Fred Wilson: Afro Kismet Member Preview
Fred Wilson: Afro Kismet, is presented in partnership with Spoleto Festival, USA, and features the internationally acclaimed artist’s most recent body of work originally produced for the 15th Istanbul Biennial. Museum Fellows, special guests, and Members are invited to preview the exhibit. This event is an official selection of Charleston 350.
6PM Fellows | 7PM Members
A 1999 MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award winner, Fred Wilson (American, b. 1954) challenges assumptions of history, culture, race, and conventions of display. By reframing objects and cultural symbols, he alters traditional interpretations, encouraging viewers to reconsider social and historical narratives.
In Afro Kismet, Wilson investigates the long-ignored presence of communities of African descent from the time of the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey. The juxtaposition of recent works by Wilson with works from the 19th century—including Orientalist paintings with African subjects—not only questions notions of universal knowledge and truth, but also sheds light on histories not thoroughly examined. By combining contemporary objects and museum-quality artifacts, Wilson challenges the assumptions of exhibition methodology and art historical scholarship.
This exhibition is sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield, Bank of America, the Jane Smith Turner Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Lynch Cracraft Wealth Management of Raymond James, Southern Land Company, Charleston Magazine, Timothy Walter and Danielle Ziff and Cynthia and Ronald Thompson.
