“Artist’s Choice: Yto Barrada—A Raft” Exhibition
The Museum of Modern Art
This event has ended.
The Museum of Modern Art announces Artist’s Choice: Yto Barrada—A Raft, an exhibition of works from MoMA’s collection selected by Barrada (b. 1971), an artist known for her multidisciplinary investigations of cultural phenomena and historical narratives. The exhibition brings together works in two galleries, one on the fourth floor and one on the fifth floor, connected by their own staircase, highlighting over 60 works from MoMA’s collection.
In this latest edition of MoMA’s Artist’s Choice exhibition series, Barrada gathers works from the Museum’s collection that resonate with the ideas and work of the French social work pioneer and writer Fernand Deligny (1913–1996). Barrada’s exploration centers on Deligny’s work from the late 1960s, when he lived together with other volunteers and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in an informal network in rural France; this was an attempt to create a new way of living “outside language,” adapted for the nonverbal children. Deligny called this network “a raft,” envisioning it as lightweight and maneuverable and requiring constant maintenance—an alternative to the “cargo ships” of the psychiatric institutions. Particularly resonant today, Deligny’s emancipatory ideas are being rediscovered widely, by philosophers, psychoanalysts, anthropologists, filmmakers, and artists.
Artist’s Choice: Yto Barrada—A Raft will be accompanied by a MoMA Virtual Cinema program, Carte Blanche: Yto Barrada—A Raft, June 3—22. The films in this program were selected by Yto Barrada for their connection to the ideas and work of French social work pioneer and writer Fernand Deligny.
Media
Schedule
from May 08, 2021 to January 09, 2022