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What is called the imagination (from image, magi, magic, magician, etc.) is a practical vector from the soul. It stores all data, and can be called on to solve all our “problems.” The imagination is the projection of ourselves past our sense of ourselves as “things.” Imagination (image) is all possibility, because from the image, the initial circumscribed energy, any use (idea) is possible. And so begins that image’s use in the world. Possibility is what moves us.
—Amiri Baraka, “The Revolutionary Theatre”, Liberator, July 1965
Exhibitions and Events of Interest in and around Cambridge
Offer from the MFA
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is offering one free admission to conference attendees who visit the Museum between Thursday 3/22 and Monday 3/25.
To receive free admission, attendees should go to the ticketing desks at the Huntington Avenue or Fenway entrances, mention the conference by name, and present their conference badges.
Please see the MFA’s website for information on planning visits including open hours and directions by public transportation and car. http://www.mfa.org/visit
EXHIBITIONS ON THE HARVARD CAMPUS
Resignifications
Through May 5, 2018
Curated by Awam Ampka
The ReSignifications exhibition was originally presented in 2015 at New York University’s Villa La Pietra and at the Bardini Museum as part of “Black Portraiture[s] II: Imaging the Black Body and Re-Staging Histories” conference in Florence, Italy
Public Reception, March 8, 6pm-8pm
Curator’s Tour, March 9, noon to 1:30pm
Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art
Hutchins Center for African and African American Research
Harvard University
102 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA
http://www.coopergalleryhc.org/new-events/
Renée Green: Within Living Memory
Feb 1 – Apr 15, 2018
Carpenter Center, Levels 3 + 1 + 0
24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
https://carpenter.center/program/renee-green-within-living-memory
Lynn Davis. Africa (1997-1998)
Through the spring 2018 semester
This is the first time Lynn Davis’s majestic images of important architectural sites in African have been exhibited on the Harvard campus
Curated by Dell M. Hamilton
Neil L. and Angelica Zander Rudenstine Gallery
Hutchins Center for African and African American Research
104 Mount Auburn Street, 3R
Cambridge, MA
http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/fall-2017-lynn-davis-africa-1997-1998
Hand Code: Makers in Proximity
February 23-March 24, 2018
Closing Reception, March 24 3pm-6pm
224 Western Avenue, Allston, MA
https://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/event/handcode
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Family of Man Revisited
Photography in a Global Age
March 26, 4-5pm
Harvard Art Museums, Menschel Hall, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/family-of-man-revisited-photography-in-a-global-age
CONFERENCES ON THE HARVARD CAMPUS
Harvard Journal on Law and Race: Spring Symposium: Racial Justice & the Arts
March 22-23, 2018
Harvard Law School
6 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA
http://hjrej.com/2018-symposium-racial-justice-the-arts/
Second Annual Black Religion, Spirituality and Culture Conference
March 22-23, 2018
Organized by Harambee, students of African descent at the Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
45 Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
https://harvardbrscc.wixsite.com/2018
Ninth Annual African Development Conference
March 23-24, 2018
Harvard Law School, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard College
EVENTS IN THE BOSTON AREA
Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth
Through May 20, 2018 – Hostetter Gallery
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
25 Evans Way
Boston, MA
Life in Stories on March 24 includes artist talks and performances with artists Elisa Hamilton & Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, and choreographer Marsha Parilla
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/fra-angelico
(un)expected families
Through June 24, 2018 – Featuring the work of Nan Goldin, Carrie Mae Weems, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Harry Callahan, David Hilliard, Nicholas Nixon, Abe Morell, and Sage Sohier
Herb Ritts Gallery and Clementine Brown Gallery
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/unexpected-families
Wangechi Mutu: A Promise to Communicate
January 20-December 31,2018 – Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Wall
Curated by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator & Jessica Hong, Assistant Curator
Institute of Contemporary/Boston – Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall
25 Harbor Shore Dive
Boston, MA
Gallery hours during the Black Portraitures conference: Thursday & Friday: 10am – 9pm, Saturday & Sunday, 10am-5pm
https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/wangechi-mutu-promise-communicate
The Artist’s Voice: Wangechi Mutu and Okwui Okpokwasili in Conversation
March 8, 2018, 7pm
Institute of Contemporary/Boston
25 Harbor Shore Dive, Boston
https://www.icaboston.org/events/artist’s-voice-wangechi-mutu-and-okwui-okpokwasili
March for Our Lives
Boston Common
139 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/march-for-our-lives-boston-tickets-43712955627
EXHIBITIONS IN CAMBRIDGE
An exhibition of contemporary art by black women artists working and living in the region
March 20 – April 21, 2018
Curated by Dell M. Hamilton
Opening reception, March 29, 6pm-8pm
Lesley University College of Art and Design
VanDernoot Gallery, University Hall
1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Gallery hours during the Black Portraitures conference: Thursday: noon to 8pm, Friday: noon to 6pm, Saturday & Sunday: noon to 5pm
https://lesley.edu/events/sayhername-watch-us-werk
KATSUMI HAYAKAWA: Paintings and Sculptures
Curated by Bonnell Robinson
Roberts Gallery, Lunder Art Center
Lesley University College of Art and Design
1801 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
https://lesley.edu/events
Before Projection: Video Sculpture 1974-1995
Featuring the work of Dara Birnbaum, Ernst Caramelle, Takahiko Iimura, Shigeko Kubota, Mary Lucier, Muntadas, Tony Oursler, Nam June Paik, Friederike Pezold, Adrian Piper, Diana Thater and Maria Vedder
Through April 15, 2018
Curated by Henriette Huldisch, Director of Exhibitions and Curator
MIT List Center
20 Ames Street, Building E15
Cambridge, MA
https://listart.mit.edu/exhibitions/projection-video-sculpture-1974-1995
EXHIBITIONS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Pitch – Allison Janae Hamilton
Opening on March 25, 2018
Susan Cross and Larry Ossei-Mensah
Curator’s Tour, Sunday March 25, 12:30pm. RSVP is mandatory to Emily Ross eross@massmoca.org or 413.664.4481, ext. 8150
Mass MoCA
1040 Mass MoCA Way
North Adams, MA
http://massmoca.org/event/allison-janae-hamilton-pitch/
Sam Gilliam in Dialogue
February 15-September 3, 2018
Williams College Museum of Art
15 Lawrence Hill Drive
Williamstown, MA
Gallery hours during the Black Portraitures conference: Thursday, 10am – 8pm, Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 10am-5pm
https://wcma.williams.edu/sam-gilliam-in-dialogue/
LECTURES
Zadie Smith: On Writing
March 26, 2018, 7pm
Tsai Center Performance Center
Boston University
685 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA
https://www.bu.edu/calendar/?uid=208060@17.calendar.bu.edu&day=2018-3-26
PERFORMANCES
Alvin Ailey: Wang Center Celebrity series
March 22-25, 2018
Boch Center/Wang Theater
270 Tremont Street
Boston, MA
http://celebrityseries.org/ailey18/index.htm
97.7 Radio Presents GAP X
Saturday, March 24, 2018, 9pm
The Gap X is a cover band that performs hit of legendary R&B group, The Gap Band
Mixx 360 Club
665 Broadway
Malden, MA
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/977-dance-party-presents-gap-x-the-band-tickets-42384571394