Access and Agency at Queens Museum December 8
Join us for the second in a series of dynamic public programs presented on the occasion of Queens International 2018: Volumes to delve deeper into the themes, contexts, and aesthetics that have informed the exhibition.
Programming on Saturday, December 8th will include talks, readings, performances, and film screenings that reflect on issues of access, censorship, surveillance, translation, and circulation regarding cultural narratives.
Schedule of Events:
12:00-3:00pm: Censorpedia Edit-a-thon
Censorpedia is a crowdsourced online database of censorship cases within the arts and in culture generated by the National Coalition Against Censorship. This edit-a-thon is presented alongside Christina Freeman’s UltraViolet Archive, a collection of endangered creative works including films, graphic novels, music, literature, visual and performing arts that were formerly banned, challenged, or partially censored. For Queens International 2018, the interactive collection and installation focuses on works on loan from the Queens Library that are set in or challenged in New York, or authored by New Yorkers.
Freeman will be facilitating a Censorpedia Edit-a-thon in the QM Galleries focused on editing entries for works inside the Ultra-Violet Archive installation.
12:00-4:30pm: Oscar Micheaux Screenings from the UltraViolet Archive
Join us for looping screenings of two Oscar Micheaux films, The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920) and Within Our Gates (1920) previously not on view as part of the UltraViolet Archive, being shown in the Queens Museum theater, 2nd Floor.
1:00-2:30pm: Rewriting the Narrative: Conversations on Exclusion, Censorship, and Space Making
Join us for a series of three conversations focusing on structural forces of omission, erasure, and negation in culture, literature, and on digital platforms.
Featuring:
Christopher Myers in conversation with Abena Hutchful and Nora Pelizzari of the National Coalition Against Censorship
Aruna D’Souza in conversation with QI 2018 artist Janet Henry and Linda Goode Bryant
Nora Khan in conversation with Ryan Kuo
CART Services (text transcription) in English will be provided for this series of conversations. Transcription services also provided in Spanish using Google Translate.
3:00-4:30pm: The People’s Guide to the Queens International Writing Workshop
The People’s Guide to the Queens International is a collaborative art project organized by Brian Droitcour and Christine Wong Yap. The People’s Guide invites the public to write reviews of artworks in the Queens International 2018 exhibition on the premise that anyone can be an art critic.
3:00-4:45pm: Queenzenglish Int’l 2018 @ Queens Museum
A series of readings and performances including:
Carla Harryman
Paolo Javier
Kyoo Lee
Maria Lisella
Thurston Moore
Tracie Morris
Eileen Myles
The Urban Mythfits – A Corona Group (Omar Montana, Elijah Kuan Wong, Yeong Ran Kim, Elizabeth Polanco, Jansiel Polanco, Una Chung, Mac Morris, and Patricia Clough)
Focusing on the expressive diversity of the English language in transition, this series of readings and performances is framed around the practice of “mp3,” “poetry, philosophy and performativity” in poetic and prose formats and with diverse rhythms, forms, tactics, dialects, accents and textures. The title “Queenzenglish,” a play on the “Queen’s English,” addresses the different mechanisms of control and creativity within language, questions the dominance of Anglo-American-centered norms, and challenges the idea that knowledge and success are directly related to mastery of the English language. Performing in Queens, where many “Englishes,” along with hundreds of other languages, are in active use, Queenzenglish poets, writers, and musicians examine the transformative potential of linguistic diversity and expressive plurality.
Participant bios can be found here.
Co-sponsored by mp3: Poetry, Philosophy, Performativity research team as part of the Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research from the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
Image: Christina Freeman, UltraViolet Archive, 2018. Photo: Hai Zhang