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250 Okwui Enwezor
1975–1976, ed. Mauro Bertani and Alessandro Fontana, trans. David Macey (New
York: Picador, 2003), 43.
25. In 1934, during an address to the Institute for the Study of Fascism in Paris,
Benjamin raised the issue of the “Author as Producer.” His insights made over seventy
years ago remain remarkably prescient even today. Under the threat of the
looming political crisis in Europe at the dawn of fascism, Benjamin averred that the
context of production—here he was speaking speciWcally about literature—must be
set in a “living social context,” namely, the social context of production. Conversely
he observed that, “Social conditions are . . . determined by conditions of production.
And when a work was criticized from a materialist point of view, it was customary
to ask how this work stood vis-à-vis the social relations of production of its
time.” The second point made by Benjamin in this direction is that “Rather than
ask ‘what is the attitude of a work to the relations of production of its time?’ [one]
should . . . ask ‘What is its position in them?’ This question directly concerns the
function the work has within the literary [artistic] relations of production of its time.”
Benjamin, “Author as Producer,” 222; emphasis in original.
26. See also Frantz Fanon, “On National Culture,” in The Wretched of the Earth,
trans. Constance Farrington (New York: Grove Press; Paris: Présence Africaine,
1963). On the role of intellectuals in the postcolonial emancipatory project, see also
Sekou Touré, “The Political Leader as a Representative of His Culture,” in Expérience
Guinéenne Unité (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1962).
27. See Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents (New York: W. W. Norton,
2002), one of the more prominent critics of the World Bank and IMF.
28. Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 43.
29. A typical response throughout the onset of the crisis is an attempt at delegitimizing
the artist and intellectual, forcing many into prison, dissendency, or exile
as in the case of Nigeria during the period of political repression by the Abacha
regime. When artists and intellectuals are forced to go to exile, many experience an
anxiety of the authenticity of their work.
30. Thierry N’Landu, “Le Groupe Amos,” in Documenta11-Platform 5: Ausstellung/Exhibition,
Kurzführer/Short Guide (Stuttgart: Hatje Cantz, 2002), 102.
31. Antonio Gramsci, An Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings, 1916–1935,
ed. David Forgacs (New York: Schocken, 1988), 304.
32. See the introduction of “Le Groupe Amos: Reader,” a compilation of writings
of the group presented as part of a reading/media room dedicated to its work in
“Documenta11-Platform 5,” Kassel, Germany, June–September 2002: Documenta11-
Platform 5, 116, trans. (French to English) Muna El Fituri-Enwezor.
33. José Mpundu, “What Future for the Democratic Republic of Congo?” in
Documenta11-Platform 5, 148.
34. Abdou Maliq Simone, “The Visible and Invisible: Remaking African Cities,”
in Under Siege: Four African Cities; Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos, ed.
Okwui Enwezor, Carlos Basualdo, Ute Meta Bauer, Susanne Ghez, Sarat Maharaj,
Mark Nash, and Octavio Zaya (Stuttgart: Hatje Cantz, 2002).
35. Ibid.
36. Nadja Rottner, “Huit Facettes,” in Documenta11-Platform 5, 114.
37. Kan Si, “Dimensons Variable: Reply from Kan Si,” in The Metronome, or Backwards
Translation: (No. 4–5–6), ed. Clementine Deliss (Frankfurt: Bielle, 1999), 126.
38. Exhibition statement, “Documenta11-Platform 5,” Kassel, Germany, 2002.
39. Artists such as Georges Adeagbo, Kay Hassan, Antonio Olé, Romauld