Exhibition reception, lecture, panel discussion and community-sponsored Confederate flag hanging performance by artist John Sims
Graphic courtesy of: John SimsJohn Sims, 鈥淭ransformation Proclamation,鈥 2017.
91探花 presents visiting artist John Sims, in conjunction with the Kennedy Museum of Art鈥檚 exhibition 鈥淓xpression and Repression: Contemporary Art Censorship in America鈥 on view Oct. 27鈥揇ec. 22, for an artist lecture, a panel discussion and an exhibition reception, Oct. 25鈥27, on the Athens campus. There will also be a community-sponsored performance of 鈥淐onfederate Flag: A Public Hanging鈥 as part of his visit.
Sims is a Detroit-based interdisciplinary creator whose work encompasses areas of art, text, mathematics, performance and political-media activism. His current work is an ongoing project, 鈥淩ecoloration Proclamation,鈥 featuring recolored and hung Confederate flag installations, a music project called 鈥淭he AfroDixieRemixes,鈥 and a nationwide Confederate flag funeral performance, 鈥淏urn and Bury,鈥 each Memorial Day.
Sims has curated several exhibitions, has been featured and has lectured internationally, and his work has been covered in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Root, ThinkProgress, Al Jazeera, Guernica, Art in America, Sculpture, FiberArts, Science News, CNN, NBC News, and Nature. He has written for CNN, Al Jazeera, The Huffington Post, The Rumpus, and The Grio. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnSimsProject.
Lecture: 鈥淭ransformation Proclamation: Flags, Fire and Freedom鈥擜 John Sims Lecture,鈥 Wednesday, Oct. 25, 7-8:30 p.m., Schoonover Hall 145
Sims will discuss his 16-year multimedia project 鈥淩ecoloration Proclamation,鈥 examining the politics of sacred symbols, social identity and visual terrorism through confrontation of the flag, music and iconography of the Confederacy. The lecture, as an outline for a forthcoming book, traces the growth of the project as it has traveled across the nation to charged spaces, and how it has developed from a red, black and green bumper sticker to an annual ritual of burning and burying the Confederate flag. The lecture will discuss how this project also inspired efforts to take down Confederate memorials in New Orleans. The talk will highlight the installation, 鈥淭he Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag,鈥 and its role in moving discourse beyond the display issues of Confederate flags and monuments to bring the historical and present 鈥済eist" of the Confederacy to justice. This event is sponsored by the Kennedy Museum of Art.
Community Sponsored Performance: 鈥淐onfederate Flag: A Public Hanging鈥
Thursday, Oct. 26, noon, Scripps Amphitheater
#hangitforjustice
For this community-sponsored event, Sims will present for the first time 鈥淐onfederate Flag: A Public Hanging,鈥 a performance featuring the installation, 鈥淭he Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag,鈥 a Confederate flag hanging from a 13-foot gallows. This symbolic hanging is an act of justice for the various crimes of white supremacy, Jim Crow segregation, and contemporary terrorism associated with this flag and the Confederacy.
The artist states, 鈥淎s Confederate flags and monuments come down all across the country, it is the time more than ever to bring the Confederacy, its history, symbols and icons to justice.鈥
After the hanging, a potluck picnic will follow, as was customary after public executions in the 1800s. The noosed flag will join the exhibition 鈥淓xpression and Repression鈥 at the Kennedy Museum of Art, following this event.
To view a live broadcast, go to . The community-sponsored performance is supported by Black Life Action Coalition, Showing Up for Racial Justice, Appalachia Resist, Mountain Justice, Shagbark Seed and Mill, Athens Girls Rock Camp, United Campus Ministry, and the Appalachian Peace and Justice Network.
Exhibition: 鈥淓xpression and Repression: Contemporary Art Censorship in America鈥
Opening reception at the Kennedy Museum of Art, The Ridges
Oct. 27鈥揇ec. 22, 2017
Opening reception: Thursday, Oct. 26, 5-7 p.m.
鈥淓xpression and Repression鈥 explores the work of four contemporary artists who have been censored within the last 30 years, including Sims, Sue Coe, Kara Walker and David Wojnarowicz. Sims鈥 installation, 鈥淭he Proper Way to Hang the Confederate Flag,鈥 will be featured in the exhibition. This exhibition presents the artwork within the context of freedom of expression, discussing how the artists use subversive or symbolic subject matter in their work to evoke critical thought about significant social issues and conditions, and how and why their work has been repressed or censored in the United States. This is an Honors Tutorial College thesis exhibition curated by Art History Senior Erica Spilger, and sponsored by the Kennedy Museum of Art and the College of Fine Arts.
Panel Discussion: 鈥淏eyond the Flag: Art, Activism, and White Supremacy鈥
Friday, Oct. 27, noon
Panel Discussion, Walter Rotunda
This discussion panel will host several speakers, including visiting artist John Sims and painter and medical student Angel Garnette, to discuss the intersectionality of race, art and activism. The panel will serve as a platform to talk about Black art and censorship of the Black artist, and will allow the speakers to ask and answer questions about the issues discussed. Light refreshments will be served. This discussion is sponsored by the Multicultural Center and Department of African American Studies.
University sponsors for the artist lecture, panel discussion and exhibition include: Kennedy Museum of Art, College of Fine Arts, English Department, the LGBT center, the Black Student Cultural Programming Board, Multicultural Center and the Department of African American Studies.