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2 books match the query 'Global Contemporary Art'

cover of Dreamtime in Newark: Aljira and the Making of Global Contemporary Art

Dreamtime in Newark

Aljira and the Making of Global Contemporary Art

Alliyah Allen

Rutgers University Press, 2026

Dreamtime in Newark surveys the transition of Aljira from an artist-led studio space to a major arts institution in Newark, New Jersey, that abruptly closed in 2018 due to gentrification and financial pressure. Exploring the origins and milestones of the gallery, the book examines how Aljira became a space for the marginalized artist and curator and aligned with the trend of artists-led “alternative-art-spaces”—contributing to the rise of diverse art markets and breakthroughs in representation throughout the museum collections, exhibitions, and the broader art world. This volume offers a historical analysis of the relationship between Aljira and the Newark Museum of Art, given the many collaborations on exhibitions, residencies, and shared curatorial strategies. Along with providing a wider historicity, the book amplifies the museum’s role in preserving Aljira’s legacy—especially as the city’s arts ecosystem evolves. The book underscores the museum’s role in preserving Aljira’s history and legacy. Bringing together contributions from the extended community of artists, curators, critics, and art historians, the project works against the erasure of a vital part of contemporary art and cultural history. Before conversations of decolonizing the art world were commonplace, Aljira forged a free and open vision for the art world that cross-pollinated with the Newark Museum of Art’s egalitarian and populist roots and global collections. 

The book, which accompanies an exhibition, October 15, 2026–June 20, 2027, also considers the impact of Aljira, founded in the aftermath of the 1967 Newark Rebellion, on the city of Newark and how its thirty-five-year tenure driven by social engagement and community practice helped to crystalize Newark’s visual arts scene. 

Artists in the exhibition: Manuel Acevedo, Derrick Adams, David Ambrose, El Anatsui, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Firelei Báez, Amiri Baraka, Hugo X. Bastidas, Dawoud Bey, Camille Billops, Frank Bowling, Michael Paul Britto, Andy Brown, Nanette Carter, Willie Cole, Cicely Cottingham, Victor Davson, David Driskell, Dahlia Elsayed, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Chitra Ganesh, Jerry Gant, Jeffrey Gibson, Grace Graupe-Pillard, Carl E. Hazlewood, Duron Jackson, Ben Jones, Jayson Keeling, Donald Locke, Hew Locke, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Olu Oguibe, Joe Overstreet, Nell Painter, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Judy Blum Reddy, Freddy Rodriguez, Kevin Sampson, Dread Scott, Fausto Sevila, Nyugen Smith, Helen Stummer, Mickalene Thomas, Noelle Lorraine Williams, Philemona Williamson

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cover of Learning from Madness: Brazilian Modernism and Global Contemporary Art

Learning from Madness

Brazilian Modernism and Global Contemporary Art

Kaira M. Cabañas

University of Chicago Press, 2018

Throughout the history of European modernism, philosophers and artists have been fascinated by madness. Something different happened in Brazil, however, with the “art of the insane” that flourished within the modernist movements there. From the 1920s to the 1960s, the direction and creation of art by the mentally ill was actively encouraged by prominent figures in both medicine and art criticism, which led to a much wider appreciation among the curators of major institutions of modern art in Brazil, where pieces are included in important exhibitions and collections.
   
Kaira M. Cabañas shows that at the center of this advocacy stood such significant proponents as psychiatrists Osório César and Nise da Silveira, who championed treatments that included painting and drawing studios; and the art critic Mário Pedrosa, who penned Gestaltist theses on aesthetic response. Cabañas examines the lasting influence of this unique era of Brazilian modernism, and how the afterlife of this “outsider art” continues to raise important questions. How do we respect the experiences of the mad as their work is viewed through the lens of global art? Why is this art reappearing now that definitions of global contemporary art are being contested?

Learning from Madness offers an invigorating series of case studies that track the parallels between psychiatric patients’ work in Western Europe and its reception by influential artists there, to an analogous but altogether distinct situation in Brazil.
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