Iniva's Ideological Failures and the Crash of Black British Art
Eddie Chambers's essay for Afterall Journal 39 dissects the ideological collapse of the Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva), tracing its roots from the Black British art movement of the 1980s to its current budgetary and structural crises. Iniva was conceived in the early 1990s as a non-gallery institute to support Black artists, but it gradually became a bricks-and-mortar gallery at Rivington Place in 2007, designed by David Adjaye. Chambers argues that Iniva's embrace of 'internationalism' inadvertently sidelined Black British artists, as major London galleries turned to international artists from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean instead. The Arts Council's funding cuts—62.3% in 2015-18 after a 43% cut in 2012-13—and director Tessa Jackson's resignation in May 2015 mark the nadir. Chambers uses the Jamaican reggae song 'Everything Crash' as a metaphor for Iniva's failure to fulfill its original mission.
Key facts
- Iniva's Arts Council England grant was cut by 62.3% for 2015-18, following a 43% cut in 2012-13.
- Iniva moved to Rivington Place in 2007, a building designed by David Adjaye.
- The essay is part of Afterall Journal 39, published 2 July 2015.
- Iniva was founded in the early 1990s as a response to the Black British art movement of the 1980s.
- Key exhibitions like 'The Thin Black Line' (1985) at ICA and 'From Two Worlds' (1986) at Whitechapel Gallery highlighted Black artists but also ghettoized them.
- Gilane Tawadros was Iniva's first director from 1994 to 2005.
- Iniva's original conception was as a non-gallery institute, but it later became a fixed gallery space.
- The essay criticizes the art world's turn to 'internationalism' as a substitute for genuine diversity.
Entities
Artists
- Eddie Chambers
- Frank Bowling
- Aubrey Williams
- David Medalla
- Keith Piper
- Marlene Smith
- Donald Rodney
- Anish Kapoor
- Lubaina Himid
- Rasheed Araeen
- Zarina Bhimji
- Sonia Boyce
- Gavin Jantjes
- Sunil Gupta
- Gilane Tawadros
- Tessa Jackson
- Brenda Agard
- Sutapa Biswas
- Chila Kumari Burman
- Jennifer Comrie
- Claudette Johnson
- Ingrid Pollard
- Veronica Ryan
- Maud Sulter
- Mona Hatoum
- John Akomfrah
- Isaac Julien
- Martina Attille
- Maureen Blackwood
- Robert Crusz
- Nadine Marsh-Edwards
- Reece Auguiste
- Edward Georg
- Lina Gopaul
- Avril Johnson
- David Lawson
- Trevor Mathison
- Victor Musgrave
- Denis Bowen
- Eric Pemberton
- Nikos Papastergiadis
- Dalya Alberge
- Morgan Quaintance
- Grant Watson
- Jessica Harrington
- Richard Hylton
- Jean Fisher
Institutions
- Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva)
- Arts Council England
- Afterall Journal
- Grabowski Gallery
- Gallery One
- New Vision Centre
- Signals
- Wolverhampton Art Gallery
- Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
- Whitechapel Gallery
- Greater London Council
- Kala Press
- Organisation for the Visual Arts (OVA)
- Autograph ABP (Association of Black Photographers)
- Rivington Place
- Tate Gallery
- Hayward Gallery
- Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
- Chisenhale Gallery
- Black Audio Film Collective
- Sankofa Collective
- Blk Art Group
- Pan-Afrikan Connection
- The Independent
- Art Monthly
- frieze
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Chelsea
- Sloane Avenue
- Shoreditch
- East London
- Wolverhampton
- Manchester
- Oxford
- Jamaica
- Africa
- Asia
- Caribbean
- Western Europe
- United States
Sources
- Afterall —