Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Summer 2017 newsletter

EXHIBITIONS
Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time
May 6–August 13
MMoCA is pleased to present Kambui Olujimi:
Zulu Time, a solo exhibition of new work by the
Brooklyn-based artist. In Zulu Time, Olujimi explores,
among other concerns, the interlocking systems of
power embedded in America’s social, economic, and
political landscapes. He presents a body of work that
plays with notions of visibility, gesturing towards the
systems, histories, and infrastructures whose authority
relies on the very absence of detectability. Olujimi
asks us to look behind, around, under, and through his
objects and images—to consider what might be absent
or obscured as much as what is present and tangible.
Time itself manifests as the most invisible yet pervasive
force in this exhibition, as implied by the show’s
title. Zulu Time is the shorthand term for the world’s
standardized mode of tracking time. Specifically, it
references coordinated universal time, or the time at
the prime meridian (longitude 0 degrees)—the invisible
and ultimately arbitrary line from which all global
time zones are calculated. Since Great Britain was the
world’s foremost maritime power when the concept of
latitude and longitude originated, the starting point
for designating longitude is based on the location of
the British Naval Observatory in Greenwich, England.
Thus, Zulu Time literally revolves around Western
norms for structuring a day. This notion of universal
time as an intangible yet ever-present expression of
dominance and an imposition of control—a residue
of Empire—serves as Olujimi’s jumping off point for
creating two- and three-dimensional works that explore
entrenched hierarchies, while questioning assumptions
underlying our understanding of the world at large.
Olujimi again references the legacies of Western
colonialism in T-Minus Ø, an installation of thirteen
flags, each of which displays violent explosions of
failed rocket launches. This dignified arrangement of
flags vibrates with nationalist intention. In the United
States, we make public affirmations of loyalty to our
flag, which we see as a symbol of our country, our history,
and our pride in both. But if a flag represents
such an idea, or even an ideal, what exactly are we are
being asked to salute? Olujimi’s flags, with their grand
imagery of collapse, point to the failures in our nationalist
agenda, both past and present, visible and invisible.
With T-Minus Ø, Olujimi suggests that we are out of
time. Now we must face those failures, acknowledge
the subtleties of institutionalized biases, and make visible
what has been strategically hidden.
Olujimi will discuss his work on Friday, June 2
at 6:30 pm, at the MMoCA Opening for Zulu Time.
An accompanying exhibition catalogue, available for
purchase in the Museum Store, will include essays by
Sampada Aranke, Gregory Volk, and Leah Kolb.
Kambui Olujimi received his BFA from Parsons
School of Design, and his MFA from Columbia
University. He has exhibited extensively both nationally
and internationally, and was a recent recipient of the
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency (2017).
Generous funding, to date, for Kambui Olujimi:
Zulu Time has been provided by The DeAtley
Family Foundation; MillerCoors; The Terry Family
Foundation; WhiteFish Partners LLC; a grant from
the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State
of Wisconsin and National Endowment for the Arts;
and MMoCA Volunteers.
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MMOCA OPENING • FRIDAY, JUNE 2 • 6 –9 PM