Events starting Feb. 23 in Detroit

313-833-7900

Trace the fascinating and sometimes. troubling stories behind the world's most desired ceramics. The technology and taste for blue and white porcelain originated in China in the fourteenth century, and quickly set off a worldwide craze that lasted five hundred years. Installed across four different galleries at UMMA, this exhibition explores that history and tracks the influence of blue and white ceramics across the globe. (734) 764-0395; (734) 764-3731 (FAX)

Following years of research into the Museum’s and University of Michigan’s relationships with Africa and African art collections, We Write To You About Africa is a complete reinstallation and doubling of the Museum’s space dedicated to African art. (734) 764-0395; (734) 764-3731 (FAX)

This exhibition proactively engages with debates about restitution and the ethics of museums’ owning African heirlooms collected during the era of colonization. The investigation and research into 11 works of African art will be conducted publicly — visitors will have access to documents, photographs, and correspondence that will help UMMA develop a better understanding of each object’s history, grappling in real time with questions surrounding legal and ethical ownership of these artworks. Though complex, this project presents exciting opportunities for museum transparency and creating new pathways for relationship-building with partners in Africa and its diaspora. (734) 764-0395; (734) 764-3731 (FAX)

"Unsettling Histories" rejects the simple narratives of our collection's past and forces us to examine whose history we prioritize and why. Organized as a response to the Museum’s recent acquisition of Titus Kaphar’s "Flay (James Madison)," this reinstallation of one of our most prominent gallery spaces forces us to grapple with our collection of European and American art, 1650-1850. (734) 764-0395; (734) 764-3731 (FAX)