As part of Mx’d Messages, the 2017 Live Ideas festival at New York Live Arts, I took part in a panel discussion on Creating Black Futures. It was engrossing, as you’ll see for yourself! Our moderator was the brilliant and talented Reina Gossett (recently Activist-in-Residence at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, Happy Birthday Marsha. Here’s the video (via Facebook Live!)
Onstage (left to right): Reina, Kimberley Drew (the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Black Contemporary Art), me, Niv Acosta (dancer, sculptor, performance artist), E_Jane (Mhysa).
One think you’ll probably notice is that Bill T. Jones (legend) started the Q&A in a pretty ebullient fashion, and our crosstalk was the focus of conversation until the end. Across the board, though, the panel really showcased how some Black and queer futurists are getting free in these dystopian times. I’m grateful to be in the company of people who are thinking and embodying the future I want the most. I may come back to this post to annotate.
I joined to hang out at the Whitney Biennial opening for like 30 minutes, but I had to get back to Philly to bring the dog home and teach on Thursday #priorities. Kind of a perfect New York experience in the space of 6 hours, right? Check out the trailer for Live Ideas 2017 to see what else the brilliant Mx. Justin Vivian Bond planned around the theme of moving across binaries: Mx’d Messages.