“Museum as Hub: Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus: Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet!” Exhibition
The New Museum of Contemporary Art
This event has ended.
“Museum as Hub: Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet” is an exhibition, reading room, and discussion space inspired by the energy and politics of radical, independent Black periodicals published during the first half of the twentieth century. Borne out of “Book Club” (2010), a think tank and reading group organized by artists Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus for Project Row Houses, Houston, “Alpha’s Bet” investigates approaches to language, the written word, self-education, and democratic distributions of knowledge. The project draws upon two hundred years of dialogues that span the spiritual, pedagogic, visionary, and populist. These perspectives are reflected in the exhibition’s title that parphrases theorist and artist Rammellzee (1960-2010), who argued that language as a social agreement is not a passive vessel or known quantity but rather possesses the potential to reimagine structures of power.
Expanding upon ideas explored in the periodicals on display, Jemison and Cyrus have invited artists to create posters inspired by the American Library Association’s READ campaign. Contributing artists include: Regina Agu, Firelei Báez, Jamal Cyrus, Nathaniel Donnett, Chitra Ganesh, Tia-Simone Gardner, Steffani Jemison, Nikki Pressley, Robert Pruitt and Autumn Knight, Bobby Ray, Martine Syms, and Ginger Brooks Takahashi. These posters are joined by a collection of contemporary chapbooks, zines, and self-published volumes, which explore the potential of the publication form today, offering perspectives by: Terry Adkins, Adebukola Bodunrin, Nsenga Knight, David Leggett, Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud, Eliza Myrie, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Mitchell Squire, Martine Syms, Gregory Tate, and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs.
Media
Schedule
from October 12, 2011 to December 04, 2011