Undefined Territories: Perspectives on Colonial Legacies

The exhibition addresses the imprint of colonial repression and dispossession, and how imperial powers have exerted control through epistemic structures, such as political mapping and language. Through the works of artists from varied geographies and diasporas, the exhibition also explores the postcolonial condition.

Undefined Territories: Perspectives on Colonial Legacies ran at MACBA from 17 May to 20 October 2019, curated by Hiuwai Chu. The exhibition took the 1955 Bandung Conference – where representatives of newly independent Asian and African countries met around national sovereignty, decolonisation and anti-imperialism, giving rise to the Non-Aligned Movement – as a point of reference. Naeem Mohaiemen's film Two Meetings and a Funeral (2017) anchored the show, which gathered works addressing the imprint of colonial violence, repression and dispossession on contemporary society and the epistemic structures through which imperial powers have exercised control.