Black Quantum Futurism to perform at MACBA in Barcelona
On Tuesday 14 December, Collide-winning artists Black Quantum Futurism present a performance resulting from their ongoing research project CPT Simmetry and Violations at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, MACBA.
Free, register here
Black Quantum Futurism, the artistic collective formed by Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips, return to Barcelona to continue their art production at Hangar and their encounters with scientists at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) and The Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) as part of their Collide residency. On the occasion of their return to the Spanish city, the artists will premiere the performance CPT Simmetry and Violations on 14 December at 7pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, MACBA. The performance explores the history of linear time constructions, time travel and notions of the future. Interweaving text, sound and image, Black Quantum Futurism will contrast dominant Western linear time constructions with Afrodiasporic traditions of space, time and black futurist time travel.
On Thursday 9 December at 7pm, the artists will participate in Hangar’s Paratext program, where artists in residence at Hangar present, in different formats, their work to the public. For this occasion Mónica Bello, Head of Arts at CERN, will introduce Black Quantum Futurism who will share part of their artistic research and the audience will have the opportunity interact with the artists. Register for the free event here.
Between September and October 2021, Rasheedah Phillips spent three weeks at CERN and one week in Barcelona to extend their artistic research for their long-term research CPT Symmetry and Violations. In physics, CPT symmetry stands for charge, parity, and time reversal symmetry. The acronym also carries another meaning in the phrase “Coloured People’s Time”. CPT, in that sense, is often used as a negative stereotype to refer to black people as being chronically late. Read more about their artistic research at the Laboratory and their meetings with the scientific communities here.
In November, the artists presented the exhibition CPT Reversal at REDCAT (Los Angeles, US), premiering the first works of art resulting from their artistic research within the laboratories. These include CP Timeline (2021) – a multi-arrow graphic installation illustrating paths between key discoveries of CPT Symmetry in the history of physics and relevant events in the use of CP Time. From the first appearance of the CPT theorem in the work of physicist Julian Schwinger to J.L. King CP Time’s book examining how Black people are affected by this stereotype, the mural presents a timeline that disrupts a traditional sequential linearity, relating these episodes that may seem historically unattached. For the artists, these episodes might be considered interconnected rather than accidental. The second work is a soundscape incorporating a conversation with CERN theoretical physicist Wolfgang Lerche exploring notions of time, merged with the sounds and noises of CERN’s technological landscapes, including the Data Center and the Antimatter Factory.
Collide is the international residency programme of Arts at CERN in collaboration with a city, consisting of a dual residency and award that allows artists from all disciplines and countries to extend their artistic practice in laboratories. Since 2019, Arts at CERN has partnered with the Barcelona City Council and the Institute of Culture of Barcelona, working together to nurture dialogue between art and science at the highest level.