#  Luminos/C/ity.Ordinary Joy 

 



 ![Luminosity](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/coopergallery/files/lum1.jpg)

 

## Fall 2014

In *Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy,* we explored a visual nexus of African urban subjectivities through an innovative consideration of the Jean Pigozzi Contemporary Art Collection (CAAC). We gathered a stunning array of ninety-eight works from twenty-one African artists: photographs, models, sculptures, paintings, and videographies that express vital, contemplative, and imaginative visions of city life. The individual works chosen by curators David Adjaye and Mariane Ibrahim-Lenhardt were each extraordinary and yet they resonated together as a melodic chorus on the city, offering nuanced close readings and vivid renditions of the ordinary and the mundane.

*Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection* celebrates the inaugural exhibition of the same name at the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art at the Hutchins Center in Fall 2014. Curators David Adjaye and Mariane Ibrahim-Lenhardt shared their interpretative insights on a distinctive selection of objects from Jean Pigozzi’s superb Collection of Contemporary African Art (CAAC).

The works range from photography of the 1940s to video produced seventy years later, and offered the viewer entry into these cityscapes and the brilliant light of ordinary joy.



 

       ![kaufman1411047_0097.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/coopergallery/files/kaufman1411047_0097.jpg?itok=aEWYbPcJ) 

 

 



 

 



“The individual works resonate together as a melodic chorus on the city, offering nuanced close readings and vivid renditions of the ordinary and the mundane.”



 



###    Press  expand\_more  

 

  [### Huffington Post: 'Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: African Art in a New Environment'

 ](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/luminoscityordinary-joy-a_b_6497748) January 19, 2015 

 

   ![Luminosity](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/coopergallery/files/2015-01-19-kaufman1411047_0097kingelezsmall-thumb.jpg?itok=7JdlmnbH) 

 



 

 

   [### SLOG: 'Seattle Art Dealer Mariane Lenhardt and Great Architect David Adjaye Work Together on the Very First Exhibition at Harvard's New Black Galleries'

 ](https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/12/30/seattle-art-dealer-mariane-lenhardt-and-great-architect-david-adjaye-work-together-on-the-very-first-exhibition-at-harvards-new-black-galleri) December 30, 2014 

 

   ![Luminosity](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/coopergallery/files/lum1.jpg?itok=usx--neQ) 

 



 

 

   [### The Root: 'Exploring the City of the Mind Through African Art'

 ](https://www.theroot.com/exploring-the-city-of-the-mind-through-african-art-1790878041) December 10, 2014 

 

   ![The Root Image](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/yguwults7kzmssofdmif.jpg?itok=09Hmqg89) 

 



 

 

   [### New York Times: 'A New Destination for African Art'

 ](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/arts/design/lumins-c-ityordinary-joy-opens-the-cooper-gallery-at-harvard.html) November 20, 2014 

 

   ![Luminosity](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/coopergallery/files/sidebarharvard-jumbo.jpg?itok=vnATH_ub) 

 



 

 

   [### Harvard Gazette: 'Cooper Gallery makes an entrance'

 ](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/10/cooper-gallery-opens-wide/) October 21, 2014 

 

   ![Cooper](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/coopergallery/files/102014_cooper_605.jpg?itok=jjUALjhL) 

 



 

 

   [### CAAC Art: 'Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection'

 ](http://www.caacart.com/pigozzi-exhibition.php?m=118) October 21, 2014 

 

   ![photo of an african car-shaped coffin](/sites/g/files/omnuum11446/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/coopergallery/files/luminos_square.png?itok=yM-99ZcT)