Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art to open at Walker July 2014
RADICAL PRESENCE: BLACK PERFORMANCE IN CONTEMPORARY ART, GROUNDBREAKING SURVEY FROM 1960s TO PRESENT, OPENS AT THE WALKER ART CENTER IN JULY 2014
RANGE OF PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS TO ACCOMPANY THE EXHIBITION
MINNEAPOLIS, April 14 2014The Walker Art Center is pleased to present the groundbreaking survey Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, on view July 24, 2014 through January 4, 2015 in the Target and Friedman galleries. Radical Presence chronicles the emergence and development of black performance art beginning with Fluxus and conceptual art in the 1960s, through the 1980s, and up to present-day practices, providing a critical framework for the history of black performance tradition. While this tradition has previously been contextualized from the theater perspective, its prevalence in visual art has gone largely unexamined until now. Organized and first presented by the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Radical Presence was co-presented in New York City by The Studio Museum in Harlem and New York Universitys Grey Art Gallery. The final opportunity to view the exhibition will be at the Walker.
Featuring more than 100 works by some 36 artists, Radical Presence includes video and photo documentation of performances, scores and installations, interactive works, and artworks created as a result of performance actions, presenting a rich and complex look at this important facet of contemporary art. Radical Presence is a risk-taking exhibition that looks at the vitality of performance-based works by black artists from the United States and the Caribbean over several decades and across generations, said Olga Viso, Executive Director of the Walker. Engaging works where the performer is often the medium and subject, the exhibition is both provocative and captivating, as it addresses the limits of representation of the black body and elicits timely reflection on American culture and identity. Artists include: Derrick Adams, Papo Colo, Coco Fusco, Theaster Gates, Ulysses S. Jenkins, Kalup Linzy, Jayson Musson aka Hennessy Youngman, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine OGrady, Benjamin Patterson, Adam Pendleton, Pope.L, Jacolby Satterwhite, Dread Scott, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others.
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