Villa Aurora Events Archive
March 2022
Exhibition: 6 Friedberg-Chicago
Dortmund
Information
6 Friedberg-Chicago, the first institutional solo exhibition by German-American artist James Gregory Atkinson, illuminates a part of African-American-German history on a personal, social, and political level. In the exhibition, the artist presents his new film of the same name, which was shot at Ray Barracks, a former US Army Base in Friedberg. It was made in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Josh Johnson and harpist and singer Ahya Simone, among others. The exhibition also presents a non-linear archive that explores the history of Black soldiers in Germany and their descendants, which Atkinson developed in collaboration with Eric Otieno (sociologist and political scientist) and Mearg Negusse (art historian).
Participant
James Gregory Atkinson (b. 1981 in Bad Nauheim, Germany) studied with Douglas Gordon at the Städelschule, Frankfurt, and received fellowships and artist residencies at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles (2016), the Jan Van Eyck Academy, Maastricht (2017), and a studio fellowship from the Hessische Kulturstiftung in New York (2018).
Partners
An exhibition by Dortmunder Kunstverein sponsored by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation as part of the "Catalogs for Young Artists" grant.
The film production has been supported by Hessische Kulturstiftung, Goethe-Institut and Villa Aurora.
*Dortmunder Kunstverein e.V. was founded in 1984 as a civic initiative as a non-profit association for the promotion and mediation of contemporary art in Dortmund. Since 2014, it has been located in the immediate vicinity of the Dortmunder U - Center for Art and Creativity, thus helping to strengthen this cultural center for contemporary art in Dortmund.
Further information about the exhibition and the supporting program can be found here (in German only).
Artist Talk: 6 Friedberg – Chicago
Online
Information
The artist talk between James Gregory Atkinson and scientist Alexander Ghedi Weheliye will explore various aspects of the themes negotiated in the exhibition: the body as archive, the constructed fear of Black masculinity and postcolonial perspectives on institutional racism in Western countries.
The first institutional solo exhibition by the German-American artist James Gregory Atkinson includes his new film 6-Friedberg Chicago - which he shot in a former US Army installation in Friedberg - as well as an extensive non-linear archive exploring the history of Black soldiers in Germany and that of their children. Atkinson compiled the archive together with Mearg Negusse (art historian) and Eric Otieno (sociologist and political scientist). The film was partly funded by Villa Aurora L.A.
Participants
James Gregory Atkinson (b. 1981 in Bad Nauheim, lives in Frankfurt am Main) studied with Douglas Gordon at the Städelschule, Frankfurt and received scholarships and artist residencies at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles (2016) and Jan Van Eyck Academy, Maastricht (2017) as well as a studio scholarship funded by Hessische Kulturstiftung in New York (2018).
Alexander Ghedi Weheliye (b. 1968 in Nordhausen) studied in Berlin and New Jersey and is professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University where he teaches Black literature and culture, critical theory, social technologies, and popular culture. In addition to numerous articles published in journals and anthologies, he is the author of Phonographies: Grooves in Sonic Afro-Modernity (Duke UP, 2005) and Habeas Viscus: Racializing Assemblages, Biopolitics, and Black Feminist Theories of the Human (Duke UP, 2014).
Partner
in cooperation with Dortmunder Kunstverein
as part of the exhibition 6 – Friedberg Chicago.
Dortmunder Kunstverein e.V. was founded in 1984 as a civic initiative as a non-profit association for the promotion and mediation of contemporary art in Dortmund. Since 2014, it has been located in the immediate vicinity of the Dortmunder U - Center for Art and Creativity, thus helping to strengthen this cultural center for contemporary art in Dortmund.