AfroFuturism Conference 2016 : #BLACKISVIRAL
A student-led conference on Afrofuturism as a cultural and aesthetic movement for the radical emancipation of people of color.
"To be black and viral is remarkable. To be infectious and influential in spaces never designed for black, queer, immigrant, low-income voices is a testament to the ingenuity of black folks. To turn the products of tech companies manned by mostly white and mostly wealthy men into communal safe spaces for learning, laughing ...
AfroFuturism Conference 2016 : #BLACKISVIRAL
A student-led conference on Afrofuturism as a cultural and aesthetic movement for the radical emancipation of people of color.
"To be black and viral is remarkable. To be infectious and influential in spaces never designed for black, queer, immigrant, low-income voices is a testament to the ingenuity of black folks. To turn the products of tech companies manned by mostly white and mostly wealthy men into communal safe spaces for learning, laughing and affirmation is an amplification of how we create analogous spaces IRL. On a good day, these spaces stretch so far and wide that it's easy to forget that not all of the internet is black. In the robust American tradition of appropriation, the black creators of viral culture are unpaid, uncredited and excluded from the leadership of tech companies. But black is not only viral, it is infinite and it is plotting." - ruth gebreyesus, writer
April 29th, 30th and May 1st
The New School University Center
63 Fifth Ave, New York, NY, 10003
Hello world!
The Afrofuturism Conference is back!
Last year's conference created a space in which people could be in conversation with one another in dissecting the concept of Afrofuturism and designing new narratives to empower the African Diaspora!
(https://www.facebook.com/events/1428085204158693/)
This year, we are excited to host what will be an inspiring 3-day event entitled AfroFuturism: #BlackisViral. We plan to continue the conversation and bring to light the virality of blackness by hacking the cultural divide with a cadre of makers, thinkers, artists, scholars and innovators to explore the matrix of Afrofuturism as a narrative for liberation. This will be done through a series of art happenings, performances, lectures, panels, workshops, theater pieces, film festival, music, scholarly works, and community events, etc.
RSVP HERE! -
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afrofuturism-conference-2016-blackisviral-tickets-24551615543
~~~~~~~PROGRAM SCHEDULE TO BE LISTED SHORTLY~~~~~~~
Topics will include:
-Online Black Subcultures
-Futures of Black Movement Making
-Black Design/Technologies/Invention/Coding
-REimagining Identity
-HoodFuture(s)
-Environmental/Food Justice
-Sex Work and Liberation
-Conjuring Black Futures
-Black Self Love & Mindful Health Practices
-Contemporary Art/Music and Film Screenings
-Milly Rock the Vote
-Intergenerational Community Building
-Queering the fuck out of this conference
-Hacking for the Future
-Politics of the Black Body in Viral Dance
-Blackinomics
-Speaking in Black Tongues - Linguistics as a Site of Appropriation
-Bioethics
-Commodification of Black Image in The Media
-Black Hyper Visibility Online
-Etc!
The conference is free and will be open to the public. To help offset the cost of the conference, there is a suggested donation $5-$25 to attend, being that this is a student run initiative :~)
However no one will be turned away upon entry!
DUE TO CAPACITY ALL EVENTS WILL BE FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED WITH RSVP
In the mean time, save the date(s): April 29, 30th, and May 1st!
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
Saturday, April 30th, 63 Fifth Ave, University Center
12:00 PM
Black Technologies of Affirmation and Resistance [Panel Lecture]
Moderator: ruth gebreyesus
Panelists: Kimberly Drew, Diamond Sharp, Elise Peterson, Antwaun Sargent
A panel examining the platforms and products of black creators online as art, language, and tools of subversion.
1:00 PM
Conjuring Black Futures [Panel Lecture]
Moderator: Jamal Lewis
Panelists: Aurel Haize Odogbo, Ashleigh Shackleford, Myles Johnson, Adaku Utah
This panel will bring together black queer artists, cultural workers, writers, activists, organizers, and healers to discuss the importance of writing, imagining and conjuring black futures in this urgent time where radical imaginations are under siege. It intentionally makes space for people, bodies, and narratives that are often marginalized, oppressed, and blotted from our collective histories and memories. Exploring the work of the aforementioned, it asks, in honor of Octavia E. Bulter: are we brave enough to imagine beyond the boundaries of “the real” and then do the hard work of sculpting reality from our dreams?
2:00 PM
Ethiopian Surrealism: Beyond Abyssinia
Presenters: Selam Bekele and Gabriel Teodros
Exploring imagery and artistry in representation of Ethiopian culture in film and the arts
2:00 PM
The Black Imagination [Workshop]
Facilitators: Khamall Zawadi, Amir Aziz, Fatima Nasiyr
Blackbuster uses a mixed media presentation to portray how Bay Area artist utilize Afrofuturism to reshape and better define who we are as black people.
2:00 PM
In Search For Black Time and Temporality [Workshop]
Facilitator: Akiera Charles
Almost, like a series of “interactive activities” centered on time, this workshop will expose participants to creative ways in modifying linear time. By engaging in activities that challenge normative notions of time, participants will gain a better understanding of how normalized notion of time affect our movement, dreams and imagination of time. In addition, based on the various acts of resistance we place on time throughout the workshop, I question whether it is African time or a creolization of time – the mixing of linear and western time – that has kept Afro-diasporic folks alive.
3:00 PM
Screaming into the Void: A Conversation on Presence and Erasure In Contemporary Black Writing [Panel Lecture]
Moderator: Gabrielle Octavia Rucker
Panelists: Muna Mire, Safia Elhillo, Zeba Blay, Derica Shields
A panel to discuss the complexities of Black writing in the age of digital media and the ways in which virality simultaneously creates and deletes space for the Black writer.
3:15 PM
For Black Girls and Femmes When #Carefree Isn't Enough [Interactive Caucus Space]
Facilitator: Ashleigh Shackleford
3:00 PM
Alone We Play: doxxing the kid [Presentation Workshop]
Presenter: Devin Kenny
Dealing with intersections of 'internet culture' and 'inner-city culture', accumulating social capital, technological ennui, each song on Alone We Play is made under a different alias, such as ENIAC Rose, Fivel Goes Net, and O Relay Where Art Thou. The pseudonyms are additional information, and function as footnotes for each song. Originally released via Bandcamp and Newhive, the presentation will look at some of the themes and modes used in the album as well as a look at a lineage and assortment of Black musicians using technologically-infused visions in hip hop music and its variants. keywords : dystopia, utopia, tech, afrofuturism, resistance, trap, network culture, hiphop.
3:45 PM
Selling The African Story [Discussion Lecture]
Presenters: Andrea and Amberle Reyes
Is "Made in Africa" neo colonialism? How can we highlight and promote African artisans without exploitation? We will explore cause related marketing and the impact young white missionaries and entrepreneurs are having on the African continent.
4:00 PM
Caitlin Cherry's Black Military Aesthetix [Performance Lecture]
Facilitator: Caitlin Cherry
Artist Caitlin Cherry presents a performative lecture on the brief past, present, and future of military aesthetics in black culture. Cherry ranks American gangsta rappers on their theoretical arsenals culled from song lyrics and real life arrests. The lecture explores high-ranking black officers in the U.S. Military, the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party, and the aesthetics of rag tag African militias, pirates and bandits and much more. Through these topics, Cherry considers the way black culture contributes to and make itself essential in the age of modern warfare and how it will influence military technology of the future.
4:00 PM
ME/WE - poetic shorts about the individual & the African diaspora [Screening]
Featuring: Tyler Mitchell, Amirah Tajdin, Yasmin Thayná, Yeelen Cohen, Sienna Fekete, JM Harper, Jazmin Jones and Shaka King
4:00 PM
I Do Not Consent To This [Workshop]
Facilitator: Cleopatra Reynolds
A Facilitated Conversation on how we continue to experience generational and ancestral trauma through Non-Consent. This workshop will engage participants in confronting Non-Consent Culture. Participants will walk away with an understanding of consent through a racial and economic justice lens. Discussions will include identifying the intersections of non-consensual actions and internalized, interpersonal, and institutional oppression.
5:00 PM
How To Decolonize Your Heart [Performance Piece]
Performer: Yatta Zoker
YATTA will be performing looped, layered, and explosive songs from the world she has created to heal herself and others.
5:40 PM
Flavor of Green [Performance Piece]
Performer: Queens D. Light
The Flavor of Green explores how capitalistic pursuits of money has the tendency to kill off natural things. Through visual projectections and musical expression my goal is to create new conversation surrounding way to expand past monetary value.
5:15 PM
Afrofuturistic Aesthetics: Radically Inventive Short Films [Screening]
Featuring: Sondra Perry, Nikki Kaplowitz, Tabita Rezaire, Yeelen Cohen, Michael Williams, Dyani Douze, Jazmin Jones, Caleon Fox, and Terence Nance
This series showcases the ingenuity and urgency of new black voices in cinema. Embracing pixelization, appropriating viral videos, employing pop-up windows, and experimenting with narrative structure are just a few examples of the ways in which these shorts challenge the conventions of traditional filmmaking.
7:30 PM
Real Recognize Reel [Mixer]
A mixer for filmmakers of color.
Sunday, May 1st, 63 Fifth Ave
12:00 PM
My Vision Manifested: Pushing Past Fear + Getting What You Deserve [Workshop/Discussion]
Featuring: Shydeia Caldwell, Brittany Josephina
What would happen if you shamelessly pinpointed what you wanted in life? In this workshop, we'll discuss the value of manifestation, why we should take an experimental approach to our life and identify practical ways to receive what we deserve. Ending with a self-proclamation circle, we'll support each other in shamelessly affirming our authentic desires.
1:00 PM
The Quantified Self Movement [Workshop]
Facilitator: Ashley 'Alfie' Chambers Rapsey
Black is viral. Black is me. Black is visible. Black is we.
I recognize it as " The Quantified Self Movement”, that encourages everyone to log the events of their life. With this responsibility emerges a consciousness that dismantles the ideologies that once prevailed dominant in our societies, which have been exploited by a dependency on the news media to inform us about ourselves. Each talking point goes through a series of observations that can be identified through our collective engagement, with an open ended meditation to enable us to reflect on how media has affected us, how it is currently mobilizing, and where do we go from here.
1:00 PM
Cyber Serenity Sessions : Black Alternative Healing Methods [Workshop]
Facilitator: Elizabeth Mputu
A space where people can come to learn about alternative healing methods as it relates to art therapy and the future of technology and health. My aim is to, through lecture and performance, give the audience access to the kind of people making work that relates to the intersection of these topics
2:00 PM
The Impact of Black Subcultures in the Digital Age [Panel Discussion]
Moderators: Mia Coleman and Jamila Okubo
Panelists: Mars and Gabby of Art Hoe Collective, Fabiola Ching of Coalition Zine, Jenné and Christianna of Balti Gurls
A panel discussion exploring the impact of online and virtual spaces in culture making, connections between social media and activism, and how zine making allows for artistic growth and visibility in the black arts community.
2:00 PM
Towards a Black Speculative Design Pedagogy [Presentation]
Presenter: Mukhtara Yusuf
How can we move beyond an understanding of design as mere functional aesthetics towards one that incorporates issues of social justice? What opportunities do Black speculative art, Afro-futurism, and African futurism offer in understanding how the two might be merged? This talk will explore the possibility of such a Black speculative design pedagogy through my design piece "Okan Abiku". Using the Yoruba ontology of Abiku-the one predestined to death- I explore important issues of liminality, disability, and hybridity in my own identity. Through my talk I will explore the importance of a range of methods employed in my creative process. These methods bring together waste re-use, both literal and figurative, personal narrative and scholarly theory, to open up new possibilities of a Black speculative material design.
2:00 PM
Hyper Visibility of the Black Image
Featuring: Sable Smith, Devin Kenny, Caitlin Cherry
A panel discussion deconstructing the layers of hyper visibility of the blackness, commodification of black image online, and the influence of black artists’ work as resistance tactic.
3:00 PM
#BlackFashionNow
Moderator: Rikki Byrd
Panelists: Kai Avant Deleon, Zunyda, Devonrae Jones, Kiara Sharde, Claire Leana
A panel discussion exploring the experiences of black women in the fashion industry, black female, entrepreneurship, how to create community online, the importance of the digital environment as influence, etc.
3:00 PM
Black Love: A Spiritual, Communal, and Diasporic Dialogue [Panel Workshop]
Panelists: Alexis Mena, and Shannon Shird
3:30 PM
Before Tomorrow Comes: Ancestors and The Now [Performance Workshop]
Facilitators: Viktor Le, Gira Dahnee, Jenae Taylor, Adam Zanolini, Jonathan Lykes
In search of our Familiar, take me to the mothership, is a suite of ongoing multimedia improvisational ritual installations that explore the intersections between ancestral reverence and its contribution towards the sociopolitical “ future present” healing of black people. How might we use the past to create and generate new ideas, moments, objects, spaces and time for healing and preserving black bodies. Through a series of guided exercises, workshop participants will create improvisational sonic, movement and creative writing scores in response to statement “ the future has traditions”.
REST OF THE SCHEDULE TO BE LISTED SHORTLY….