Between reality and fantasy: In the Black Fantastic is coming to Rotterdam

Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale. 

19 November 2022 - 9 April 2023

After a very successful initial run at the Hayward Gallery in London, this autumn the exhibition ‘In the Black Fantastic’ will be coming to #kunsthalrotterdam. The audience is invited to immerse themselves in an experience at the intersection of reality and a variety of fantastical worlds. Eleven contemporary artists from the African Diaspora have created seductive, energetic, and colourful works that contain powerful messages. Using their limitless power of imagination and technical virtuosity, the artists are addressing racism and social inequality. They take inspiration from folklore, myth, science fiction, spiritual traditions, and Afrofuturism.

A new Odyssey 
The exhibition presents paintings, photographs, videos, sculptures, and mixed-media installations by #nickcave, Sedrick Chisom, #ellengallagher, Hew Locke, #wangechimutu, Rashaad Newsome, Chris Ofili, Tabita Rezaire, Cauleen Smith, Lina Iris Viktor, and Kara Walker. These artists are reshaping the way in which we imagine the past and think about the future. At the same time they are dealing with the societal challenges of the present. The British artist Chris Ofili (1968), for instance, went in search of a new version of Homer’s Odyssey. Relocating the classical story to Trinidad, he depicts a Black Odysseus. The Greek hero finds himself entangled in the arms of his lover Calypso, who is portrayed as a mermaid in mysterious landscapes. 

Soundsuits
The sumptuous artworks in the exhibition could easily be interpreted as a kind of escapism to get away from the constraints Black #people have to live with on a daily basis. But this is not the case here. The artists instead want to use their imagination for exploring new, possible realities. The American artist #nickcave (1959), for instance, began working on his lavish series of Soundsuits in response to the brutal assault of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers. With the help of patterns, colours and embellishments these suits obscure and protect the body of the person wearing it, but at the same draw all the attention. Judging on the basis of ethnicity, class, or identity is no longer possible. Cave recently made Soundsuit 9:29, in response to the murder of George Floyd. Even now, after having made five hundred Soundsuits, his works are still all too relevant.

Further information in the press release to download