ARTS.BLACK

10/10/2018

Happening this Wednesday at the Stamps School of Art & Design!

Offering a unique art & design education within the University of Michigan. Focusing on creative practice as an engine for cultural change and innovation.

13/09/2018

Call for Applications:

In collaboration with Contemporary And, we will facilitate a three-day Critical Writing Workshop for young art critics based in Detroit, Michigan and in Germany. Our very own Taylor Aldridge will be the workshop!

The workshop is one format of the C& project “Show me your shelves - Libraries as places of encounter", which is part of the initiative “Deutschlandjahr USA 2018-19". It will take place at Room Project, Detroit from 26 to 28 November 2018. Deadline for submission: Monday, 15 October 2018.

Interested candidates should submit a CV, a one-page letter of motivation and/or a writing sample (1000 words max.) to [email protected]. A maximum number of 12 applicants will be accepted. Four spots are available for applicants from Germany. The invitation is open to young art writers in the very early stages of their career.

The project “Show me your shelves! Libraries as spaces of encounter” focuses on presenting African Diaspora cultures and lifestyles in Germany and the US. The idea and vision of the project is to reflect the coherences of Black history and present-day life between Germany and the US.

The project is implemented in four formats: 1: C& Critical Writing Workshop plus A SPECIAL C& print issue produced by 12 young American and German journalists.

The project “Show me your shelves! Libraries as spaces of encounter” focuses on presenting African Diaspora cultures and lifestyles in Germany and the US. The idea and vision of the project is to reflect coherences of Black history and present-day life between Germany and the US. The project is implemented in four formats: 1: C& Critical Writing Workshop plus A SPECIAL C& print issue produced by 12 young American and German journalists.THIS IS WHAT YOU WOULD BE APPLYING TO: Workshops at local libraries in the US in collaboration with small libraries in Germany. Here it will be discussed how libraries can expand on becoming open spaces of encounter along the topic of the thematic focus of the project. 3: Two small exhibitions by African Diasporic artists from the US and from Germany that address the workshop topics. 4: C& cyclopedia - Extensive digital backup and coverage of the project.

The C& Critical Writing Workshop aims to:
• Facilitate the circulation of knowledge and experience among participants
• Discuss arts reporting and critical writing practice particularly to attract a younger audience
• Provide the tools of how to write reviews, comments, and essays within a given timeframe
• Mediate how to pitch topics to different media platforms
• Give insights into the processes of editing
• Link participants to a network of arts journalists contributing to C& with the possibility of publishing on C& online
• Developing ideas for a C& Special Print Issue for “Show me your Shelves”. This Special Print Issue will exclusively contain contributions by the workshop participants.

02/08/2018

Taylor Renee Aldridge and Jessica Lynne discuss what it means to be Black in an art world that refuses to care for Black people

14/02/2018

We're thrilled to support Black Art Futures Fund which offers grants of approximately $2000 – $6000 for unrestricted general operating support (for Black Arts Organizations) or project support (for projects centering Black Art), and will include an additional stipend towards fundraising support with Red Olive Creative Consulting.

Applications are due March 1!

January 15, 2018 The Executive Board of Black Art Futures Fund is pleased to announce the inaugural application period for prospective grantees is open, and will close on March 1, 2018. We hope to…

12/02/2018

For our new column 'Detroit Locale' we sit down with Nari Ward to discuss his new installation & we share a visual essay by Taylor Simone, which examines the precariousness of redevelopment and branding. http://arts.black/category/detroit-locale/

02/02/2018

Save the Date & Grab your tickets!

We're excited to partner with Kickstarter on March 4th for an all-day communal updating of Wikipedia entries on subjects related to art and feminism. People of all gender identities and expressions are welcome to participate.

Light refreshments and lunch will be provided. Childcare is also available upon request, and we'll have a few laptops available for use. More information on these will be shared in the order confirmation email from Eventbrite.

Last year, Kickstarter, six partners, and neighborhood friends and family descended on Kickstarter HQ to amplify, diversify, and grow the voices of women on Wikipedia. Why? A 2011 Wikimedia Foundation survey found that less than 10% of its contributors identify as female. Female-identified artists a...

19/01/2018

New this month:

Our first translated piece (kreyol to english), an interview with Haitian art collective, Ti Moun Rezistans, by Sabrina Greig & Geraldaro Jeudy reflecting on the 2017 Ghetto Biennale

AND

An insightful review of Victor Ehikhamenor's latest at Tyburn Gallery by Billie McTernan!

29/12/2017

Spend the final weekend of 2017 reading our last articles of the year:

Amber Officer-Narvasa reviews Baby is a Cool Machine, an exhibition of works by Aria Dean, that was on view at American Medium earlier this fall.

AND

The Editors bring you their annual meme roundup!

Wishing you all a wonderful new year!

http://arts.black/2017/12/uburdeningtheobject/

  “How do you begin to unburden an object bound to nothing when you too are tethered to nothingness?...The market was driven and is driven b...

22/12/2017

Revisit one of our inaugural essays by Kareem Reid on the occasion of our 3 year anniversary!

And look out for our final issue of 2017 dropping next week!

http://artsdotblack.tumblr.com/post/105872646485/its-all-weve-got-carving-space-for-black-art

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28/10/2017

For those of you who havent yet visited the "Fictions" show at the Studio Museum, read about it on our website in an interview with the artist Deborah Roberts by writer Amarie Gipson.

Here's an excerpt:
"Working primarily in collage, she explores the social construction of beauty and its impact on racial identity and consciousness. Using art history, pop-culture, American history and Black culture, she focuses on power and its relation to self-perception. By centering the experiences of young black girls in her intricate portraits, she highlights those features that are at the helm of both scrutiny and admiration."...

http://arts.black/2017/10/inconversationwithdeborahroberts/

28/10/2017

This month, read Chloe Bass's compelling essay "Sorry not sorry", commissioned as part of Field Perspectives 2017.

A quick glimpse:
"In contemplating how our world holds us (or doesn’t), I have been examining the role of apology. We seem to fear direct apology, perhaps because it sets a precedent for future reparations..."

http://arts.black/2017/10/sorrynotsorry/

20/10/2017

We're excited to announce the first musical release of interdisciplinary artist reid good entitled MFNA which chronicles the artist’s experience as a student in an MFA program at a prestigious school in a wealthy Detroit suburb. Stream now on ARTS.BLACK:

http://arts.black/2017/10/reid-good-releases-ep-mfna-a-soundtrack-to-an-mfa-experience/

04/10/2017

Hey everyone! We still have a limited number of totes and tees for you all. Send out your orders here or to our email account and help us reach our matching grant goal.

The totes cost 20 a piece and the tees cost 25.

30/09/2017

This month, read André Daughtry's interview with our new contributor Joe Tolbert, whose media project New Sanctuary premiered at Judson Memorial Church on September 27.

Excerpts from the conversation:
André Daughtry- "The first thing that I want to say about the Black body is that I feel like I approach my work in a way that is similar to how Octavia Butler wrote her books. She fashioned her characters from the types of people that she knew and that she grew up with, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that what it is that she was aiming to say in her books was exclusively Black. and I feel that as well. I like to work with dancers, because of my questions of the ephemeral or of the esoteric aspect of mysticism, and the subjective instance that takes place to an individual that can be interpreted as a mystical happening..."

http://arts.black/2017/09/in-conversation-with-andre-daughtry/

29/09/2017

"Each generation, coming out of obscurity, must define its mission and fulfill or betray it"- Frantz Fanon
Catch Taylor Aldrige's new post 'On Equity, Sustainable Design, And Detroit' on our website and read her poignant exploration of 'the poetics of production' in her analysis of "Footwork"-a project which she was a part of at the 10th Biennale Internationale Design at St.Etienne, France.

http://arts.black/2017/09/on-equity/

29/09/2017

"Each generation, coming out of obscurity, must define its mission and fulfill or betray it"- Frantz Fanon

Catch Taylor Aldrige's new post 'On Equity, Sustainable Design, And Detroit' on our website and read her poignant exploration of 'the poetics of production' in her analysis of "Footwork"-a project which she was a part of at the 10th Biennale Internationale Design at St.Etienne, France.

13/09/2017

One of our mustread selection of books for the Press Press Library- Jeff Chang's "Who We Be"
Read it, not only for its relevance but also for its extraordinary use of language!

06/09/2017

"I could not help but smile as I looked at the photographs and remembered the beauty, frustration, boredom and constant curiosity of adolescence; Go-Go and Aaliyah and Mr.Webb's English class that always turned into conversations about.."
- Angela Caroll

Catch Angela Caroll's review of 'Two Lane Stories'-an exhibition currently on view at Gallery CA in Baltimore-for this month.

http://arts.black/2017/08/reflections-on-black-masculinities/

25/08/2017

This month, Angela N. Carroll offers a poignant review of Gallery CA's current exhibition, Two Lanes Stories, that examines and critiques notions of a singular black artistic identity narrative.

“… by the time you read this, I will be even blacker.”- Amiri Baraka “Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA. Co***ne quarter piece got war and peace ins...

22/08/2017

Thanks Ideas City!

01/08/2017

Taylor Renee Aldridge speaks with Model D about our upcoming Book Fair!

Recipients of the 2016 the John S. and James L. Knight Arts Challenge award, the co-founders of ARTS.BLACK are holding a Book Fair and "Friendrasier" at Good Lab in Detroit's Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood.

25/07/2017

Congrats Ei Jane

From Mhysa’s first LP, fantasii

19/07/2017

On Saturday, August 26, we'll be hosting our 1st Book Fair + Friendraiser in Detroit in support of our Knight Arts Challenge Grant. It's a matching grant, which means that we are responsible for raising a $15,000 match by this fall. Your help is key!

We're programming the fair around the theme of art and labor, so if you have plans to be in Detroit and are looking for some new finds, join us at Good Lab that afternoon. Can't make it in person? Consider making a tax-deductible donation ( via Allied Media Projects) to help us meet our goal or donating a good book (or two!) for the fair.

If you're interested in contributing some books from the list, or if you have a few books to share that aren't on our list, shoot us a note at [email protected].

11/07/2017

Our monthly sustainers keep us going! Consider making a donation to support our writers.

https://www.alliedmedia.org/arts-black

Innovating Artistic Dialogue ARTS.BLACK is a journal of art criticism from Black perspectives predicated on the belief that art criticism should be an accessible dialogue - a tool through which we question, celebrate, and talk back to the global world of contemporary art. ARTS.BLACK was founded in 2...

07/07/2017

Thanks to Bmoreart for recording our recent talk. For those who were unable to be in the room, here's the footage!

A Panel Discussion on Black Voices in Contemporary Art Criticism with ARTS.BLACK editors Taylor Renee Aldridge and Jessica Lynne

30/06/2017

If you're in London tonight, you won't want to miss Arthur Jafa in conversation at The Serpentine Galleries! http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/park-nights-2017-arthur-jafa

Cinematographer and artist Arthur Jafa hosts an evening in response to his summer exhibition at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions.

30/06/2017

Daily Serving has been spotlighting some of our favorite past articles!

an international forum for contemporary art

29/06/2017

8 Artist-Run Blogs To Keep Up With Art Criticism Today | In good company with our friends at Temporary Art Review and Contempt Orary!

Blogs like Two Coats of Paint, ARTS.BLACK, and Talking Pictures offer insight into how artists view other artists.

29/06/2017

New this month: Billie McTernan reviews the Jamaica Biennial and Jessica Lynne sits down with Director Charlotte Brathwaite for a conversation on theater and collaboration.

20/06/2017

All this week, Daily Serving is republishing some of our best essays and reviews! Read them here:

http://www.dailyserving.com/

an international forum for contemporary art

16/06/2017

"Even though one would hope that Obama’s Democratic ascension to the top of the federal government would, in its essence, mark a shift in race relations in America given his identity, his intentional display of an elite, privileged socioeconomic status did not lead to a more rigorous protection of the Black livelihood in this country.

The Black Presidential Imaginary exhibits several forms of Black cultural production in relation to Obama’s visual significance, in order to better understand this duality." Sabrina Greig

The Presidential Library Project: The Black Presidential Imaginary, an exhibition on view at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, complicates the visual...

05/06/2017

Ahead of their public conversation with BmoreArt, Kelly Louise Barton interviews Taylor and Jess about the creation of the journal and how they juggle the many responsibilities that come wit working in the arts.

The Birth of ARTS.BLACK & its Place in Art Criticism: An Interview with Editors Jessica Lynne & Taylor Renee by Kelly Louise Barton

27/05/2017

Our May issue is live featuring writing from new contributors Sabrina Greig and Martha Haile!

25/05/2017

Can't wait to see you Baltimore!
Catch us in conversation with Cara Ober on Saturday, June 24th, 5pm at The Motor House.

The event is free and open to the public.

ARTS.BLACK is a journal of art criticism from Black perspectives predicated on the belief that art criticism should be an accessible dialogue – a tool through which we question, celebrate, and talk back to the global world of contemporary art. The journal is edited by Taylor Renee and Jessica Lynne....

22/05/2017

New issue coming Friday!