How did one show in 1896 give birth to America’s oldest exhibition of global contemporary art – and what does the Carnegie International mean for the city of Pittsburgh today? Find out in this new video, an exclusive preview presented in partnership with Carnegie Museum of Art.
Andrew Carnegie envisioned a space where people could simultaneously enjoy art, music, science and literature – under one roof in America. His aims were twofold: to inspire the public, and to enrich the collection of Carnegie Museum of Art with a periodic survey of contemporary art. And so the Carnegie International was born, and will this year inaugurate its 58th edition.
Carnegie’s collection resembles a seafarer’s map through twentieth- and twenty-first- century art: Winslow Homer, Camille Pissarro, Edward Hopper, Zao Wou-Ki, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye all now count a place in the Carnegie archives. The exhibition’s practicalities and curatorial methods were challenged by the Second World War; it specialized briefly in painted works; then found a new level from the late 1960s with a redefined focus on abstraction and modern mastery.
But recent editions have seen a growing focus on the city of Pittsburgh itself, the exhibition’s eternal home and frequent subject. There has been an emphasis on community outreach programmes and classes, collaboration with local institutions and organizations, and an increasing desire of curators to bring works out of the gallery space and into the city. In taking the Carnegie International to the people, artists and curators enliven – and extend – the possibilities for art’s transformative potential.
The 58th edition of the quadrennial exhibition runs from 24 September 2022 to 2 April 2023. The full list of artists can be viewed here. Selected by head curator Sohrab Mohebbi, alongside associate curator Ryan Inouye and curatorial assistant Talia Heiman, the list includes 2019 Deutsche Börse prizewinner Susan Meiselas, recipient of the Future Generation Art Prize 2014 Carlos Motta, Daniel Lie, Pacita Abad and the late Etel Adnan.
This year’s edition is titled Is it morning for you yet?, taken from a Mayan Kaqchikel expression, where instead of saying ‘Good morning’ it is customary to ask, ‘Is it morning for you yet?’