Staged across two venues, this exhibition responds to Alejo Carpentier's magical realist novel The Kingdom of This World, imagining how the extraordinary events of the Haitian Revolution globally resonate into the present day. At the Carlow University Art Gallery, artists respond with multimedia installations that collapse past into present. At the University of Pittsburgh Art Galleries, contemporary artists reimagine the mytho-historical figures and events from the novel. Together, these two sites link contemporary artwork, modern literature, and colonial history to reexamine the ties and tensions between Caribbean heritage and freedom.
The installation at the Carlow University Art Gallery includes artwork by Chesley Antoinette, Edouard Duval-Carrié, José García Cordero, William Vazquez, Scherezade Garcia, and Simryn Gill. It will be on view from October 2023 to March 2024.
The Kingdom of This World, Reimagined originally opened in 2019 at the Little Haiti Cultural Center Satellite Gallery in Miami, Florida, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Carpentier's novel. It was also featured at the Pensacola Museum of Art at the the University of West Florida from September 2021 to January 2022.
This exhibition was curated by Lesley A. Wolff, Assistant Professor, Art & Design, University of Tampa.
To learn more about the installation at Carlow University, please visit the Carlow University Art Gallery's website.
Read more about the installation at the University of Pittsburgh Art Galleries by visiting the UAG website.
Additionally, a Digital Resources site has been created to exist alongside the physical exhibition. The site includes information on the exhibition and participating artists, as well as essays, recorded interviews, and a list of external resources. Learn more about the exhibition by visiting the site at KOTWexhibition.com.
