Liberation, Beauty, and Energies in Art Making

40 Arts Circle Drive,Evanston IL 60208

10 May, 2023

Description

As so many living species lose their lives as well as gain new life due to the complex, contradictory, multiple forces and forms of energy—too much or too little energy—we ask, What does art have to do with the urgences of energy? How can art matter when bodies, in all living forms, are on the line because of the scarcity or abundance of energy? and, finally, Where is energy located, or made relevant, in abstract art and in beauty? We will begin to open these questions through a discussion of “art making” with its processes and intentions for more “livable geographies.” Art lives alongside notions of beauty, making representation and the intermix of energy and beauty compelling work for the artist, especially if that artist is ‘energized’ in their work by creating work that is liberatory. Tickets are free for this event; public welcome! Discussion with: Torkwase Dyson is a painter working across multiple mediums to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. Dyson’s abstract works are visual and material systems used to construct fusions of surface tension, movement, scale, real and finite space. With an emphasis on the ways black and brown bodies perceive and negotiate space as information, Dyson looks to spatial liberation strategies from historical and contemporary perspectives, seeking to uncover new understandings of the potential for more livable geographies. D. Soyini Madison is professor emeritus in the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern. Madison focuses on the artistry and poetics of fieldwork methods as embodied in ethnographic techniques and practices. Her publications and staged performances engage the intersections of labor activism, political economy of human rights, water democracy, and indigenous performance tactics. This event is the spring keynote of the Kaplan Humanities Institute's 2022-2023 Dialogue, ENERGIES: A year-long conversation about energies—personal, collective, planetary—from different humanistic perspectives.