Hamza Walker Guest Lecture

This curator's talk focuses on Walker's forthcoming MONUMENTS exhibition at The Brick, which reflects on the histories and legacies of post-Civil War America as they continue to resonate today by bringing together a selection of decommissioned Confederate statues with contemporary artworks borrowed and commissioned for the occasion. Addressing the ongoing calls and contestation of civil rights in the United States, this exhibition is co-curated with Kara Walker and Bennett Simpson (MOCA) with Hannah Burstein, and Paula Kroll (MOCA).

In 2019, Walker was an International Juror for the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion award at the 58th International Art Exhibition, and the same year, curated a series of talks and programs by Frances Stark, Cauleen Smith, Liz Larner, Lauren Halsey among others at the first edition of Frieze Los Angeles. Walker is the recipient of the 1999 Norton Curatorial Grant and the 2004 Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement. He has also published widely, contributing reviews and art criticism to such publications as Parkett, Artforum, and numerous exhibition catalogues. In 2010, Walker was awarded the Ordway Prize for contributions to the field in the form of writing and exhibitions.

His past exhibitions include Reconstitution (2017), a reexamination of art collective Group Material's 1987 thematic group exhibition on the 200 anniversary of the U.S. Constitution, co-curated with Catherine Taft at LAXART in Los Angeles; Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, through, only, a biennial co-organized with Aram Moshayedi at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; Sperm Cult and Sol LeWitt, Page Works 1967-2007, an exhibition of works LeWitt made specifically for reproduction in magazines, journals and books; A Painting Is A Painting Isn't A Painting (2015) at the Kadist Foundation in San Francisco; Wadada Leo Smith, Ankhrasmation: The Language Scores 1967-2015, which he co-curated with John Corbett at the Renaissance Society; Teen Paranormal Romance (2014) and Suicide Narcissus (2013), two thematic group exhibitions both mounted at the Renaissance Society.