I am often skeptical of protest art behind glass, yet I still cannot deny the pleasure of experiencing politically charged artworks in a venue making the effort.
Dread Scott
Posted inArt
Dread Scott Celebrates a Long-forgotten Rebellion as a Moment of Resilience
Merging past and present Scott magnifies what has been reduced in American history to a plaque on a highway.
Posted inArt
Marches Can Only Come and Go: The Reality of Dread Scott’s “Slave Rebellion”
In highlighting a neglected piece of history that struck fear in the hearts of white enslavers, Scott made a statement about who gets to mine our history, simultaneously prompting questions about intentions, impact, and praxis.
Posted inNews
Dread Scott’s “Slave Rebellion” Promises an Empowering Take on the Historical Reenactment Trope
In 1811, hundreds of enslaved people marched through Louisiana chanting “freedom or death.” While their oft-forgotten journey ended in massacre, artist Dread Scott spent six years organizing a reenactment to celebrate the legacy of their courage, to be staged November 8-9.
Posted inArt
What Revolution Might Look Like
This show is different from many of the previous at the 8th Floor gallery precisely because it is so intertwined with the theme of voices and their sounds.
Posted inArt
A Famous Anti-Slavery Speech Finds New Life in Brooklyn
“A Time for Seditious Speech” aims to show that speech can serve as a call to direct action, sometimes even violence.
Posted inArt
Dread Scott Reenacts a Slave Revolt to Radically Reconsider Freedom
Scott’s project reenacts the 1811 German Coast Uprising, the largest slave revolt in North American history.
Posted inArt
The Political Problems of the Contemporary “Flâneur”
An exhibition at the Barnes Foundation uses the theme of the contemporary flânuer to draw connections to its 19th-century collection, but the concept is deeply muddled.
Posted inArt
A Showing of Art World Solidarity on Inauguration Day
Far from serving as an excuse for self-pity or left melancholy, the Occupy Museums event was an effective counter-inaugural: a ceremony marking a wider commitment to shared struggle.
Posted inArt
Dread Scott Discusses Controversial Lynching Banner that Sparked Threats
For one week, the monumental flag bearing the text, “A MAN WAS LYNCHED BY POLICE YESTERDAY” flew outside Jack Shainman Gallery’s West 20th location as Dread Scott’s unfortunate update to the nearly identical one the NAACP once flew outside its Manhattan headquarters.
Posted inOpinion
“A Man Was Lynched by Police Yesterday” Flag Goes Up in New York City
This week, we’ve witnessed another onslaught of senseless killings of Black people by police in the United States.
Posted inArt
Brooklyn Museum’s Activist Art Show Is a Messy Collision of Curation and Politics
Agitprop! ought to be an outstanding exhibition of politically engaged art. A feverish amalgam of historic and contemporary artwork, the exhibition is undermined by an ambitious but poorly executed curatorial strategy.