93 Fragments organized by DC-based artist Mojdeh Rezaeipour (they/she) and hosted by GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Gallery 1 at the Flagg Building from November 14, 2024–February 15, 2025. The project includes a group exhibition and a series of programs that bring together the creative practices and methodologies of sixteen artists, writers, and thinkers from all over the world who are in direct conversation with materials of cultural heritage. Engaging themes of restitution, reclamation, transmutation, and talismanic connection, 93 Fragments proposes a radical reimagining of stewardship that aims to transform a museum-like showcase of preserved objects and artworks into a space of revolutionary and liberatory potential.
93 Fragments is also a public iteration of research informing The Collaborative Fragment Library (CFL), a counter-institutional framework for working with artifacts, currently co-stewarded by Rezaeipour and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi. The CFL uses a library model (rather than a museum) to destabilize the processes of colonial extraction and fetishization of materials of cultural heritage, seeking to build alternative models of engagement that think differently about the past and enable these artifacts to continue living.
When reflecting on the process of organizing 93 Fragments, Rezaeipour says, “I started out by making a list of friends and heroes whose methodologies I wanted to learn from. Over the past several months, the vision and shape of the project has continued to evolve via a series of ongoing collaborative conversations. I am looking forward to seeing how everything continues to transform once we open to the public.”
Visitors to the exhibition will be invited to take off their shoes, sit together, drink tea, and engage with an evolving array of visual artwork, poetry, video, and fragments (material, linguistic, and otherwise) by participants in the project. This will include installations and visual artworks by The Collaborative Fragment Library, Saj Issa, Tsedaye Makonnen, Jackie Milad, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, and Dima Srouji, and a commissioned poem by Solmaz Sharif.
Additionally, free public programs include a conversation between sociologist Dr. Cresa Pugh and author Helon Habila (February 1, 2025), and a screening of Sophia Al-Maria’s film The Future Was Desert followed by a meditation led by artist Naoco Wowsugi (February 15, 2025). Students at GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design will also participate in the project with Rezaeipour through courses taught by Clement Akpang, whose research interests include decolonization of museology and new expressions of resistance in contemporary African art.
93 Fragments will begin on Thursday, November 14, 2024 with an Opening Reception from 6:30–9pm featuring performances by Tsedaye Makonnen and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi starting at 7pm. RSVP at this link.
Learn more about visiting 93 Fragments, public programs, and participants below.
93 Fragments: Public Hours
93 Fragments will take place November 14, 2024–February 15, 2025 at Gallery 1 in the Flagg Building at GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, 500 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20006.
Public hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 1–5pm. 17th Street Entrance is recommended.
The Flagg Building will be closed for the holidays from November 28–December 1, 2024 and from December 19, 2024–January 13, 2025.
93 Fragments: Public Programs
Thursday, November 14, 2024 from 6:30–9pm: Opening Reception featuring performances by artists Tsedaye Makonnen and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi starting at 7pm.
Saturday, February 1, 2025 from 2–3:30pm: Public Conversation between sociologist Dr. Cresa Pugh and author Helon Habila on violent legacies of artifact looting, storytelling as a tool for resistance, and contemporary movements for restitution.
Saturday, February 15, 2025 from 4–5pm: Film Screening of The Future Was Desert Parts I and II (2016) by Sophia Al-Maria and closing meditation led by Naoco Wowsugi.
All programs are free and will take place in the Flagg Building at GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design.
Learn more