Dave McKenzie, Futuro (2013), inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 61 x 61 x 2 inches. Collection of Ben and Aileen Krohn.
Presented by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Colored People Time challenges the traditional exhibitions structure and format to initiate a profound exploration into the banal and everyday ways in which the history of slavery and colonialism permeates the present and impacts the future. Broken into three separate chapters—Mundane Futures, Quotidian Pasts, and Banal Presents—which will open consecutively over the course of 2019, the exhibition explores how the subjugation of black people in America was not only part of our country’s foundation, but exists within our present moment, and shapes our future. Colored People Time will feature a range of emerging and established artists including Aria Dean, Kevin Jerome Everson, Matthew Angelo Harrison, Carolyn Lazard, Dave McKenzie, Martine Syms, Sable Elyse Smith, and Cameron Rowland.
On view from February 1–March 31, 2019, the first chapter of the exhibition, Mundane Futures, aims to develop a discourse around the future of black cultural production. Attempting to look beyond science fiction and fantasy, the exhibition will peer into a future focused on the ordinary through the lens of four contemporary artists: Martine Syms, Kevin Jerome Everson, Aria Dean, and Dave McKenzie.
Quotidian Pasts will examine the complexities of collecting and displaying African objects. The exhibition is co-curated with anthropologist Monique Scott and features new work by Matthew Angelo Harrison. The final exhibition chapter, Banal Presents, will feature new and recent work by Sable Elyse Smith and Cameron Rowland and a newly commissioned work by Carolyn Lazard.
The first chapter of the exhibition, Mundane Futures, will be on view at ICA Philadelphia through March 31, 2019. For more information, visit icaphila.org.
