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Kemper Museum is a free art museum in Kansas City, Missouri that presents global contemporary art.

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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art acknowledges it resides on the ancestral territory of the Osage, Kaw, and Otoe-Missouria, among other tribal nations forcibly moved to the region such as the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) nations. We recognize and support the continued vibrancy of Native communities and cultures today who continue to thrive, as well as the inherent sovereignty of tribal nations. We are compelled to serve and advocate for these communities in accordance with our public mission.

Kemper Museum acknowledges and respects the diversity of Native people connected to this land today. Many recognize the land and all beings who live within it as relatives. We acknowledge the earth we inhabit, the waters of the Blue River, the Kansas River, the Missouri River, and the plants, animals, and people supported by them. 

We acknowledge our responsibility to be good caretakers of the land we occupy. 

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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI––August 11, 2020––While our physical doors must remain closed, beginning today you can now explore the work of contemporary Ethiopian artist Elias Sime virtually, thanks to our partnership with Google Arts & Culture, and go behind-the-scenes to learn more about this artist and his work through our latest app tours (available in English and Spanish), including Cuseum's Augmented Reality (AR) powered “Museum from Home”  feature which allows users to virtually place works by Elias Sime on your own walls.

Once we are able to reopen, Elias Sime: Tightrope will remain on view through January 31, 2021.

The first major museum exhibition to focus on the work of contemporary artist Elias Sime (Ethiopian, born 1968), Tightrope features more than two dozen works of art in varying scales and showcases brightly-colored tableaux and sculptural assemblages rooted in both the figurative and abstract modes of modern Ethiopian art.

“This is such an exciting and engaging show because Sime's monumental masterpieces address issues that people in Kansas City are interested in and are relevant to people's lives around the world,” stated Sean O’Harrow, executive director at Kemper Museum. He continued, “the interconnected global economy, technology, recycling, and environmental disasters… consideration of the precarious balance of our lives is so important to everyone, I am proud we are presenting this exhibition to the Kansas City public at this time.”

In October 2019, Sime was awarded an African Art Award at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. Recognizing the best in contemporary African art, the 2019 event honored the achievements of global contemporary artists Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Elias Sime, stating, "Both artists use principles of connection to express critical viewpoints, further influencing the way the world experiences the dynamic and diverse arts of Africa." (Click here to read the full release.)

In Tightrope, Sime repurposes salvaged electronic components such as circuits and keyboards in his work to explore the precarious balance between the progress that technology has made possible and its detrimental impact on the global environment. The exhibition explores how devices intended to connect us have instead mediated our interactions while simultaneously creating massive amounts of e-waste.

Sime’s work—like topographical maps or aerial perspectives of vast landscapes—also points to the natural pathways existing in the environment, revealing that the organic fibers which connect us are not unlike the inner workings of man-made machines. Deconstructing them can expose and demystify their internal dynamics, allowing for a new lyricism and energy to emerge.

Elias Sime: Tightrope is organized by the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, and will also be on view at the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri; and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

A full-color catalogue is available in conjunction with this exhibition. Elias Sime: Tightrope is the first monograph focusing on the work of Elias Sime and features contributions by Tracy L. Adler, Johnson-Pote Director of the Wellin Museum; Meskerem Assegued, Anthropologist, Curator and Cofounder of Zoma Museum; Karen E. Milbourne, Curator, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution; and Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Steven and Lisa Tananbaum Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The book is copublished by the Wellin Museum of Art and DelMonico Books • Prestel.

About Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
 Kansas City’s renowned FREE contemporary art museum, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in October 1994 and boasts a rapidly growing Permanent Collection that uniquely bridges modern and contemporary works of art featuring artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Helen Frankenthaler, Willem de Kooning, Georgia O’Keeffe, Keltie Ferris, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Richard Mosse, and Ursula von Rydingsvard. Special exhibitions, installations, lectures, and workshops, as well as youth, teen, and family programs are regularly hosted at the Museum.

For high-resolution images and general media inquiries please contact:

Breeze Richardson
 Director of Marketing and Communications 
 Kemper Museum of Contermporary Art
 brichardson@kemperart.org | 816-457-6132 (direct)

Image credit:
 Elias Sime, Tightrope: The Dominant, 2017, reclaimed insulated wire on panel, 81 1⁄2 x 126 3⁄4 inches. Collection of Erica Tennenbaum and Alex Friedman, New York. © EliasSime, courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York. Photo: Phoebe d’Heurle

Download: Elias Sime: Tightrope –updated July 28, 2020 (pdf)