re Over Here
Amanda Williams. Kinloch, MO

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Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Felecia Davis. Fabricating Networks: Fabricating Networks: Transmissions and Receptions from Pittsburgh’s Hill District. 2020. Digital file. 24 × 24″ (50.8 × 50.8 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. J. Yolande Daniels. Race Plate. 2020. Digital rendering. 24 x 36″ (61 x 91.4 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Amanda Williams. Spatial Diagrams. 2020. Ink on paper. 26 x 12” (66.04 x 30.48 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Emanuel Admassu. Planetary Scar (Mid-Atlantic Ridge). 2020. Silk, wool, and other threads. 7′ x 7′ (213.36 x 213.36 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. V. Mitch McEwen. Film still of R:R. 2020. Digital file. Dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Mario Gooden. Refusal of Space. 2020. Photograph. 40 x 30″ (101.6 x 76.2 cm). Photo: Kris Graves. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Germane Barnes. No Beach Access. 2020. Digital collage. 15 x 21.5″ (38.1 x 54.61 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Sekou Cooke. We Outchea: Hip-Hop Fabrications and Public Space. 2020. Digital print and screenprint. 12 × 12″ (30.5 × 30.5 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Walter Hood. Section Drawing – Folding Chair. 2020. Plexiglass. 58 x 24” (147.32 x 60.96 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Olalekan Jeyifous. Plant Seeds Grow Blessings. 2020. Photomontage, framed renderings printed on Luster 260 GSM. 40 × 30″ (101.6 x 76.2 cm). Courtesy of Olalekan Jeyifous. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. Cover of the exhibition catalogue Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, published by The Museum of Modern Art, 2021. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America. David Hartt. Film still of On Exactitude in Science (Watts). 2020. Dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1

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More information

Label

Curators

Text

Design, The Museum of Modern Art, and Mabel O. Wilson, Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor, Columbia University, with Ariele Dionne-Krosnick, former Curatorial Assistant, and Anna Burckhardt, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.

Label

Artist

Text

Emanuel Admassu, Germane Barnes, Sekou Cooke, Yolande Daniels, Felicia Davis, Mario Gooden, David Hartt, Walter J. Hood, Olalekan Jeyifous, V. Mitch McEwen, Amanda Williams.

Label

Collaborators

Text

The exhibition is made possible by Allianz, MoMA’s partner for design and innovation.
Major support is provided by the Jon Stryker Endowment. Generous funding is provided by the Leontine S. and Cornell G. Ebers Endowment Fund. Additional support is provided by The Friends of Education of The Museum of Modern Art and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. MoMA Audio is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.