Legendary artist Carrie Mae Weems invited Shani to be one of “more than 50 artistic all-stars, centered on ‘interrogating the deep structures and multiple dimensions of violence'” featured in her convening at the Park Avenue Armory, The Shape of Things.
“As Armory artist-in-residence Carrie Mae Weems concludes her year-long residency, she continues to grapple with the history of violence in our country-personally and within her body of work. Weems curates this day-long convening of like-minded artists, writers, poets, musicians, thinkers and social theorists, inviting them to join her in a critique of our tumultuous political and social climate. Audiences are invited to join participants in interrogating this complex topic through a series of readings, performances, conversations, and other artistic responses held throughout the day in the Armory’s first and second floor historic rooms.
Notable participants include: choreographer and dancer Kyle Abraham; poet Elizabeth Alexander; performer Eric Berryman; performance and installation artist Tania Bruguera; urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter; innovator James Burling Chase; actress and playwright Eisa Davis; architect Elizabeth Diller; The Met’s Kimberly Drew; photographer John Edmonds; juvenile justice reformer Adam Foss; writer and performance artist Malik Gaines; social practice artist Theaster Gates; filmmaker Tony Gerber; FLEXN dance pioneer Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray; trombonist, painter, and composer Dick Griffin; dancer and choreographer Francesca Harper; trombonist Craig Harris; vocalist Nona Hendryx; playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; cinematographer Arthur Jafa; artist and cultural worker Shani Jamila; trumpeter JAWWAAD; gaming pioneers Navid and Vassiliki Khonsari; NYU Professor and musician Jason King; philosopher Gregg Lambert; composer and Bang on the Can co-founder David Lang; novelist, filmmaker, and curator Ernie Larsen; Wooster Group founding member and director Liz LeCompte; Harvard Professor Sarah Lewis; journalist Seamus McGraw; poet Aja Monet; jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran; performance studies professor Fred Moten; visual artist Shirin Neshat; playwright Lynn Nottage; professor of contemporary rhetorical theory Kendall Phillips; doctor Jeremy Richman; poet Carl Hancock Rux; performance artist Alexandro Segade; writer and activist Tanya Selvaratnam; guitarist and composer Marvin Sewell; playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith; conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas; performance artist Carmelita Tropicana; puppeteer Basil Twist; theater director Roberta Uno; vocalist and composer Imani Uzuri; and Wooster Group founding member and actress Kate Valk, among others.”
Join us! For more details about what the day will hold, check out the article quoted above in the New York Times.
