Can an object have a nationality? How do artworks change when removed from their context—and what new meanings can displacement create? Novelist R. O. Kwon and visual artist Chloé Quenum join Curator of Cultural Programs Rachel Donadio for a cross-disciplinary conversation on how artists inspire one another, and how movement, theft, and exchange reshape not only objects, but the stories we tell about art itself.

About the Speakers:

R. O. Kwon is the author of the nationally bestselling novel Exhibit, a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Kwon’s bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Prize. Kwon coedited the bestselling Kink, a New York Times Notable Book. Her books have been translated into seven languages and named a best book of the year by over forty publications. Other writing has appeared in The New York Times, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere. 

As a 2025-26 American Library Visiting Fellow, Kwon is working on her third novel, which is about a Korean American woman who plans a heist of historically significant art.

Chloé Quenum manipulates visual and linguistic elements from different cultures, removing them from their original context and transforming them into decorative works with uncertain origins, inviting audiences to consider how displacement has the power to generate new narratives. Her work has recently been the subject of solo exhibitions, including at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Pau (2023), the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2021, 2014), the Fondation Pernod Ricard (2021, 2014, 2013), the Centre Pompidou (2019) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton (2015). Her work can be found in several public and private collections, including the Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou (Paris), the FRAC Alsace, Île-de-France, Grand Large and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, as well as the Crédit municipal de Paris, the Fondation Kadist and the Fondation Lafayette Anticipations. In 2024, Quenum represented Benin at the 60th Venice Biennale.

Important information: Please note, this conversation will be in both French and English. The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.

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