CURATED BY KYLE GOEN, DREAD SCOTT AND HAJARAH ABDUS-SABUR OCTOBER 29 – NOVEMBER 24, 2008 OPENING RECEPTION, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 6 – 9PM SPECIAL ELECTION NIGHT PARTY, NOVEMBER 4, 7PM
FEATURED ARTIST(S): Melanie Baker, Wafaa Bilal, Sandow Birk, Emily Douglas, Hasan Elahi, Mounir Fatmi, Jon Hendricks, Arnold Mesches, Naeem Mohaiemen, Sheryl Oring, Jenny Polak, Martha Rosler, Jackie Salloum, Hank Willis Thomas and Raphael Zollinger
CURATOR(S): Dread Scott, Kyle Goen and Hajarah Abdus-Sabur
PRESS RELEASE:
When the President of the United States says, “You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists”, Sedition is the only option. In an era of war, lies and torture, Sedition is the only option. When Black people are left to suffer and die in a flooded city, when cops fire fifty shots at an unarmed person and are later found inculpable, when nooses are hanging in Jena, Louisiana, Sedition is the only option. Empires demand Sedition*. ¬
Sedition will reveal art about the tumultuous times we are living in. Following the rich history of art that challenges dominant ways of seeing, Sedition will show work that has been under fire and art that is firing its own ammo. Work such as Hank Willis Thomas’s Hang Time (Circa 1923), which features the “Air Jordan” logo hanging from a noose on a tree, encourages viewers to contemplate how systemic violence against African-Americans has set the stage for the persistence of racism. Wafaa Bilal’s Virtual Jihadi is an interactive video game in which an avatar becomes a suicide bomber in a hunt for President Bush. Jenny Polak’s ICE raid tracking uses Google Maps to document and trace Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on the undocumented throughout the U.S.
This show will pull no punches. When the theater is on fire, we are obligated to scream. Many artists are making challenging work that is commensurate with the times. Some have been critically engaged for decades. This show will bring together an unexpected mix—artists who often would not be thought of as working in the same framework. What do an American feminist painter who gained prominence in the 1960s and a 21st century Bangladeshi new media artist who looks at surveillance have in common? Or what does an artist who uses the appropriation of the language of advertising to explore blackness have to do with an artist who utilizes conceptual strategies to address US wars? We say, lots.
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