“Encounters in the Black Arts: THE GREAT NORTH,” with writer-director Jenn Nkiru a liquid blackness Benefit Screening
The Plaza Theatre
1049 Ponce De Leon Avenue Northeast
Atlanta, Georgia, 30306
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. RSVP required.
The event will be followed by a reception at Sweet Auburn BBQ where dinner and drinks will be served. To purchase a ticket to the reception, visit our RSVP page.
liquid blackness is excited to announce its first benefit screening of THE GREAT NORTH (2024) from the visionary British-Nigerian artist and filmmaker Jenn Nkiru. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the filmmaker, returning to Atlanta for a liquid blackness event for the third time since 2019.
Commissioned by Manchester International Festival, THE GREAT NORTH, is a kinetic and vibrant art film on the unattended to histories of Manchester’s Black, Asian, and Irish communities and their connections to the histories of African peoples in the US South, Mali, West Indies, and beyond. Told through the city’s urban architecture, original footage, archival research, and oral histories, THE GREAT NORTH captures the Pan-African throughlines that define the city and its diverse people while exploring how space is used to make and unmake peoples and cultures.
About THE GREAT NORTH, the filmmaker has stated:
“With Manchester as the nucleus, my film THE GREAT NORTH is an exploration of the relationship between memory, time and how it is constructed in relation to space through the perspective of Northern Britain.
As a country, our relationship to the north is one that has always felt fractured and incomplete.
This film is an ode to this — it is an odyssey of exploration with multiple touchpoints churned through my vision — one that is multilayered, remixed, re-ordered, resituated and equally in deep connection with sound.
I’m honored to have made a piece to archive and celebrate aspects never before seen in contemporary film.”
Grounded in the history of Black music, experimental film, and the Black Arts Movement, Nkiru has developed a style of filmmaking that time travels between eras and locations, following a process she describes as “cosmic archaeology.” Her distinctive style can be seen in the films REBIRTH IS NECESSARY, a virtuoso performance of sampling, modeled after Nkiru’s DJ practice, and BLACK TO TECHNO, which excavates untold histories of techno music, as well as the music videos she’s directed. These include Neneh Cherry’s Kong, the Grammy Award-winning Brown Skin Girl for Beyoncé, and most recently, Kamasi Washington and George Clinton’s Get Lit. She also co-directed As Told to G/D Thyself (2019) with Terence Nance, Marc Thomas, Bradford Young, and Kamasi Washington, as Umma Chroma.
Studying for Opticality” Virtual Teach-In
On Thursday, September 10 at 7pm, join liquid blackness’s research fellow, Dr. Daren Fowler, as they lead a virtual presentation and Q&A on liquid blackness’s research portfolio for Opticality: Seeing in the Ways of Things (Spring 2026 event).
OPTICALITY: SEEING IN THE WAY OF THINGS
liquid blackness is excited to announce its first “Encounters in the Black Arts” event. We will be joined by film cinematographer, Shawn Peters, and colorists and director, Kya Lou to reflect together on “Opticality: Seeing in the Way of Things.”
CHARTS TO FOLLOW: KEEPING TIME’S INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSIONS
liquid blackness presents a public screening and discussion of Keeping Time (2023) with the filmmaker, Darol Olu Kae, and film scholar, Josslyn Luckett.
Music Video as Black Art: Claiming the B-Side
liquid blackness invites you to a Symposium on Music Video as Black Art: Claiming the B-Side to mark the 10-year anniversary of its founding as a study group.
liquid blackness presents: a screening of Hazel by Kevin Jerome Everson
liquid blackness is pleased to present a screening of Hazel by Kevin Jerome Everson, inaugural Ferrer Visiting Artist of the College of the Arts. The 23-minute film will screen on a loop on May 20, from 12:00-4:00pm in GSU’s Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta, GA 30303.
FIGURE/GROUND: ABSTRACTION AND OBJECT MATTER IN KEVIN JEROME EVERSON’S ARTMAKING PRACTICE (Artist Talk)
liquid blackness is pleased to present an informal teach-in on Kevin Jerome Everson’s work to prepare for his upcoming visit to the College of the Arts, Georgia State University. Everson is the inaugural COTA Ferrer Visiting Artist and will be giving an artist talk on March 25, at 2:00pm in GSU’s Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta, GA 30303.
FIGURE/GROUND: ABSTRACTION AND OBJECT MATTER IN KEVIN JEROME EVERSON’S ARTMAKING PRACTICE (Teach-In)
liquid blackness is pleased to present an informal teach-in on Kevin Jerome Everson’s work to prepare for his upcoming visit to the College of the Arts, Georgia State University. Everson is the inaugural COTA Ferrer Visiting Artist and will be giving an artist talk on March 25, at 2:00pm in GSU’s Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta, GA 30303.
Atonal Symphonies: Conversations on Blackness and Liquidity at the Threshold of Thinking and Making
The first three issues of liquid blackness: journal of aesthetics and black studies address the journal’s foundational concerns: liquidity, blackness, and aesthetics. You are invited to a two-day virtual event to celebrate the publication of the first two issues, on “liquidity” (5.1) and “blackness” (5.2, forthcoming October 2021). This informal conversation will bring together the artists and scholars that contributed to these two issues, who will collectively reflect on the process of writing and editing experimental and un-disciplined work.
Facing the Band: Elissa Blount Moorhead and the (Ana)Architectures of Community Ties - The Keynote
A Conversation on Co-creation and Community Building
with Elissa Blount Moorhead and members of the liquid blackness research group.
Join us for a Virtual Teach-In (Oct. 23) and Keynote Address (Nov. 19)
Facing the Band: Elissa Blount Moorhead and the (Ana)Architectures of Community Ties - The Teach-In
A Virtual Teach-In with members of the liquid blackness research group in preparation for upcoming Conversation on Co-creation and Community Building with Elissa Blount Moorhead.
THE POLITICAL REACH OF FORM: MUSIC VIDEO AS BLACK ART
Alessandra Raengo, Jenny Gunn, Jazmine Hudson, and Derrick Jones of the liquid blackness research group discuss black archival practices at the intersection between the music video and the essay film at the Beyond the Culture: Black Popular Culture and Social Justice Conference.
Link to the Event hosted by GSU’s department of African - American Studies
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
JENN NKIRU'S PANAFRICAN IMAGINATION: BLACK STUDIES AS AESTHETIC PRACTICE
A public screening and artist talk dedicated to the award-winning cinematographer, writer, director, and curator of AFROFREQUENCY, Jenn Nkiru.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
“(A) BLACK LINEAGE OF THE MUSIC ART VIDEO”
Alessandra Raengo, Jenny Gunn and Jazmine Hudson of the liquid blackness research group screen and discuss the music video work of contemporary black filmmakers at the Atlanta Contemporary’s “Contemporary Talks” event.
Link to the Event hosted by Atlanta Contemporary
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
HOLDING PLACE, TAKING FLIGHT: CHILDISH GAMBINO, BRADFORD YOUNG, TERENCE NANCE, AND GRACE JONES -SCREENING AND ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
liquid blackness presents a public screening and roundtable discussion dedicated to some of the most thought-provoking visual and sonic artists working today: This is America (Childish Gambino, dir. Hiro Murai, 2018), Black America Again (Common, dir. Bradford Young, 2016), Jimi Could’ve Fallen From the Sky (dir. Terence Nance, 2017) and Bloodlight and Bami (Grace Jones, dir. Sophie Fiennes, 2018).
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
BRADFORD YOUNG AND THE VISUAL ART OF BLACK CARE
liquid blackness is proud to announce a public screening and artist talk dedicated to award-winning cinematographer and installation artist, Bradford Young
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
RENDERING (THE) VISIBLE III: LIQUIDITY (2018)
Conference panels, film and dance performances, and keynote lecture will explore the concept of liquidity as an innovative critical approach to the image’s relation to space, sensoriality, and digitality, as well as an aesthetic sensibility attuned to the political ontology of motion, form, matter, and noise.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
HORACE TAPSCOTT: A MUSICAL GRIOT A SCREENING OF THE FILM AND Q&A WITH FILMMAKER BARBARA MCCULLOUGH
Barbara McCullough will present her documentary on the visionary jazz pianist, mentor, and community organizer Horace Tapscott, a crucial figure in the seminal era of Los Angeles jazz history. Q&A to follow.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
HOLDING BLACKNESS IN SUSPENSION: THE FILMS OF KAHLIL JOSEPH
The two-day event is dedicated to the work of award-winning, Emmy-nominated, LA-based filmmaker Kahlil Joseph. The symposium will focus on the intersection of race, space, and movement as well as both the peculiar quality of Joseph’s surreal visual landscapes and the way bodies move within them, and the liquid blackness commitment to “holding” blackness in the middle our collective conversations and ethical concerns.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
BLACK ONTOLOGY AND THE LOVE OF BLACKNESS (2016) Artist Talk
The liquid blackness research group invites filmmaker and visual artist Arthur Jafa to be a part of two special events: first, “Can Blackness Be Loved?” a screening of his essay film Dreams are colder than Death (2013, 52 min) and second, “Arthur Jafa in Conversation: Strategies for a Black Aesthetics” a public dialogue between the members of the liquid blackness research group and the filmmaker about his artistic practice and aesthetic strategies.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
THE ARTS AND POLITICS OF THE JAZZ ENSEMBLE
This Symposium brings together a variety of perspectives on the film itself and the surrounding art scene with particular focus on the figure of Horace Tapscott. It will feature talks from scholars and artists around sound/image relations and the visual and sonic rendering of blackness.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
BLACK AUDIO FILM COLLECTIVE SCREENING AND DISCUSSION SERIES
liquid blackness presents a film series comprised of work made by the acclaimed Black Audio Film Collective (BAFC). Screenings will occur September 26-28, 2014 and October 3-4, 2014 and include seminal films in the BAFC’s body of work.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
BLACKNESS, AESTHETICS, LIQUIDITY SYMPOSIUM
The 2014 liquid blackness Symposium is organized around the ideas of liquidity that inspired the constitution of the research group. The event will foster a conversation between artists, scholars and curators surrounding ideas of aesthetic liquidity and blackness in contemporary visual and sonic culture. The event is the realization of our goal to create accessible scholarship for different communities within academia and beyond—specifically, scholars, artists, curators and our local community.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
LA REBELLION: CREATING A NEW BLACK CINEMA
The “L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema” Tour is coming to Atlanta beginning on the weekend of October 25th and continuing until the weekend of November 22nd, the last stop of a Tour that began in September 2012 and the last chance to see these highly selected 36 films from the UCLA archive, all together and many in pristinely restored prints.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC