The 10-hour discussion scheduled for December 17 is organised by famous photographer Carrie Mae Weems. She invited cultural celebrities, including MacArthur Foundation “geniuses” and Pulitzer Prize-winners, to join the event.
Photo: Carrie Mae Weems // The New York Times
The convening will be held in the former military facility now transformed into an art space. The project focuses on “interrogating the deep structures and multiple dimensions of violence, and how artists and thinkers respond to it”, the New York Times quotes Carrie Mae Weems as saying.
Carrie Mae noted that violence “didn’t only come with the Trump presidency, but it certainly has intensified since the Trump presidency”. “I have been dealing with this idea of being a socially engaged and motivated artist since the very, very beginning of my career and very little has changed […] Presidents have come and gone,” she added.
Participants of the event, including writers, professors and activists, will present their works and discuss violence of all kinds: domestic, political, racist, sexual, verbal, physical and environmental.
As part of the convening, artist Theaster Gates will perform his own rendition of “God Bless America”, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and other traditional patriotic tunes; filmmaker Arthur Jafa will show his lauded short movie about racism Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death; artist Shirin Neshat will screen films about violence against women; composer David Lang will perform and speak about “danger and honesty in both pop and classical music”; poet Elizabeth Alexander will read her own work; artist Hank Willis Thomas will present his film A Person Is More Important Than Anything Else and hold a discussion.
The event will be held at New York’s Park Avenue Armory on Sunday, December 17.
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