Press
Take a dollop of Sun Ra, a slice of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, a vibrant touch of George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic, a little Burnt Sugar, a grain of Griot Galaxy, and a good portion of Yusef Lateef, let it simmer on a laser beam, and you have an approximation of the recent Afrofuturism concert at Carnegie Hall. It’s an intriguing intergalactic evening when you combine the musical/cultural mix of Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble with Angel Bat Dawid’s Autophysiopsychic Millennium, which is just part of a series of events highlighting Afrofuturism.
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Autophysiopsychic Millennium brings teachings of Lateef
On Feb. 23, the Chicago and Detroit ensemble, Autophysiopsychic Millennium, visited Wilkes as part of the university’s final Black History Month event.
They held a luncheon for students, staff and faculty to mingle with the collective along with an evening workshop incorporating performance and discussion which was open to the public.
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What does an Afrofuturist world look like?
That is the question at the heart of Elastic Arts’ annual Afrofuturist Weekend, which brings together artists of many stripes to envision and manifest their unique visions for a world driven by Afrofuturist principles. A term first coined in the early 1990s, Afrofuturism explores the intersection of Afro-diasporic art and culture with technology. Although the term is relatively new, Afrofuturistic ideas have been explored through various mediums for decades, including through the art of musicians like Sun Ra, the novelist Octavia Butler and even in comics like “Black Panther.”
Featured artists include Angel Bat Dawid, Katrina Flores, and Sojourner Zenobia along with Zanolini, Woods and many others. The weekend will also mark the inaugural iteration of “Autophysiopsychic Millennium,” a series of workshops in Chicago and Detroit which encourage participants to engage with the musical and philosophical work of Yusuf Lateef.
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Elastic Arts hosts the fourth annual Afrofuturist Weekend
The fourth annual Afrofuturist Weekend comes to Elastic Arts from Friday, October 22, through Sunday, October 24, with evening programs on Friday and Saturday and daytime programs on Saturday and Sunday. The festival’s organizers describe it as a “celebration of Black artists making forward-looking work that envisions radically positive futures for Black people,” and in that spirit, this year’s lineup is jam-packed with visionaries working in several different modes.
On Friday at 8 PM, Detroit jazz collective LuFuki & Divine Providence celebrate the life and work of multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator Yusef Lateef with the project Autophysiopsychic Millennium—they’ll perform collaborative compositions developed with Chicago musicians, among them Ayanna Woods and the Participatory Music Coalition (which includes Angel Bat Dawid and Elastic executive director Adam Zanolini).
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