MoMA's Contemporary Collection: Scenes for a New Heritage

The recently installed exhibition at the MoMA, Scenes for a New Heritage is a collection of works belonging to the MoMA that have been collected over the past 30 years.  The artists represented are from 30 different countries. This exhibit will on display through next March.  This show shares a similar exploration of patterns of migration and their causes with the Jacob Lawrence Migration Series. Scenes for a New Heritage is far broader in geographical expanse and mediums.  Still, there is the poignant emphasis on destruction, oppression, and displacement.  The clever use of text, paintings, sculpture and installations have piercing social & political content.  Amer. born artists Kara Walker & Mark Bradford are represented in the New Heritage exhibition.  Walker's silhouettes cover an entire wall as does Bradford's series of 14 etchings.  These works are that connect with the legacies associated with Lawrence's Migration Series.  The Contemporary Collection suspends a large fishing boat impaled with hundreds of arrows "Borrrowing Your Enemies Arrows" by Cai Guo-Qiang (b. China 1957.)  The subterfuge in combat is signified by unmanned ships used as decoys to lure the enemies' weapons to be used in retaliation.  Some of the artists represented in this show are from Croatia, Argentina, China & Japan. The artworks in Scenes for a New Heritage represents significant events &  developments with similar of histories of destruction & assimilation.