Carnegie International brings together artists from around the world
A 35-minute video, "Place of Solace," by Guatemalan artist Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa is in this year's Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
Art from around the world is on display at the Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art through April.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
A commissioned installation by Vietnamese artist Truong Cong Tung is part of the 58th Carnegie International at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
Turkish artist Banu Cennetoglu’s “right?” presents the articles of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights in bouquet’s of gold letter balloons in the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Hall of Sculpture.
This image is part of Julian Abraham "Togar"'s exhibit "OK Studio" in the Carnegie International.
Work by the late American artist Kate Millett is in the Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
This work depicting Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger in a tub is on loan to the Carnegie International from a museum in Chile.
PITTSBURGH–Over its long history, the Carnegie International has cast a spotlight on artists and works that, in their time, were positioned firmly on the cutting edge.
Salvador Dali, Auguste Rodin, Jackson Pollock, Rene Magritte and Andy Warhol are some of the titans of the art world in the 19th and 20th centuries whose creations found a place in the exhibit. Having previously gone under the names the Annual Exhibition and the Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings and Sculpture, the showcase of contemporary art has been a regular feature on the Carnegie Museum of Art’s calendar almost from the day Andrew Carnegie founded the institution in 1895. The 58th iteration of the Carnegie International, which opened last month and will be at the museum through April, illustrates how far the American art world has come in recognizing work beyond its borders and those of Europe.
Artists who hail from Cuba, Iraq, Guatemala, South Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Uganda, Nicaragua and many other points on the map are represented. No one would ever be able to accuse this Carnegie International of not being well and truly international.
Eric Crosby, the museum’s director, explained, “Carnegie Museum of Art is a meeting place for Pittsburgh and the world. Nothing exemplifies this more than the Carnegie International, an ambitious and global project that makes inquiries into the art and ideas that shape our time.”
Planning for this Carnegie International began almost immediately after the 57th Carnegie International wrapped up in March 2019. The following year, Sohrab Mohebbi was brought onboard to curate this International. His background includes work as a curator at SculptureCenter in New York, and stints at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Queens Museum in New York and the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater in Los Angeles. According to Mohebbi, “The framework we’ve explored for this edition of the Carnegie International attempts to take a step back and look at historical work in context with contemporary commissions to trace aesthetic currents, modes of expression and abstraction that are not recuperated by the canon of the contemporary.”
Titled “Is it morning for you yet?”, this International looks at issues revolving around migration, decolonization, expropriation and appropriation through paintings, photographs, video installations and more.
It includes photos of clothing and other objects that were seared in the atomic blast at Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945; a display of gold letter balloons that takes up much of the Hall of Sculpture commemorating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was declared by the United Nations in 1948; an exploration of the art in Iran before and after it became a theocracy in 1979; a look at critical and cultural journals that were produced in Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, the Indian subcontinent and South America in the 20th century; Chilean art from the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende; and plenty more. All told, the 58th Carnegie International contains works by almost 80 artists and collectives.
The museum itself is packed with art, but this Carnegie International stretches beyond the institution’s doors. A pavilion made of temporary scaffolding, construction mesh and modular furniture has been assembled for the International by Cuban-born artist Rafael Domenech and is in the Sculpture Court just outside the museum. Also, Pittsburgh-born and based artist James “Yaya” Hough has created a mural in the Hill District, and Tony Cokes of Richmond, Va., has crafted a work for the International that has been placed on digital billboards along Route 28.
After the exhibit opened, the Carnegie Prize, the International’s top honor, was given to Braddock-born LaToya Ruby Frazier and her work, “More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland,” which uses photographs to reveal the stories of community health workers in Baltimore during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several events tied to the Carnegie International will be happening in the months ahead, including a “conversations” series that starts next Thursday, a performance art series that gets underway Saturday, Nov. 12, and a film program that is scheduled for the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville starting Thursday, March 2. Docents will be available for interactive overview tours of the exhibit throughout its run. Hours for the tours are Wednesday through Monday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The tours will start in front of the museum’s store.
For additional information on the 58th Carnegie International, go online to cmoa.org.