BLACK AUDIO FILM COLLECTIVE FILM AND DISCUSSION SERIES (2014)
Introduction | liquid blackness in Conversation with David Lawson (BAFC) and Eddie Chambers (UT at Austin) | Special Guests | Event Schedules | Fluid Radicalisms Research Project | About the Artists | Support
Introduction
liquid blackness,with the support of the Center for Collaborative and International Arts at Georgia State University (CENCIA), announces the upcoming film series comprised of work made by the acclaimed Black Audio Film Collective (BAFC). Screenings and lectures will take place at Georgia State University’s Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and Georgia Tech’s Student Center Theater.
The films made by the Black Audio Film Collective have been exhibited internationally with Ghosts of Songs—a touring exhibition dedicated to the Black Audio Film Collective curated by the Otolith Group; Documenta X (1997); Documenta XI (2002), Tate Britain, and The Whitney Museum of American Art.
Screenings will occur September 26-28, 2014 and October 3-4, 2014 and include seminal films in the BAFC’s body of work including Expeditions One and Two (1982-1984), Handsworth Songs(1986), Twilight City (1989), Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993), and The Last Angel of History (1995). For the first weekend of the screenings one of the collective’s members, David Lawson, as well as art historian Eddie Chambers (University of Texas at Austin), founding member of the contemporaneous BLK Art Group and is one of the early historians of black arts in Britain, will offer an introduction to the collective’s work as well as a discussion of its location in the context of other contemporary arts. Following the screening on September 26, David Lawson will be in conversation with Professor Alessandra Raengo and Professor Chambers at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center for the series opening reception. On September 27, Eddie Chambers will lecture at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
During the second weekend, Professor Kara Keeling, Associate Professor of Critical Studies, American Studies and Ethnicity at USC, will give a lecture at Georgia Tech’s Student Center on (October 2, 2014). On October 4, Professor Keeling will offer a commentary on the scholarly and artistic impact of the John Akomfrah’s films The Last Angel of History (1995) and Memory Room 451 (1997) which directly engage with the themes of Afrofuturism.
liquid blackness in Conversation with David Lawson (BAFC) and Eddie Chambers (UT at Austin)
Special Guests
Weekend One
David Lawson, film producer, former member of the Black Audio Film Collective and co-founder of Smoking Dog Films.
Eddie Chambers, visual artist, curator, and scholar of art of the African Diaspora and Black Britons’ cultural identity formations.
Weekend Two
Kara Keeling, scholar of African American film, theories of race, sexuality, and gender in cinema, critical theory, and cultural studies.
Event Schedules
Weekend One - September 26-28, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
Screening - 6pm//Kopleff Auditorium
· Expeditions One: Signs of Empire andExpeditions Two: Images of Nationality (1982-1984) 35mm Kodak tape slide – 44 min
· Testament (1988) 16mm color film – 77 min
· Introduction by David Lawson of Smoking Dogs Films (former BAFC member) following the screenings
Opening Reception - 8:30–10:30pm//Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
Q&A with David Lawson
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Lecture, “Visualizing the Struggle of Black Britain” by Eddie Chambers– 3pm//National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Special Events Room
Screening – 6pm//Kopleff Auditorium
· Who Needs A Heart?(1991) 16mm color film – 78 min
· Handsworth Songs(1986) 16 mm color film – 59 min
Introduction by Eddie Chambers and panel discussion with David Lawson following the screenings
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Screening– 2pm//National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Special Events Room
· Twilight City (1989) 16mm – 52 min
· Mysteries of July (1991) 16mm color film – 54 min
Introduction and Q&A with David Lawson following the screenings.
Weekend Two – October 3-4, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Lecture, “Errantry and Imagination in Wanuri Kahiu’s Pumzi (2009)” by Kara Keeling – 6pm//Georgia Institute of Technology Student Center Theater
Friday, October 3, 2014
Screening - 6pm//Kopleff Recital Hall,
· Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993) 16mm color – 53 min
· 3 Songs on Pain, Light And Time (1995) Video – 25 minutes
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Screening - 6pm//Kopleff Recital Hall,
· Dr. Martin Luther King: Days of Hope (1997) Video – 60 minutes
· The Last Angel Of History (1995) Video – 45 min
· Memory Room 451 (1997) Video – 22 minutes
Introduction and Q&A with Professor Kara Keeling
Support
The series, co-sponsored by CENCIA, GSU’s Department of Communication, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Africa Atlanta 2014, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Emory’s Department of Film and Media Studies, and the Digital Moving Image Salon at Spelman College, and in collaboration with Film Love and Peripheral Visions, provides a rare opportunity to see a broad selection of work by the influential collective in the Southeast. All screenings are free and open to the public.
liquid blackness would like to thank these supporters and collaborators:
Center for Collaborative and International Arts (CENCIA)
Emory’s Department of Film and Media Studies
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Digital Moving Image Salon at Spelman
Peripheral Visions @ GSU
Georgia State University Moving Image Studies
