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Taken from Editor 99 (Aug 02, 2021)
The Oakland Museum takes off with a new show on Afrofuturism: From the Mothership to 'Black Panther'
by Editor 99
Potentiality, Edification Series, on display as part of the Oakland Museum of California's exhibition, "Mothership: Voyage into Afrofuturism" (Courtesy of artist Alun B) |
When "Black Panther" became a 2018 Hollywood box office sensation, it not only entertained the world with an unusually clever and meaningful superhero movie that championed black leads.
"Shanty mega-structures: Makoko Canal, 2015" (Courtesy of artist Olalekan Jeyifous) |
It introduced many to the gaze and ideas of Afrofuturism, a cultural and artistic movement coined in the 1990s that looks at the lives of blacks and the African diaspora through the lens of fantasy and science fiction. In the Marvel movie, T'Challa (the Black Panther) and a group of powerful women lead an African fantasy nation that is socially enlightened, more technologically advanced than any other in the world, and free from a history of colonialism, slavery, racism. and sexism.
An upcoming exhibition at the recently reopened Oakland Museum of California should contribute to people's understanding of a movement that has long thrived on the fringes of popular culture while celebrating artists ranging from 20th century icons Jean -Michel Basquiat and the jazz legend Sun Ra to contemporary figures. as actress and singer-songwriter Janelle Monae.
With "Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism", the museum celebrates its reopening, after more than a year characterized by a global pandemic and civil unrest due to police violence, historical events that, according to the curators of the exhibition, should make the concepts of your special exhibition are more relevant than ever.
Opening Saturday, August 7, the exhibit brings together a variety of works by more than 50 artists, many from the Bay Area, that contemplate science, technology, and progressive ideas about race and gender in a variety of media. : painting, music. , literature and cinema and immersive multimedia works. It will allow viewers to contemplate the dystopian worlds imagined by the late science fiction novelist Octavia E. Butler and the supernatural talents of jazz and funk musicians George Clinton and Sun Ra.
"After 'Black Panther' came out, 'a lot of people started asking,' What is Afrofuturism? '"Said OMCA curator Rhonda Pagnozzi. "When 2020 became a pandemic and the dismantling of white supremacy, many people started thinking about black science fiction writers, like Octavia Butler, who predicted the landscape we are in now".
The exhibition, in fact, features the costume of a "Black Panther" bodyguard, whose designer, Ruth E. Carter, won an Academy Award. The exhibition also dedicates an entire section, "Dawn", to Butler and his ideas on race, politics, morality, and feminism. Visitors can enter a planetarium-like mural by San Francisco artist Sydney Cain, which was inspired by Butler's "Parable of the Sower" series, while listening to a soundscape created by jazz flutist Nicole Mitchell.
Originally, "Mothership" was scheduled to open last year, but was of course delayed due to shelter-in-place orders. After a summer of Black Lives Matter protests and the social inequalities revealed by the pandemic, Pagnozzi and consultant curator Essence Harden wondered if they needed to update the exhibition in any way.
Science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler in 1980. (Photograph by Patti Perret, courtesy of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California) |
They wanted to make sure their content remained relevant every time the museum got the green light to reopen. But from the way that Afrofuturism is also known for manipulating time and collapsing "past, present, and figure" into "a singular experience", Pagnozzi realized that many works on the show predicted and illuminated what it happened in 2020. Harden added that the events of 2020 are part of the "long trajectory" of injustices faced by blacks.
The original idea for "Mothership" grew out of researching a previous hip-hop exhibition, which Pognozzi says showed the extent to which contemporary artists of different genres are inspired by Afrofuturism, from "Black Panther" to music and video. by Solange Knowles. , Missy Elliot and Janelle Monae.
The exhibition title also pays tribute to one of the pioneers of Afrofuturism: George Clinton. The musician's mothership, a spaceship resembling a flying saucer, was the main accessory at his stadium concerts in the 1970s and 1980s when he performed with his Parliament Funkadelic ensemble. Clinton's altar ego, Dr. Funkenstein, made his grand entrance after the mothership buzzed over the screaming crowd and landed on stage.
OMCA built a Mothership replica for visitors to walk in and around, while simultaneously listening to a Spotify playlist of approximately 165 Afrofuturist songs selected by musician Paul Dennis Miller, also known as DJ Spooky.
Aside from its P-Funk connection, Clinton's mothership resonated in other ways as a unifying theme for the exhibit. The word "mother" evokes what Harden said are the black feminist guiding principles of Afrofuturism, while Pagnozzi said: "We are thinking of the entire OMCA institution, as a gathering place for Oakland, as a mothership for Oakland".
Other cultural touchstones in the exhibition speak to the breadth of Afrofuturism applications. A screen looks at the medical legacy of Henrietta Lacks, a black cancer patient in the 1950s, whose cancer cells were used in pioneering research on viruses and the human genome. Lacks' life and his famous "immortal cells" became "science fiction" stuff, Pognozzi said.
"Earthseed", another of the four sections of the exhibition, explores past and current events, such as the survival programs of the Black Panther Party and Black Lives Matters, to "rejoice in the simple pleasures" of people's everyday lives. and highlight the recent impact of black media on cultural conversations.
"I hope people turn away from 'Mothership', thinking about the lens through which the story has traditionally been told, how this shapes our perceptions of ourselves and others and influences our imaginations, which in Ultimately it shapes our future, "Pognozzi said. "Last year, there was so much depth and grief, I hope people come out to celebrate black life and think about it through the lens of black joy".
'MOTHER: JOURNEY TO AFROFUTURISM'
When: Aug. 7-Feb. 27
Where: Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland
Hours: From 11 to. M. At 5 p. M. From Friday to Sunday
Admission: $ 5 additional to general admission ($ 7- $ 16)
Contact: Go to museumca.org for tickets, more information and details on the museum's COVID safety precautions.
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