Vox Populi Gallery is thrilled to present Aux’s 4th Curatorial Fellow, Anthony Romero.
Anthony Romero is a Chicago artist, writer, and curator interested in documenting and supporting artist-communities whose narratives and practices are often excluded from art historical narratives and exhibitions. He has executed curatorial projects nationally, most notably at Links Hall (IL), Antioch College (OH), and MASS Gallery (TX). His writings have appeared in Poetry Quarterly, The Huffington Post, Performa Magazine and the recently published edited volume on Chicago Social Practice History, Support Networks (University of Chicago Press).
From January 17 to March 14, 2015, Romero will be inviting a diverse array of artists to interrogate the voice as it intersects with their own artistic practices. Filmmakers, writers, musicians, dancers, sculptures, and performers from across the US and Europe will be descending on Vox Populi to present work about acts of translation, protest, puppetry, queer utopias, state sanctioned violence, and more. The series, “May I say a few word?”, takes its name from the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio where Sojourner Truth delivered the speech commonly referred to as “Ain’t I a Woman”. The controversy over the translation of Truth’s speech, as well as the historical moment that it emerged from, are at the heart of a curatorial endeavor that aims to interrogate the political potential of the voice – especially as it relates to queer communities and communities of color.
Saturday, January 17th
Lectures: Ingrid Schaffner, Anthony Romero
Screening: Tongues Untied, 1989
7:00 pm
Aux is proud to present an evening of lectures by Ingrid Schaffner and Anthony Romero followed by a screening of Marlon T. Riggs’ “Tongues Untied” from 1989.
ICA Senior Curator, Ingrid Schaffner, will present on her 2010 exhibition, Queer Voice – a group exhibition focussed on the voice as a material—one that has been manipulated, mediated, or otherwise affected—in works that signal a disengagement with gender norms and everyday conventions of communication.
Aux 4th Curatorial Fellow, Anthony Romero will present a performative lecture regarding his interest in the political potential of the voice for artists of marginalized communities.
The seminal documentary on Black gay life, Emmy Award-winning director Marlon T. Riggs‘ 1989 Tongues Untied uses poetry, personal testimony, rap and performance (featuring poet Essex Hemphill and others), to describe the homophobia and racism that confront Black gay men.
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Saturday, January 31st
Performance/Reading: Metropolarity
7:00pm
Anthony Romero and AUX present local superstars Metropolarity a queer, sci-fi, afro-futurist artist collective. The group will present “Untitled” with Romero as a unique take on the concept of political voice.
“METROPOLARITY was born in a pixelated summer, desperate for a space where technology and community could intersect. We at Metropolarity believe that those without power must take advantage and control of the media outlets that we have access to. We choose science fiction as our lens to create new worlds, identities, self paradigms, and to destroy old, harmful ones.
Hear our memes. Let them overtake you.
Walk with us.
http://metropolarity.net/
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Saturday, February 14th
Performance: Nick Bastis, Doran McKaie
Screening: Cudelice Brazelton
Romero and AUX present a night of performance and film with esoteric performance actions from Bastis and McKaie with a film by Vox Populi alumni Cudelice Brazelton.
Fresh off his exhibition at Catherine Bastide gallery in Brussels, Sculptor Nick Bastis continues his exploration of speaking and absence with a new video and performance about ventriloquism.
Vox Populi Alumni Cudelice Brazelton returns with a new series of video works that elaborate upon his work with black male troupes in society and art.
New York based, Dorian McKaie, presents a new performance piece in which the distinctions between speaking to and speaking for are dissolved.
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Saturday, February 21st
8:00pm
Romero and AUX present artists from New York City and Chicago addressing a range of creative approaches to deconstructing marginalized voices.
Marisa Williamson joins us from the Whitney Independent Study program to premiere her new film “Hemings in Paris” and hold a Q&A with the AUX audience.
“Hemings in Paris” is a short film by artist Marisa Williamson. An evolving work, shot this past winter, it explores Sally Hemings’ experience in the city where she spent two years of her life (and where her relationship with Thomas Jefferson allegedly began), alongside the experiences of Paris’ contemporary black diaspora. In tune with the previous performance works by the artist, “Hemings in Paris” is an attempt to activate public space, image the fantastical and anachronistic, and present narratives (mine along with hers) that facilitate the collapsing of the past and present both in content and form.
J. Soto hails from New York where his choreographic works investigating the queer experience through an interigation of race and class. His experimental works often manifest through his dancers in uncanny ways.
Artist and educator, Judith Leemann, will be presenting a collaborative work that seeks to understand the privilege of speaking through contemporary new events and protests.
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Saturday, March 14th
8:00pm
Romero and AUX present Chicago polymath Latham Owen Zearfoss. Zearfoss is an artist and decade-long political leader and cultural organizer in Chicago. He has been central to Chances Dances – a roving queer dance party and gathering space in Chicago, as well as The Critical Fierceness Grant (a grant for queer artists). We are thrilled to present Zearfoss’ “SPEECH! SPEECH!! SPEECH!!!: a mixtape wo/manifesto” – a video mixtape of original and selected works. The screening will be followed by a queer-feminist dance party in the tradition of Zearfoss’ social organizing.
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Sunday, March 15th
7:00pm
Romero and AUX present an evening of poetry with Ukranian poet Serhiy Zhadan and Philadelphia Poet Laureate Frank Sherlock. Zhadan calls himself a “post-proletarian punk” and is the most popular writer of the post-independence generation in Ukraine. His work speaks to the disillusionment and ironies following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Sherlock, meanwhile, approaches the work of poet as conduit, and the writing process as collaborations of encounter. He is a founder of PACE (Poet Activist Community Extension), which enacts roving guerilla readings/performances in public space. This evening will be a unique event pairing two activists of the written word with readings in Ukranian and English. Zhadan will read in Ukranian with special guests reading English translations of his work.
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