An Extra Day To Be Black with Michael Paul Britto

Canon Intros EOS 60D Full-HD DSLR

Canon Intros EOS 60D Full-HD DSLR

Be Black Baby: A House Party Presents Michael Jackson 2004

Be Black Baby: a House Party Presents Michael Jackson 2004

Recess Activities, Inc. 41 Grand Street, Ground Floor New York

Curated by Uri McMillan and Organized by Simone Leigh and Recess Activities, Inc. 

Friday September 10, 2010

5pm – 12am culminating in a dance party with DJ Khary Polk

Participants include Michael Paul Britto, Deville Cohen, Abigail Deville, LaTasha N. Diggs, Liz Magic Laser, Tavia N’yongo, Lorraine O’Grady, Kenya (Robinson), The Edge School of the Arts, and special thanks to Rashida Bumbray.

September 10, 2010 Uri McMillan will present the b-side of a conference on Michael Jackson. This evening of performance and live tableaux will reinterpret the inaugural Michael Jackson academic conference McMillan organized for Yale University in 2004.

McMillan will invite artists, intellectuals and performers to reassess Jackson’s larger-than-life persona.  Turning the staid academic conference inside-out, participants of the updated conference will present a b-side performance; Abigail Deville’s art installation will act as the keynote speaker and papers will serve as ready-mades delivered by unexpected players.

September 10 Schedule of Events

5:00 – 6:00               Press Preview & Cocktail Reception, by invitation

6:00 – 7:00               Open to the public: Keynotes Abigail Deville & Deville Cohen

7:00 – 9:00              Ready-mades, Papers, Performances

9:00 – 12:00            Dance Party with DJ Khary, Potluck, BYOB,

Michael Paul Britto will exhibit in Manifesta 8!

Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, is a roving, contemporary art event, showcasing the most innovative work by artists and curators from Europe and beyond.

In the early 1990s, Manifesta was launched as a unique, roving art event, a project devised by a Dutch initiative that took shape as the International Foundation Manifesta (IFM), an independent and not-for-profit organisation with offices in Amsterdam. As a response to the political and economic changes brought about by the end of the Cold War and the consequent moves towards European integration, it aspired to provide a dynamic platform that could support a growing network of visual arts professionals throughout the region. For this reason, from the outset Manifesta proclaimed that alongside its organisation of biennial exhibitions, it aimed to stimulate an expanding artistic network and to develop ongoing workshops for research and experimentation, involving individual artists and artistic communities from diverse backgrounds from all over the continent.

In adherence to its mandate of playing a critical role in the advancement and enhancement of dialogue within Europe, Manifesta has always sought to work with artists and professionals who might otherwise have limited access to the dominant mainstream discourse in contemporary art. This decision to incorporate complex situations and diverse geo-political areas has far-reaching implications, not only in terms of the evolution of Manifesta, but also in relation to the international art scene as a whole. The complex nature of each different location provides challenges as well as specific opportunities for each consecutive Manifesta edition. Each time, Manifesta aims to be engaged in a specific way, to make use of the location and its particular reality, not merely to utilise it for site-specific projects but rather to integrate the sites into the broader artistic project as a resource of intellectual capital to provide all participants with an ample opportunity for research and innovation.


Michael Paul Britto's Manifesta 8 Page

Manifesta 8 Home Page

Michael Paul Britto: THE COST OF FORGETTING

Michael Paul Britto: THE COST OF FORGETTING

Exhibition Dates: May 28 - July 10, 2010

Opening: TONIGHT! Friday, May 28, 2010 6-9pm

Curated by Marcos Dimas and Christine Licata
Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6pm, Thursday 1-7pm, Monday and Sunday Closed
As part of our 40th anniversary celebration, the Taller Boricua presents the third and last in our series of multiple, solo exhibitions by artists who share facets of our mission: art and aesthetics, community, art activism as well as music and performance.

Michael Paul Britto's exhibition "The Cost of Forgetting" confronts the issues of racism and identity politics through both a historical and contemporary lens. His work examines the current manifestations and consequences of the ongoing inequality in America and the price society pays for its denial. His video "And They Sold Us Like Beasts" is created from a looped scene of a slave ship crossing the ocean from the film "Roots." Seen from the inside of the hull looking out toward the waves, the piece encourages a visceral and immediate sense of empathy and humanity to the logically incomprehensible atrocities of the past, allowing for honest, open discourse in the present. Although slave ships no longer exist, the sense of powerlessness and injustice driven by discrimination is still prevalent today. "Who Has the Power?" consists of a life size Ku Klux Klan robe made from African style textiles accompanied by a video depicting the transformation. By switching the semantics of the historical language of dominance and oppression, Britto empowers viewers to see the possibility of change and the transient nature of power and control at its core. "Bottle Blonde #1" and "Don't drink and..."appropriate recognizable consumable goods to reveal the underlying, self-negating stereotypes promoted within the racially biased mass media. These deeply ingrained social discourses offer African Americans distorted white-centric views of idealized beauty and promote detrimental aspirations of negative notoriety versus positive achievement. Britto engages the viewer in provocative, accessible and insightful dialogues about racial prejudices as well as the potential to redefine them.

Taller Boricua Galleries
1680 Lexington Avenue, NYC, N.Y. 10029
t: 212.831.4333 f: 212.831.6274 e: contact@tallerboricua.org www.tallerboricua.org
Directions: 6 Train to 103Street / Free admission / Center is accessible for individuals with disabilities

LMCC Workspace Open Studio Weekend 4.30 – 5.2.2010 125 Maiden Lane, 9th and 14th Floors

LMCC Workspace Open Studio Weekend
4.30 – 5.2.2010
125 Maiden Lane, 9th and 14th Floors

Join LMCC as we open our 2009-10 Workspace studios to the public for one weekend only, with an opening reception, open hours, and a reading. Meet the 20 visual artists and 9 writers in their studio spaces and see what they’ve been working on since September 2009!

Workspace is LMCC's 9-month studio residency program serving emerging visual artists and writers working in all media and genres from painting to video, sculpture to photography, poetry to playwriting. Studios are located in unique spaces generously donated by the downtown real estate community.

Schedule
Friday,April 30
7-9PM Opening Reception
Saturday, May 1
12-5PM Open Hours
6-8PM Open Texts: Reading and Performance by writers-in-residence
Sunday, May 2
12-5PM Open Hours

All events are free and open to the public. RSVP is required for all events: www.LMCC.net/openstudios

Civil Disobedience at White Box NY, April 17th, 7-10 PM, One Night Only!

Civil Disobedience at White Box NY, April 17^th, 7-10 PM

Rutgers MFA grad student Matt Posey & LaToya Frazier and White Box NY announce a video screening night on April 17^th, 2010.  Videos that are screened address sociopolitical issues including race, gender, class, and economics.  The screening represents new attitudes toward social interaction and encompasses numerous styles, including performance, appropriation, and documentary, to examine the individual’s role in a group.

White Box NY is located at 329 Broome Street. New York, NY 10002.