Each day Zeitz MOCAA offers a short, 15-minutes tour of one object or one artist. This tour is designed for individuals who wish to gain an in-depth knowledge of contemporary art through regular short visits during their lunch break.
Today’s tour will focus on Glenn Ligon‘s (United States of America) Runaways series of lithographs, included in the exhibition, All Things Being Equal… The series of lithographs, began with an investigation into the life of Henry ‘Box’ Brown, a slave who fled captivity in 1849. At the time, it was common to find handbills or wanted posters that detailed the physical particularities and mannerisms of runaways. Although these handbills haunted the fugitive’s every move (their very freedom was dependent on their ability to remain invisible) they also served as a symbol of hope to those still enslaved.
Paired with a nondescript visual header, and designed to emulate such handbills, each lithograph contains a brief profile of the artist as seen by his friends. The result is a fantasised absence, a refusal to be found within the reductive landscapes of the American psyche, both past and present.
The tour will be lead by an Assistant Curator. Curator-led audio-guide devices will be available. Maximum 30 persons per tour.
Meet in the Grand Hall area, near the reception desk.
