A SHORTLIST OF ONLINE CULTURAL CONTENT FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 27, 2020
Read
"I find beauty in the absence of specificity of facial or bodily features in Olulode’s pieces. Though her work is inspired by personal experiences, there is subtle abstraction in the simpler human forms, producing an obscurity that allows them to translate beyond the limits of specificity and foster an empathic engagement that resonates between viewer and the image. Philosopher Édouard Glissant considers opacity integral to a poetics of relation that holds space for difference. Opacity may breed obscurity through the inability to demand transparency, but understanding the other does not necessitate reduction. I participate in Olulode’s paintings precisely because I cannot know the figures in their entirety; rather, I come to them and create meaning through my own experiences of the world."
Gervais Marsh writes about the work of British Nigerian artist Sola Olulode for Arts.Black.
Make
"Look at Eileen Gray’s Drawing of Chambre à coucher boudoir pour Monte-Carlo. Think about the following questions or discuss them with a friend or family member: • What shapes, lines, or colors do you see? How are they put together in this drawing to show us a room? • How do you think you would feel if you were inside this room? How could you describe the mood of this room? What would you change in the space if you wanted to change its mood? • Which items in this room would you like to have in your space, and why?"
Eileen Gray was an Irish architect and furniture designer and a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture. The Bard Graduate Center has made a collage game so you can design a Gray-inspired space.
Watch: Live
"Taking Hito Steyerl’s text A Sea of Data: Apophenia and Pattern (Mis-) Recognition as a starting point, Kameelah Janan Rasheed will discuss what it means to establish patterns that can be instrumentalized by surveillance states and the implications of intentionally breaking patterns. Chang Yuchen, referencing George Steiner’s After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation, will discuss a parallel concept but in language — the patterns inherent in the standardization of any given language, and personal or regional dialect as a means of breaking those patterns."
Cue Art Foundation presents a conversation between Kameelah Janan Rasheed and Chang Yuchen on Thursday, July 30th at 5pm EDT. Free, but registration is required.
Watch: Any Time
"Recorded at Frieze Los Angeles in February 2020, the speakers explored fictional narrative and black figurative imagery, drawing parallels between Coates' first novel and Rawles' latest body of work."
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses his novel The Water Dancer with painter Calida Rawles and LACMA’s Contemporary Art Curator, Christine Y. Kim.
Listen
"As part of their digital residency at the New Museum, Ensayos practitioners will launch three podcasts. Drawing from Ensayos’s transdisciplinary practice, these podcasts will focus on waters in different archipelagic regions, including Tierra del Fuego, New York, eastern Australia, and Norway. Journalist Catalina Jaramillo guides listeners through four acts that mirror different aspects of Ensayos’s field research: fiction, fact, somatic exercise, and care ethics. Each concludes with a song."
Enjoy the first of three podcasts by Ensayos.
