“I am interested and want to be exposed to other vocabularies and methods which cultural practitioners are making use of to understand the phenomena emerging from the collision of these three modalities of contemporary art, urbanism and spatial design and thinking.“
Dr. Phokeng Setai is an interdisciplinary cultural practitioner whose work spans contemporary art through scholarly research, exhibition-making, writing, and socially engaged artistic inquiry. He completed a PhD in Anthropology at the University of the Western Cape's Centre for Humanities Research in 2024, where his doctoral research examined contemporary African curatorial strategies and pedagogies, exploring exhibition-making as a mode of critical inquiry. Prior to joining Zeitz MOCAA as Curator in 2024, he served as Curator at Norval Foundation, where he curated Witness of My Time (2023–2024), a solo exhibition by Malian artist Famakan Magassa. His curatorial practice has also been shaped by international programmes at RAW Material Company (Dakar), Independent Curators International (New York), Fundación Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Madrid), and G.A.S. Lagos. Setai is co-founder of Exhibition Match, a socially engaged initiative that uses football culture to create new audiences for contemporary art through interdisciplinary and participatory formats. Alongside his curatorial work, he is a widely published writer whose work has appeared in The Thinker, The Sole Adventurer, ArtThrob, Africa Is a Country, and Monocle. His research and practice focus on curatorial methodologies, contemporary African and African diasporic art, urbanism and architecture, design, experimental music and sound ecologies, and the cultural infrastructures that shape artistic production across the African continent.
Dr. Phokeng Setai is an interdisciplinary cultural practitioner whose work spans contemporary art through scholarly research, exhibition-making, writing, and socially engaged artistic inquiry. He completed a PhD in Anthropology at the University of the Western Cape's Centre for Humanities Research in 2024, where his doctoral research examined contemporary African curatorial strategies and pedagogies, exploring exhibition-making as a mode of critical inquiry. Prior to joining Zeitz MOCAA as Curator in 2024, he served as Curator at Norval Foundation, where he curated Witness of My Time (2023–2024), a solo exhibition by Malian artist Famakan Magassa. His curatorial practice has also been shaped by international programmes at RAW Material Company (Dakar), Independent Curators International (New York), Fundación Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Madrid), and G.A.S. Lagos. Setai is co-founder of Exhibition Match, a socially engaged initiative that uses football culture to create new audiences for contemporary art through interdisciplinary and participatory formats. Alongside his curatorial work, he is a widely published writer whose work has appeared in The Thinker, The Sole Adventurer, ArtThrob, Africa Is a Country, and Monocle. His research and practice focus on curatorial methodologies, contemporary African and African diasporic art, urbanism and architecture, design, experimental music and sound ecologies, and the cultural infrastructures that shape artistic production across the African continent.
What draws you to this residency and to Chicago? What practices do you want to be in dialogue with?
I am looking forward to engaging with practitioners and collectives who are interested in similar questions to me. Chicago is a city known for the abundant and diverse creative expression of its people. This is visible at all levels of artistry, whether it is the experimental sounds, design, fashion and the traditional fine arts, i.e. visual art and architecture. I am excited to immerse myself in the city and various artistic and cultural spaces that are keeping the city’s vibrant cultural legacy alive and going.
The practices that I want to be in dialogue are those that reside at the intersection of the trifecta of contemporary art, urbanism and spatial design. Those practices and models that I will encounter during my residency in Chicago, don’t have to interrogate or probe into this intersection in ways that I am familiar with. I am going into the residency with an open mind and I am interested and want to be exposed to other vocabularies and methods which cultural practitioners are making use of to understand the phenomena emerging from the collision of these three modalities of contemporary art, urbanism and spatial design and thinking.
I am looking forward to engaging with practitioners and collectives who are interested in similar questions to me. Chicago is a city known for the abundant and diverse creative expression of its people. This is visible at all levels of artistry, whether it is the experimental sounds, design, fashion and the traditional fine arts, i.e. visual art and architecture. I am excited to immerse myself in the city and various artistic and cultural spaces that are keeping the city’s vibrant cultural legacy alive and going.
The practices that I want to be in dialogue are those that reside at the intersection of the trifecta of contemporary art, urbanism and spatial design. Those practices and models that I will encounter during my residency in Chicago, don’t have to interrogate or probe into this intersection in ways that I am familiar with. I am going into the residency with an open mind and I am interested and want to be exposed to other vocabularies and methods which cultural practitioners are making use of to understand the phenomena emerging from the collision of these three modalities of contemporary art, urbanism and spatial design and thinking.