Center of Unfinished Business
C& Center of Unfinished Business, Installation view “1 Million Roses for Angela Davis” at Lipsiusbau Dresden, 10.10.2020 – 24.01.2021. Photo: SKD / Laura Fiorio.
The C& Center of Unfinished Business is a reading room that offers an extraordinary, sometimes disconcerting selection of books connected to the topic of colonialism in various ways – from German colonization to Congolese fashion to twenty-first-century capital markets, it stretches into many different areas affected.
Launched in 2017, the reading room has travelled and connected in various ways with institutions from Cincinnati to Hong Kong,via Berlin, Vienna, Toulouse, Athens, Kassel, and New York.
Installation view C& Center of Unfinished Business, ifa Gallery Berlin, Berlin 2017. Photo: Victoria Tomaschko.
Initiating encounters and open conversations around persistent colonial power relations, including issues of accessibility and historical awareness, the Center encourages critical questioning and invites art institutions to reflect on their own weak spots. It contains books from C&'s collection but also from the host institution, and always seeks to include a local grassroots organization.
The project does not aim to create a coherent and complete library on colonialism, because when could that ever be the case? Colonialism is unfinished business. It continues to exist in various forms.
Installation view, C& Center of Unfinished Business. Photo: Wes Battoclette, 2022. Image courtesy of the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Connecting Institutions
Launched in 2017, the reading room has travelled to art spaces and museums around the world, connecting with institutions such as:
- ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Berlin
- Museum Ludwig, Cologne
- Les Abattoirs Musée, Toulouse
- Para Site, Hong Kong
- Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
- Vera List Center, New York
Tending Toward Liberation at Social Justice Hub, University Center, The New School, May 18, 2023. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, courtesy Vera List Center for Art and Politics.
Interested in working with the C& Center of Unfinished Business?
The reading room comes in different sizes. For more information about the concept, curatorial approach, and costs, please get in touch at:
mnegusse(at)contemporaryand.com