The Museum of Modern Art announces the fourth installment of the Issues in Contemporary Architecture series, Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, an investigation into the intersections of architecture, Blackness and anti–Black racism in the American context. On view from February 20 through May 31, 2021, the exhibition and accompanying publication will examine contemporary architecture in the context of how systemic racism has fostered violent histories of discrimination and injustice in the United States. Such conditions have structured and continue to inform the built environment of American cities through public policies, municipal planning, and architecture, with specific repercussions for African American and African diaspora communities. Projects will explore how people have mobilized Black cultural spaces, forms, and practices as sites of imagination, liberation, resistance, and refusal. Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America is organized by Sean Anderson, Associate Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, and Mabel O. Wilson, Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor, Columbia University, with Arièle Dionne-Krosnick, former Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.

Issues in Contemporary Architecture is an ongoing series of architecture and design exhibitions at MoMA that focus on timely topics in contemporary architecture, with an emphasis on the urban dimension, in order to increase public dialogue around major issues in the field. Reconstructions will feature 10 newly commissioned works by the selected architects, designers, and artists: Emanuel Admassu, Germane Barnes, Sekou Cooke, J. Yolande Daniels, Felecia Davis, Mario Gooden, Walter Hood, Olalekan Jeyifous, V. Mitch McEwen, and Amanda Williams. Individual projects will respond to narratives and conditions found in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Oakland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Syracuse. An advisory committee composed of scholars, writers, historians, policy makers, thinkers, and architects supported the curatorial team in establishing the conceptual framework and the selection process for the participants and sites.

The publication, or “field guide,” will include scholarly essays by the curators, members of the advisory committee, and invited scholars, as well as new photographs by artist David Hartt that were commissioned for the exhibition. Designed by Brooklyn-based Morcos Key, the publication will also feature texts and visual materials—photographs, reproduced drawings, digital renderings, images of models—by each of the 10 exhibition participants.

SPONSORSHIP:
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. MoMA Audio is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

  • AD—WO. Wiregrass WAHO. 2020. Digital collage, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Germane Barnes. Miami Porch Portrayals. 2020. Digital print collage, 17 x 17″ (43.2 x 43.2 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Sekou Cooke. We Outchea. 2020. Digital drawings, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • J. Yolande Daniels, principal, studioSUMO | Los Angeles. 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
  • Felecia Davis. Fabricating Networks Quilt. 2020. Digital print on cotton broadcloth, copper-coated, ripstop nylon, copper tape, cotton thread, stainless steel conductive thread, lilypad microcontroller MP3 chip, speakers, and battery. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Huff + Gooden Architects. Nonviolent direct action sit-ins, marches, and protests in Nashville, Tennessee. 2020. Still from computer generated animation. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Walter Hood. Social Services. 2020. Digital rendering. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Olalekan Jeyifous. …other seasonal occupancy neighborhoods. 2020. Courtesy of Olalekan Jeyifous. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • V. Mitch McEwen with Kristina Kay Robinson and Princeton Black Box (Julia Medina, Sally Jane Ruybalid, Samuel Wright II). R:R Maroon System IIII. 2020. PETG, foam, PLA, dried plants, and neoprene, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Amanda Williams. Studies to Elsewhere: Devised Breathing. 2020. Digital collage, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • 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
  • Cover of the exhibition catalogue Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, published by The Museum of Modern Art, 2021.