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HANK WILLIS THOMAS / BLACK RIGHTEOUS SPACE / FEATURING THE BROTHER MOVES ON / 2014

12 February - 12 February 2014

GOODMAN GALLERY in association with THE BLACK CUBE SESSIONS presents the premiere of Hank Willis Thomas’ video installation Black Righteous Space. Opening 12/2/2014 at THE ALEXANDER THEATRE.

This audio activated installation is made up of three screens, placed together to form a stage. The middle screen begins with the loaded symbol of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) flag, The original colors from the flag have been replaced with the colors of the current Republic of South Africa flag to reflect the counter cultural ideologies that overtook the principles of state-sanctioned racism that was once at the core of the country’s nationalistic pursuits. The microphone placed in the middle of stage picks up the sounds around the work and the image on the screen begins to morph and change according to the frequency of the sound. The screens on either side of the AWB logo reflect the American Confederate Rebel Flag with the colors of the Universal Negro Improvement Association flag.

The Brother Moves on will be performing in front of the stage and as the microphone picks up the sound of the performance, the images begin to change creating a visual kaleidoscope of discourses that characterize the multiplicity of voices involved in propelling the motion of history. The vibration of the audio makes its own unique abstraction out of the nationalist signs, using sound to pronounce the arbitrary nature of this symbolism. Between sets the microphone will be open to viewers inviting them to participate in the space, and to insert their own voice into the thrust of history

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About

Hank  Willis Thomas image

Hank Willis Thomas

Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976, New Jersey, United States) is a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture.

Thomas has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad including the International Center of Photography, New York; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain; Musée du quai Branly, Paris; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Netherlands.

Thomas’ work is included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

His collaborative projects include Question Bridge: Black Males, In Search Of The Truth (The Truth Booth), Writing on the Wall, and the artist-run initiative for art and civic engagement For Freedoms, which in 2017 was awarded the ICP Infinity Award for New Media and Online Platform. Thomas is also the recipient of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship (2019), the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (2018), Art for Justice Grant (2018), AIMIA | AGO Photography Prize (2017), Soros Equality Fellowship (2017), and is a member of the New York City Public Design Commission. Thomas holds a B.F.A. from New York University (1998) and an M.A./M.F.A. from the California College of the Arts (2004). In 2017, he received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute of Art and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts.

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