Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba to Curate 2016 Armory Focus on African Perspectives

The 2016 Armory Show's Focus section will be curated by journalist and art historian Julia Grosse alongside curator Yvette Mutumba, with a thematic emphasis on African Perspectives. Both curators established Contemporary And in 2013, a platform dedicated to examining international art through African viewpoints. This initiative includes an eponymous publication and ART SPACE, a virtual environment facilitating collaborative projects and exhibitions between artists and curators. Their appointment was announced in October 2015. The Armory Show is a prominent art fair held annually in New York City, United States. The Focus section traditionally highlights specific geographic regions or thematic explorations within contemporary art. Grosse and Mutumba's selection signals a dedicated institutional effort to foreground African artistic discourse within a major international fair context. Their platform, Contemporary And, operates both as a digital and publishing entity, fostering critical dialogue and creative exchange. The 2016 edition represents a significant curatorial commitment to expanding the narrative scope of the fair.