Page 64 - Contemporary Art and Old Masters

Gego (Gertrud Goldschmidt) (Venezuelan, born Germany. 1912–1994).
WORLD-CLASS ART ARTIST’S CHOICE: Gego. 2416.2001
Untitled. 1963. Ink on paper. 30 x 22” | 76.2 x 55.9 cm. The Museum of
Modern Art, New York. Committee on Drawings Funds. ©2021 Fundación

YTO BARRADA - A RAFT

May 08, 2021 – January 09, 2022
The Museum of Modern Art

YTO BARRADA - A RAFT, AN EXHIBITION OF WORKS FROM
MoMA’s COLLECTION SELECTED BY THE MULTIMEDIA VISUAL
ARTIST, 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. On view from May 8, 2021, to January 9,
2022, 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. Artist’s Choice: Yto Barrada -A Raft is
organized by Yto Barrada with Lucy Gallun, Associate

Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923–2015). Running White. 1959. Oil on canvas.
7’4”x 68” (223.6 x 172.2 cm). Purchase. ©2021 Ellsworth Kelly. 9.1960.

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.

Curator, and River Encalada Bullock, Beaumont & Nancy
Newhall Curatorial Fellow, Department of Photography.

64 WORLD of ART