Okwui Enwezor facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Okwui Enwezor
Born	Okwuchukwu Emmanuel Enwezor (1963-10-23)23 October 1963 Calabar, Nigeria
Died	15 March 2019(2019-03-15) (aged 55) Munich, Germany
Occupation	Curator
Spouse(s)	Jill S Davis (divorced) Muna El Fituri (divorced)
Children	1

Okwui Enwezor ⁱ// (born October 23, 1963 – died March 15, 2019) was a famous Nigerian curator, art critic, writer, poet, and teacher. He was an expert in art history. He lived in New York City and Munich, Germany. In 2014, he was named one of the 100 most powerful people in the art world by ArtReview magazine.

About Okwui Enwezor

Okwui Enwezor (pronounced /ɛnˈweɪzər/ en-WAY-zər) was born Okwuchukwu Emmanuel Enwezor in Calabar, Nigeria. This was on October 23, 1963. He was the youngest son in a wealthy Igbo family. His family moved often because of the civil war. They finally settled in Enugu, where he grew up.

He started college at the University of Nigeria. But in 1982, when he was 18, he moved to Bronx, New York. He then went to New Jersey City University. There, he earned a degree in political science.

From Poetry to Art Criticism

After college, Enwezor moved to downtown New York City. He started writing and performing poetry. He shared his poems at famous places like the Knitting Factory and the Nuyorican Poets Café.

His love for poetry led him to explore art forms based on language. This helped him get into art criticism. In 1993, he teamed up with other African critics, Chika Okeke-Agulu and Salah Hassan. They started a magazine called Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. "Nka" is an Igbo word that means art, but it also means "to make" or "to create."

First Big Art Shows

After organizing a few smaller art shows, Enwezor had a major success in 1996. He was the curator for an exhibition called In/sight at the Guggenheim Museum. This show featured 30 African photographers.

In/sight was one of the first exhibitions to show modern art from Africa. It placed the art in the context of Africa gaining independence from colonial rule.

Okwui Enwezor on the poster of an Oliver Mark exhibition in 2002.

Okwui Enwezor as a Curator

A curator is someone who chooses, organizes, and presents art for exhibitions. Okwui Enwezor was a very important curator. He was the director of the Haus der Kunst museum in Munich, Germany. He also worked as a curator at the International Center of Photography in New York City. He was also a fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In 2013, Enwezor was chosen to be the curator for the 2015 Venice Biennale. This was a huge honor. He was the first African-born curator in the exhibition's 120-year history. The Venice Biennale is one of the oldest and most important art events in the world.

Leading Major Art Events

Before the Venice Biennale, Enwezor was the artistic director of Documenta 11 in Germany (1998–2002). He was the first non-European to hold this position. Documenta is a very important art exhibition that happens every five years.

He also led other major art events around the world:

• The 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (1996–97)
• The Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo de Sevilla in Seville, Spain (2006)
• The 7th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea (2008)
• The Triennale d’Art Contemporain of Paris at the Palais de Tokyo (2012)

He also helped organize many other exhibitions in famous museums worldwide. For example, he curated "The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994." This show traveled to several cities, including Munich, Berlin, and New York.

His last exhibition was "El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale." He co-curated this show with Chika Okeke-Agulu. It opened in March 2019 at the Haus der Kunst in Munich.

Judging Art Prizes

Enwezor was also part of many art juries and advisory groups. He helped choose winners for important art prizes. These included the Venice Biennale and the Hugo Boss Prize. He also judged awards for young artists, like the Young Palestinian Artist Award. In 2012, he led the jury for the Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics.

Teaching Art History

From 2005 to 2009, Enwezor was a Dean and Senior Vice President at the San Francisco Art Institute. He also taught art history as a Visiting Professor at several universities. These included the University of Pittsburgh, Columbia University, and New York University.

Awards and Recognition

In 2006, Enwezor received the Frank Jewett Mather Award. This award is given for excellent art criticism. In 2010, ArtReview magazine listed him as number 42 in their "Power 100" list. This list names the most powerful people in contemporary art.

Later Life and Passing

In June 2018, Okwui Enwezor left his role at the Munich Haus der Kunst. This was partly because he was battling cancer.

Okwui Enwezor passed away on March 15, 2019, at the age of 55.

See also

In Spanish: Okwui Enwezor para niños