CCA Curatorial Practice class of 2017 present: Black Light
The Wattis Institute, 360 Kansas Street, (between 16th & 17th Streets), San Francisco
March 16–May 14, 2017
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents Black Light, an exhibition curated by CCA’s Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice class of 2017.
The project — under the mentorship of department chair Leigh Markopoulos and associate professor Julian Myers-Szupinska — gathers invited artists, art historians, and founders of institutions to share their perspectives through lectures, screenings, and workshops hosted in a purpose-built meeting space in the gallery.
The project draws its title from artist Faith Ringgold’s landmark Black Light painting series made during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Informed by Ringgold’s legacy as well as the current political climate, the exhibition poses questions about how to reconceptualize cultural representation, engagement, and critique:
- What spaces for agency are available to black artists today, and by what means have they produced spaces for themselves?
- What models does history offer artists working now?
- What role do institutions play?
- How do communities make themselves visible?
- Can artists dream the sociopolitical landscape differently, and what forms does this dreaming take?
