Yearly Archives: 2014

Arthur Jafa born 1960, in Mississippi, and studied Architecture and FilmHoward University in Washington, D.C.  Jafa is a cultural critic/worker, visual artist and African diasporic organic intellectual.  He often uses film to investigate issues surrounding black cultural politics and black cultural nationalism; is known for his longterm quest for an “authentic” black cinema. In his words “the idea(s) is obvious, the implementation is not.”

He is the director of Slowly This (1995), Tree (1999), and Deshotten1.0 (2009). His cinematography credits include Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991), John Akomfrah’s Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993); Spike Lee’sCrooklyn (1994), and Manthia Diawara’s Rouch in Reverse (1995).

Arthur Jafa’s essay “69”: http://www.blackculturalstudies.org/a_jafa/69.html

Deshotten (1.0) 

Lecture at M.I.T : http://mit.tv/YiRxqB

[youtube width=”640″ height=”480″]http://youtu.be/c4PEcVK6gbM[/youtube]

Matthew Day Jackson was born in Panorama City CA, 1974, and graduated with an MFA from Rutgers University in 2001, following his BFA from the University of Washington in Seattle and in 2009.  He received his NHRA License, from Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School, in Gainesville, FL. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn.

Jackson works in a multidisciplinary practice of sculpture, painting, collage, photography, drawing, video, performance and installation. His work explores a concept that he terms ‘the Horriful’, the belief that everything one does has the potential to bring both beauty and horror.

[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″]http://youtu.be/WzoizmdV9UU[/youtube]

MDJ Racing <— Check that out!

K8 Hardy was born in 1977 in Fort Worth, Texas, and began spelling her name K8 as a teenager while working on, and publishing various zines.   She holds a BA from Smith College, studied at the Whitney Independent Study Program, and holds an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts at Bard College, she is currently represented by Reena Spauldings in New York.

Hardy is a founding member of the queer feminist journal and artist collective LTTR, and has directed music videos for groups including Le Tigre, Lesbians on Ecstasy, and Men.

Wikipedia says, “Hardy works through performance art without allegiance to any particular medium. She mines pop culture for material and eschews craft based virtuosity in photography, sculpture, and video. Hardy believes in the power of flamboyant and bold gestures, and in conversations of play, which constitute her endeavors toward total expression.”

Interview with K8 Hardy: http://bombsite.com/issues/119/articles/6429

Liz Magic Laser (b. 1981, New York) lives and works in Brooklyn. Her performances and videos intervene in semi-public spaces such as bank vestibules, movie theaters and newsrooms, and have involved collaborations with actors, dancers, surgeons, and motorcycle gang members. Her recent work appropriates the dominant performance techniques and psychological strategies used by the media and politicians to sway public opinion. She earned a BA from Wesleyan University (2003) and an MFA from Columbia University (2008).

She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (2008) and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program (2009). Most recently, her work was the subject of solo exhibitions at Paula Cooper Gallery, New York (2013) the Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany (2013); DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas (2013) and Mälmo Konsthall, Mälmo, Sweden (2012).

[vimeo width=”500″ height=”400″]http://vimeo.com/75800729[/vimeo]

Public Relations / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, 2013, two-channel video installation

Interview with Liz Magic Laser:

http://dismagazine.com/discussion/56210/liz-magic-laser-absolute-event/