Curator's Perspective: Paula Nascimento

How can we understand curating as a spatial practice? In this Curator’s Perspective talk, Paula Nascimento—an architect, independent curator, and 2022 ICI Curatorial Research Fellow, currently based in Luanda, Angola—discussed her approach to curating as a geopolitical exercise. Her discussion began with her curation of the groundbreaking Angolan Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale (which won the Golden Lion and was widely recognized for its nuanced reckoning with the complexities of urban environments), before addressing projects that span her career to explore how notions of space and territory inform her work. Nascimento also highlighted several ongoing artists’ projects that illustrate the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of her practice, which has been deeply shaped by artists’ perspectives on migration, conflict, and international relations.

Following the talk, Nascimento was joined by curator Tumelo Mosaka to continue the conversation. Mosaka is a Johannesburg-born and New York City-based independent curator, and is also the Mellon Project Director in African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. Mosaka’s interests span numerous global transnational artistic practices working within and outside museums with artists from Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. 

Credits
The Curator’s Perspective is a free, itinerant public talk series featuring established U.S. and international curators, who present on their work and research. It was developed to offer audiences ways to connect with timely information and a wide variety of international perspectives on contemporary art and curating today. The series sheds light on movements and models that are shaping the curatorial field today, addressing questions about art, culture, and the artists and exhibitions that curators look to.

This program is the first in a series of collaborative programs produced by ICI and The Africa Center. The two organizations have entered into a multi-year partnership to produce public programs highlighting artistic and curatorial practices from the African continent and the Diaspora.

The Curator’s Perspective series has been made possible, in part, by a grant from the James Howell Foundation and by generous contributions from the ICI Board of Trustees and ICI Access Fund. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.