Critic, novelist, and photographer Teju Cole will read from his critically acclaimed novel Open City and discuss works on view in the exhibition Highlights from Self-Taught Genius. A Critical Walk-Through is a 40-minute guided tour that is meant to offer an alternative perspective to the works on view. It includes conversations with artists, scholars, and curators, providing an intimate opportunity to engage with the central themes and histories found in the artwork. The program is limited to 45 individuals.

This program is being held in conjunction with the exhibition Highlights from Self-Taught Genius (cocurated by Stacy C. Hollander and Dr. Valérie Rousseau). The exhibition traces the enduring notion of self-taught genius from its roots in the eighteenth century to its iterations in the present through highlights from the American Folk Art Museum’s collection of artists who create outside traditional frames of reference and canonical art history.

Teju Cole is a critic, novelist, photographer, and the author of four books, each in a different genre. He is the photography critic of the New York Times Magazine, and has been awarded the Windham Campbell Prize, the Internationaler Literaturpreis, the Rosenthal Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the New York City Book Award. He has also been shortlisted for several major literary and photographic prizes, and has presented several solo exhibitions. His PEN/Hemingway-winning novel, Open City, features a crucial scene set in the American Folk Art Museum.

Note: This discussion will be held at the newly opened Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City, Queens.

Image: Thomas Campolongo