Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks

Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks Fall 2013 Programs

Friday, September 22 Exhibition Opening Celebration Member Preview 6-7p Public Opening 7-9p

Saturday, September 21 Artist Talk, 1p Steinberg Auditorium

Wednesday, September 25 Gallery Talk, 5p Meredith Malone, associate curator, on Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks

Thursday, October 3 Contemporary Conversations, 5p Rebecca Wanzo, associate professor, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program discusses the work of Rashid Johnson with Meredith Malone, associate curator, in the exhibition space.

Friday, October 4 Friday Nights @ the Kemper

Gallery Talk, 6p Allison Taylor, manager of education programs, on permanent collection and Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks Live Music, 7p Ptah Williams Film, 8p Watermelon Man (1970) directed by Melvin Van Peebles

Saturday, October 26 Community Day, 11a – 3p

Thursday, November 7 Contemporary Conversations, 5p Ila Sheren, assistant professor, Art History and Archaeology discusses the work of Rashid Johnson with Meredith Malone, associate curator, in the exhibition space.

Friday, November 15 Friday Nights @ the Kemper

Gallery Talk, 6p Meredith Malone on Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks Live Music, 7p Theresa Payne Film, 8p Red Desert (1964) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

1 Monday, November 18 Lecture by Dr. Huey Copeland, Northwestern University Solar Ethics 6p reception Kemper Art Museum, 6:30p Lecture in Steinberg

In this lecture, art historian Huey Copeland charts Sun Ra’s evolving import as icon, model and prophet for a range of visual artists, Rashid Johnson chief among them. Ultimately, Copeland argues, a critical re-examination of Johnson’s work alongside that of the jazz musician allows us to freshly understand the ethical stakes involved when contemporary practitioners turn to the past in conjuring utopian visions of the future.

Huey Copeland is Associate Professor of Art History at Northwestern University. His work focuses on modern and contemporary art with emphasis on the articulation of blackness in the Western visual field. His first book Bound to Appear: Art, Slavery, and the Site of Blackness in Multicultural America, was published by the University of Chicago Press. During his tenure as a 2013-14 ACLS Fellow, Copeland will continue to work on a new project exploring the constitutive role of black femininity in Western art from the nineteenth century to the present.

Artist’s Pick Film Series Tivoli Theatre, 7p The three independent films making up this film series were selected by Rashid Johnson himself, variously informing his artistic practice, his exploration of themes of race and identity, and his interest in Afrofuturism.

Tuesday, December 3 Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song (1971) Written and directed by Melvin Van Peebles

Wednesday, December 4 Space is the Place (1974) Written by Sun Ra and Joshua Smith, directed by John Coney

Thursday, December 5 The Brother from Another Planet (1984) Written and directed by John Sayles

Friday, December 6 Friday Nights @ the Kemper

Gallery Talk, 6p Allison Taylor on Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks Live Music, 7p Brothers Lazaroff Film, 8p Stagecoach (1939) directed by John Ford