On the Blackness of Blacknuss (Set)
y’all.
i saw Arthur Jafa’s “Love is the Message, the Message is Death” yesterday. it’s a 7 min video of found-footage overlayed with Kanye’s “Ultralight Beam.”
along with the press release, there were free pamphlets for visitors – Arthur Jafa: My Black Death – i read it on the subway last night after seeing the show. the link above is the complete set which also features Frantz Fanon, Sylvia Wynter, and W.E.B. DuBois.
mind blown.
the pamphlet touches on picasso, duchamp, polluck and more. it contextualizes their artistic production in relation to african art, black music i.e. jazz and how both (african art + black music) redirected western art practices toward a black aesthetic, yet by way of sponging off the genius and removing black bodies, etc.
it felt like a lot of what we discussed in classes last semester, but of course a vastly different analysis. fingers crossed it travels and we all get a chance to see it soon in the bay or elsewhere.
5/5ths 