pau l k lee. an g elus n ov us , 1920, oi l an d waterco lo r o n paper , 31.8 x 24.2cm . is r ael m us eu m , j erusalem (co u rtesy o f cr e ative co m m o n s). What is the nature of history in John There are two important aspects to stay—presumably in the present painting, Akomfrah considers the Mothership Connection. Following Akomfrah’s 1995 documentary, The to this thesis that are relevant to (or perhaps even return to the story of the historical figure and this clue, the Data Thief, “[Surfs] Last Angel of History? One way to understanding the concept of history past)—to help mend the catastrophe blues legend, Robert Johnson. In across the internet of black culture, Akomfrah’s answer this question is to begin with in Akomfrah’s film: the location of before his feet. However, historical the very beginning of the film, the breaking into the vaults, breaking into the title. The Last Angel of History the storm and the angel’s desire materialism’s sense of history is narrator recites the famous story the rooms, and stealing fragments, Angel of is surely a reference to Walter to stay. Benjamin explains that oriented towards the future. That is of how Johnson learned to play the fragments from cyber-culture, Benjamin’s famous meditation on the storm’s origin is Paradise. In to say, each distinct historical event blues: “Robert Johnson sold his techno-culture, narrative-culture.”8 Paul Klee’s 1920 painting, Angelus Abrahamic religious traditions, builds on another toward a logical soul to the devil at the crossroads History Novus, in his own “Theses on the Paradise is the subject of various end based on material progress. in the Deep South. He sold his Armed with a special set of Philosophy of History.” In the ninth interpretations. Paradise can refer Critical of this position, Benjamin soul and in return he was given sunglasses and a black box, this thesis of this text, Benjamin does to the mythic Garden of Eden (from describes the past in this painting the secret of a black technology, character is a time-traveler. The a close reading of Klee’s painting which humans fell from grace), the as a pile of debris that continues a black secret technology that we documentary follows the Data Thief as he discovers different fragments in order to make a critique of future state of the universe that to grow skyward.5 Unable to fight know to be now as the blues.”6 Karl Marx’s historical materialism. will eventually be restored, the the storm, the angel is forced in of black cultural productions Clinton Fluker Benjamin discerns that the image afterlife (heaven), or a combination a temporal direction against his Using this story as inspiration, throughout history in the form Akomfrah creates another character of video footage, pictures, and depicts an angel looking toward of the three.3 Usually depicted as a will for the sake of progress. a catastrophic past: “Where we peaceful place, Benjamin portrays in Johnson’s image he calls the Data interviews with artists and critics. perceive a chain of events, he sees Paradise as the source of a violent Thief. Two hundred years into the Several of these interviewees include one single catastrophe which keeps storm that ferociously propels the II future, the Data Thief is told a story: Juan Atkins, John Corbett, Derrick piling wreckage upon wreckage and angel of history’s wings toward “If you can find the crossroads…you’ll May, Ishmael Reed, Greg Tate, DJ find fragments, techno-fossils, and Spooky, Kodwo Eshun, Samuel hurls it in front of his feet.”1 The the future: “a storm is blowing in In the narrative of The Last Angel angel of history desires to stay and Paradise; it has got caught in his of History, Akomfrah deals head on if you can put those elements, those Delany, Octavia Butler, and George help mend this catastrophe, but his wings with such violence that the with the notion of history by using fragments together, you’ll find the Clinton. Eventually, The Mothership code. Crack that code, and you’ll Connection leads the Data Thief wings are caught in a storm that angel can no longer close them.”4 a similar mechanism employed propels him toward the future: “This by Benjamin in “Theses.” Rather have the keys to your future.”7 Before to twentieth-century Africa. The angel of history’s back is turned venturing on his journey to find the storm is what we call progress.”2 than focusing on a character in a toward the future because he wants crossroads, he is given a clue: The According to the narrator, when the Data Thief reaches Africa, he

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becomes the last angel of history. History, Clinton states: “On [this] attempts to situate blackness Up),” acting as an intergalactic DJ, Similar to Benjamin’s angel, record, I had to find another place in odd places, Parliament also Lollipop Man informs the citizens Akomfrah’s angel is trapped. Though that we hadn’t perceived black became known for their jarring of Earth that they are listening to a the Data Thief wants to return to his people to be, and that was on a live performances and eclectic broadcast from the Mothership on a own time in the future, his search spaceship. So, I pictured him in there outfits. In one interview for The frequency he calls W-E-F-U-N-K: for Johnson’s crossroads has led leaning like it was a Cadillac. You Last Angel of History, techno him back in time to 20th century know, slidin’ through space, chillin’... artist Derrick May states: Welcome to station WEFUNK, better known as We- Africa where he will forever be stuck coming from the planet Sirius.”10 I went to go see a concert when I was Or deeper still, the Mothership Connection. in time and space.9 The reason the Data Thief is trapped in this period In addition to the imagery provided a little kid… I’ll never forget this man Home of the extraterrestrial brothers, is best understood through an on the cover, the music coming out of the top of the roof on a Dealers of funky music. analysis of how Akomfrah uses both situates blackness in outer space cable, dressed in a diaper and big white P.Funk, uncut funk, The Bomb.12 through the use of electronic voice platform boots, playing a guitar and called The Mothership Connection and the Integral to interpreting Mothership distortions and musical instruments himself Starchild. And then this other crossroads throughout the narrative. Connection is Clinton’s notion of such as ’ famous dude comes out of a so-called spaceship Funk. According to Kodwo Eshun, an star-shaped electric guitar. In other that lands out of the center of the stage.11 acclaimed music and III The album tells the story of the critic, Funk is a healing substance. In arrival of Starchild, an alien from his book, More Brilliant than the Sun: Released in 1975, Mothership another planet, who has arrived in Adventures in Sonic Fiction, Eshun Connection is Parliament’s 4th studio a Mothership (spaceship) to bring notes that Parliament’s very first album. The album cover features a (lef t) fi g u r e 1: the people of Earth the Funk. This album was called Osmium, the world’s photo of Parliament’s bandleader, The Data Thief storyline is narrated by several most pungent metal: “Funkadelia… George Clinton, sitting in a spaceship th e l a st an g el o f h isto ry different characters including the invades through the nostrils and seeps near an unidentified planet. When (di r ec ted by j o h n ako m fr ah , 1995, Lollipop Man. On the album’s first through the nerves, setting inhalation asked about this album cover in an b l ack au dio fi lm co llec tive), fr am e g r ab . track, “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked at war with the body. You breathe in interview from The Last Angel of

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the purification of the universe.”13 this fact by hitting them with pure, which Funk is dispersed to the search for the crossroads leads Lollipop Man states “P-Funk”: unadulterated Funk. Luckily, Funk is citizens of Earth, and Funk itself is to Africa while aboard Clinton’s also something that is easy to obtain. the ancient source of good vibes and Mothership. However, it is still a If you got faults, defects or shortcomings, All a person needs to do is listen Earth’s life force, The Mothership quandary as to why Akomfrah’s You know, like arthritis, rheumatism to the Funky music performed by Connection represents a return to angel gets stuck there. or migraines, Starchild and his crew: “Put a glide in origins: “The Mothership Connection Whatever part of your body it is, your stride and a dip in your hip and is the link between Africa as a lost I want you to lay it on your radio, come on up to the Mothership.”16 continent in the past and Africa let the vibes flow through. IV as an Alien Future.”18 This logic is Funk not only moves, it Also in “Mothership Connection further supported by the name of In Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American can re-move, dig?14 (Star Child),” Starchild welcomes the album and the connection that is Literature: A Vernacular Theory, the people of Earth to “good times” forged between the people of Earth In addition to its healing properties, Houston Baker discusses the idea of on the Mothership. He tells the and the spaceship. The “Mother” Starchild describes the Funk as a the crossroads in blues and African- listeners that his arrival, itself, is ship Connection is a metaphorical substance that is so ancient, it is American culture. Baker’s attempt the Mothership Connection. Eshun allusion to the middle passage and likely that the citizens of Earth have at developing a black vernacular states: “The Mothership Connection a return to Africa. Likewise, it is simply forgotten how powerful it theory through a blues aesthetic is Clinton’s symbol for what happens no surprise that the Data Thief’s can be: “Face it, even your memory to Funk when you pass it through will help shed light on why the Data banks have forgotten this funk.”15 As the studio and when it becomes Thief finds himself trapped. Baker referenced in the song “Mothership astro, or it becomes space, when says of the crossroads, “the railway Connection (Star Child),” Funk is as it becomes extraterrestrial.”17 juncture is marked by transience. Its ancient as the Egyptian pyramids inhabitants are always travelers—a (r i g ht) fi g u r e 2: that the Parliament crew has returned As Starchild’s voice travels through multifarious assembly in transit.”19 to claim. In fact, the secret to Funk, the radio waves, a connection Black Box and Sunglasses Baker asserts that blues singers, Earth’s regenerating life force, is in between the citizens of Earth and th e l a st an g el o f h isto ry like Robert Johnson, are always the pyramids. All Starchild wants to the UFO is forged. If the voice of (di r ec ted by j o h n ako m fr ah , 1995, situated at a crossroads because it do is remind the citizens of Earth of Starchild is the medium through b l ack au dio fi lm co llec tive), fr am e g r ab . is only at this sight of fluidity that

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“He argues that when blues artists sing [...] they perform an action that is similar to the black hole...”

(lef t) fi g u r e 3: a blues singer finds the power to operates, Baker uses the scientific In scientific circles, what lies on Mothership Connection Album Cover transform “experiences of a durative concept of the black hole. In the the other side of a black hole is th e l a st an g el o f h isto ry (unceasingly oppressive) landscape text, the black hole functions as a unknown, but there is conjecture (di r ec ted by j o h n ako m fr ah , 1995, into the energies of rhythmic prime metaphor for how he believes that they may be portals to other b l ack au dio fi lm co llec tive), fr am e g r ab . song.”20 In this way, Baker describes the crossroads transforms time and universes altered by the bending a concept of the crossroads where space. A black hole is a star with of the space-time continuum.21 the rules and principles of the world gravity so dense that it consumes all This is the aspect of the black hole that usually constrict or oppress a light that comes into contact with it. that Baker finds so interesting. He person no longer apply. By singing Occasionally, because the amount of argues that when blues artists sing at the crossroads, the blues singer energy concentrated inside a black or when writers such as Richard and his kin, such as the Data Thief, hole is so powerful, it pulls other Wright employ a blues vernacular in experience a form of liberation stars and planets into its orbit. If a their work, they perform an action through artistic expression. star were to get too close to a black that is similar to the black hole: hole, it would be consumed after In an attempt to explain how his crossing the event horizon and enter The symbolic content of Afro-American philosophy of a blues aesthetic a field where time and space bends. expressive culture can thus be formulated

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in terms of the black hole conceived This realization at the end of The “… timelessness and spacelessness… allow themselves to become vessels as a subcultural…region in which a Last Angel of History, at first glance, outside of history…characterized by whereby the blues are released dominant, white culture’s representations appears contradictory. If the Data [the] receipt of ancestral wisdom.”25 into the world to take on forms are squeezed to zero volume, Thief stays tuned to the Mothership During this phase, Baker argues that and rhythms that can no longer producing a new expressive order.22 and locates the crossroads, he an ahistorical “sense of the black be contained by the normative is supposed to find the key to self’s historicity” is achieved.26 conventions of the day, such as the In The Last Angel of History, the the future! So why is he stuck in notion of linear history. Akomfrah narrator states that Robert Johnson twentieth-century Africa? Baker During the third stage, the initiate further develops this connection received a secret black technology argues that once a person enters the is reintegrated into the society to the crossroads when a frame at the crossroads. He goes on to black hole (or the crossroads), they from which they came, but they are featuring the Data Thief’s sunglasses explain that this black technology are utterly transformed. He likens totally and irreversibly transformed and black box (time-traveling tools) was the blues and that, “the blues entering the black hole to going because that person has now is followed by a frame of a nail and begat jazz, the blues begat soul, the through rites of passage. When a been made whole through their a piece of wood. This juxtaposition blues begat hip-hop, the blues begat black person enters the crossroads, interaction with ancestral wisdom: shows how the nail and the wood, R&B.”23 Within the film’s narrative, they go through three rites. The first perceived analog instruments, are we follow the lineage of Robert The expressive community at the center stage “involves the black person’s of the black hole is always conceived actually time-traveling apparatuses Johnson 200 years into the future, separation from a dominant, white that have aided black people in their where Akomfrah introduces the Data as ‘marginal’ because its members society.”24 In the second stage, efforts to move fluidly in and out of Thief. Just as in Baker’s text, the Data never ‘return’ to the affective and the black person feels a sense of perceptual structures of an old white conceptions of rigid, linear historical Thief is drawn toward the crossroads frameworks for generations. because he wishes to be free of his dispensation. In actuality, the expressive own time. However, as he traces community of the black (w)hole…is the center of a new order of existence.27 The Mothership Connection back V to Africa, back to the crossroads, That is to say, the black (w)hole is (lef t) fi g u r e 4: he realizes that he can never a space marked by fluid radicalism. Nail and Wood I argue that the manner in which return to where he came from. Black people at the crossroads th e l a st an g el o f h isto ry Akomfrah employs the concept of (di r ec ted by j o h n ako m fr ah , 1995, b l ack au dio fi lm co llec tive), fr am e g r ab .

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voiceover is accompanied by images of Africa from the early to the mid twentieth-century. In the 37th minute, the narrator states that this is the Data Thief’s last visit to Africa, history in this film resonates quite past and the present conditions of that they did before. The Data Thief and the voiceover is accompanied by what is presumably video of Africa during the 1990’s, the time the film was produced. Precisely where in twentieth-century Africa the Data well with Benjamin because The actual people are easily overlooked. has returned via The Mothership Thief gets stuck is unclear. Last Angel of History also attempts Connection to an Africa that is both 10 Ibid. to make a critique of historical In similar fashion, Akomfrah’s angel an ancient past and an alien future 11 Ibid. 12 Parliament. “P-Funk.” The Mothership Connection. , 1975. Spotify. materialism. Benjamin’s angel sees serves as a critique of strictly linear simultaneously. In other words, the notions of history by orienting 13 Kodwo Eshun, More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction (London: Quartet Books, 1998), 54. the past as a whole catastrophe, not world where history is linear is an 14 Parliament, “P-Funk.” his angel’s narrative toward the a series of independent catastrophic “optical illusion.”28 There is no future 15 Ibid. events leading toward a logical crossroads and The Mothership 16 Parliament. “The Mothership Connection.” The Mothership Connection. Casablanca Records, 1975. Spotify. or past for the Data Thief to return 17 Akomfrah, The Last Angel of History. future. Throughout the text, Benjamin Connection. Near the end of the to because he has entered a realm film, Akomfrah’s angel cannot leave 18 Ibid. levels a critique against Karl Marx where such distinctions are fluid and 19 Houston Baker, Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature: A Vernacular Theory (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984), Kindle Edition, 228. in particular, and other historical twentieth-century Africa because unfixed. Thus, at the end of The Last 20 Ibid. 21 Neil Degrasse Tyson, Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey, “A Sky Full of Ghosts.” NBC Studios. Mar 30, 2014. Apr 10, 2014. http://www.hulu.com/watch/615445#i0,p0,d0. materialists generally, for failing to he has gone through the black hole Angel of History, the viewer discovers of the crossroads where time and 22 Baker, 3526. recognize the interrelated nature that the Data Thief is not trapped at 23 Akomfrah, The Last Angel of History. of seemingly separate events over space bend. It is where concepts all. Instead, he is free of the very idea 24 Baker, 3542. time. Moreover, with too much focus such as past, present, and future of chronological history altogether. 25 Ibid., 3554. no longer have the same meanings 26 Ibid. on progress toward the future, the 27 Ibid., 3582. 28 Akomfrah, The Last Angel of History. Throughout the film, Akomfrah refers to how the difference between social reality and science fiction is an ‘optical illusion.’ In this sense, the film suggests that the real lived experience of black people around the world is quite similar to popular science fiction narratives such as those offered by The Mothership Connection.

1 Walter Benjamin, Illuminations: Essays and Reflections (New York: Schocken Books, 1968), 257. 2 Ibid., 258. 3 Editors Markus Bockmuehl and Guy G. Stroumsa discuss the various meanings of Paradise in the Christian and Jewish traditions in Paradise in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Views (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010). 4 Benjamin, Illuminations, 257. Susan Handelman’s “Walter Benjamin and the Angel of History,” Crosscurrents: Religion and Intellectual Life 41, no.3 (1992): 344–352 expands upon Benjamin’s use of Paradise and its relationship to the Jewish religious tradition. 5 For more on Benjamin’s critique of historical materialism see Theses I-VI, 253–255. 6 John Akomfrah, dir., The Last Angel of History. Black Audio Film Collective. 1995. May 9, 2014. http://vimeo.com/72909756. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 9 The narrator of the film makes two specific references to the Data Thief traveling to Africa during the film. In the 26th minute, the Data Thief travels to ‘our time’ and the

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