“Projects 104: Nástio Mosquito” Exhibition

The Museum of Modern Art

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Third Floor Gallery and other Interventions throughout the Museum

The Museum of Modern Art presents Projects 104: Nástio Mosquito, the artist’s first solo exhibition at a U.S. museum. Projects 104, part of the Elaine Dannheiser Projects series, features Mosquito’s new work, Respectable Thief, which comprises three elements: a live performance in the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters on September 23; a single-channel video installation on view on the Museum’s third floor; and interventions into the digital display monitors in the Museum lobbies, the audio tour for kids, and the Museum’s social media outlets. Initiated by MoMA in 1971 as a platform for new and experimental art, the Elaine Dannheisser Projects Series, now staged at both The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, provides a forum for the most urgent international voices in contemporary art. Projects 104: Nástio Mosquito is organized by Cara Manes, Assistant Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture.

Through a multidisciplinary practice that bridges performance, music, video, installation, sound, and poetry, Mosquito (Angolan, b. 1981) tackles formidable subjects, from identity to faith to the complicated history of colonialism in his native country. In Respectable Thief, Mosquito investigates the act and effects of appropriation—the ways in which both individuals and cultures “take possession of what is useful,” as he puts it, to construct identity, maintain relationships, and gain power. Mosquito probes this topic through a mix of song, spoken word, and videos of colliding images and text that together overwhelm the senses, reflecting the urgency of his message.