Grande conférence

With Homi K. Bhabha and Glenn D. Lowry

The MAC and Art Speaks are proud to present a conversation between Homi K. Bhabha and Glenn D. Lowry. Taking the idea of crisis as a starting point, the speakers will consider how this moment of destabilisation–and its reverberations on curatorial and museological practices–could be harnessed productively both as a critique and a mode of hope. 

This event is part of a series of initiatives and reflections led by the MAC’s curatorial team in preparation for the museum’s reopening at its Place des Arts location, following its major transformation project.

The conversation will be presented on Wednesday, May 27, at 6:00 p.m. at the Auditorium of the Grande Bibliothèque (BAnQ). Free, no reservation required. We recommend arriving early due to limited capacity and expected high attendance.

Homi K. Bhabha

Homi K. Bhabha is the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities in the English Department and Comparative Literature Department at Harvard University. At Harvard, he served as the director of the Humanities Center, founding director of the Mahindra Humanities Center, and in the inaugural position of Senior Advisor to the President and Provost. He is a Corresponding Fellow at The British Academy and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and sits on the board of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. He was Critic-in-Residence at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and has held advisory positions with institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Rolex Foundation, UNESCO, and the World Economic Forum. He is the author of numerous works exploring postcolonial theory, cultural change and power, contemporary art, and cosmopolitanism. His works include The Location of Culture, which was reprinted as a Routledge Classic, and the edited volume Nation and Narration. Bhabha has also written on contemporary art, including essays on the work of William Kentridge, Anish Kapoor, Taryn Simon, and Matthew Barney, amongst others.

Source: Homi K. Bhabha

Glenn D. Lowry

Glenn D. Lowry is the director emeritus of The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA). During his tenure (1995-2025) he dramatically expanded the collection, oversaw the physical transformation of the Museum’s campus through two building campaigns that more than doubled the size of MoMA’s galleries, quintupled its endowment, created an education and research center, and inspired a new model for the presentation of modern and contemporary art. Lowry has expanded the Museum’s curatorial departments, with the addition of Media and Performance, and supported MoMA’s intellectual growth by creating new research programs like Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives (CMAP). In 2000, he led the merger of MoMA with the contemporary art center PS1, and in 2015, he worked with Thelma Golden to introduce a joint fellowship program with the Studio Museum in Harlem for rising professionals in the arts. Lowry is a strong advocate of contemporary artists and their work, and he has lectured and written extensively in the support of contemporary art, on the role of museums in society, and on other topics related to his research interests.

Source: Glenn D. Lowry