Institute of Contemporary Art Miami ICA Miami

ICA Miami welcomes cultural theorist Dr. Michelle M. Wright to the Art + Research Center for a free public lecture, “Beyond the Past, Present & Future: Physics of Blackness and Its Discontents.”

From Dr. Wright: “In so many ways, Blackness is the “impossible identity”, both hypervisible (as evidenced by the its dominance in media and political discourse, sports and entertainment) and invisible (there is no such thing as a “Black gene” or “Black DNA”). We see it used everywhere (it even sells toothpaste in China), but we still struggle to define it in a way that satisfies even a minority of people: what, after all, is “Black art” exactly? What is or is not part of “Black culture” and why? This lecture will explore the “invention” of Blackness in the West and its uncanny fate, both predictable and unpredictable, as a force that cannot be defined much less wholly grasped by science, art, or philosophy alone.”

This free public lecture is presented in conjunction with the Art + Research Center Fall Semester 2018. To learn more about Michelle M. Wright, please click here.