Avantgarde & Liberation - Public Conversation with artist Moffat Takadiwa
Talk with Moffat Takadiwa as part of the series of events for the exhibition Avantgarde & Liberation in cooperation with the PhD in Practice and mumok Vienna
Join us for a conversation with visual artist Moffat Takadiwa about his work and process. He will discuss the relations between the local and the global together with artist and PhD in Practice candidate Masimba Mwati.
Moffat Takadiwa lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. Part of the post-independence generation of artists in Zimbabwe, Takadiwa has exhibited extensively across major institutions in Zimbabwe as well as internationally. Takadiwa also was a founder of Mbare Art Space in Harare where he plays a part in mentoring the growing artist community. Recent exhibitions include Vestiges of Colonialism, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2024, solo); Tales of the Big River, Galerie Edouard Manet, Centre d’art contemporain, Gennevilliers (2024, solo); Color is the First Revelation of the World, Orange County Musuem, Costa Mesa (2024); Feeling Without Touching, Nicodim, New York (2023); Zero Zero, Semiose, Paris (2023, solo); Vestiges of Colonialism, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (2023, solo); A Love Letter to LA, curated by Storm Ascher, Superposition Gallery, Phillips Auction House, Los Angeles (2023); Africa Supernova, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (2023); Nous sommes tous des lichens, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – château de Rochechouart (2022); The Bull, Semiose, Paris (2022, solo); Brutalized Language, Nicodim, New York (2022, solo); Witch Craft: Rethinking Power, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles (2021, solo); This is Not Africa: Unlearn What You Have Learned, ARoS Museum, Denmark (2021); Mr. Foreman you have destroyed the farm, Semiose, Paris, France (2021, solo); INXS: Never Before Seen Major Works by Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, Zhou Yilun, Nicodim, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Son of the Soil, Nicodim, Los Angeles, CA (2019, solo); Thread., Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach (2019); Stormy Weather, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, The Netherlands (2019); Second Hand: Selected Works from the Jameel Art Collection, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2019); Material Insanity, Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech (2019); The Eye Sees Not Itself, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2018); and Chinafrika. under construction, Museum for Contemporary Art Leipzig (2017).
Masimba Hwati holds an MFA from the University of Michigan and is a PhD in Art practice candidate at Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien. Hwati graduated from Harare Polytechnic School of Art and Design in 2003 majoring in Ceramics and Painting. He holds a certificate in World performance Studies University of Michigan and a certificate in Building on Indigenous Knowledge systems and Resillience, Coady International Institute, Antigonish, Canada. His work is preoccupied with sound, listening, micro-politics, resistance and negotiation. Recent exhibitions and performances include: The Rubin center& Nova Gallery the Falstaff -Texas El Paso 2024, Nottingham contemporary-2024, Stephen Friedman Gallery -London 2023, Quilombismo HKW Berlin-2023, Kirkgate market -Leeds UK-2023, Black Skin, White Masks, Galerias Municipais-Lisbon-2023, Papierkampf Ensemble-Kulturhaus Brotfabrik-Vienna-2022, Tiwani contemporary -Lagos 2022, Africa Center-New York-2022; British Textile Biennial,-Lancashire 2021, Eigenheim Gallery Weimar-2021, El Espacio 23-Miami- 2020, Brussels Belgium 2019, London, Montreal Museum of Fine Art-2018, In 2015 he showed at the Venice Biennale 56th edition under the Zimbabwe pavilion. Collections Include University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), Iziko-South African National Gallery. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Scott White Contemporary-San Diego, Jorge M Perez -Miami Florida, George R. Nnamdi Collection- Detroit Michigan, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Manchester Contemporary. Masimba has two book Publications: Sokunge (2021); der Seeteufel (2022). Albums include Hwati Collino 2022-Alien passengers label, Lake nights 2020-Alien passenger label including a radio art feature published by Deutschlandfunkkultur Berlin. He is an honorary research fellow at Rhodes University Fine Arts Department in Grahamstown, SA.