Dear Campus Community,
Join the York College Art History program for a special screening of Kahlil Joseph's BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions (2025) with its Spring seminar, FA 304 Film History II, to close out the semester and celebrate the summer!
Date: Monday, May 11 Time: 3:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Room: 3D01 Lecture Hall Admission: Free!
After the screening, there will be a discussion with York students of FA 304 Film History II. This free screening is conceived as a cinematic experience that reflects on the campus’s past, particularly the 1984 commission of artist Martin Puryear’s monumental sculpture Ark for the college’s Academic Core. Puryear’s ship-like structure, recalling the form of a nautilus, was bent from copper pipe by the artist and his brother, then suspended above the north atrium of the Academic Core under the artist’s direction and supervision. It remains an iconic work of art on campus. BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions — currently in theatres — centers on a journalist reflecting on Black history and culture while navigating a Transatlantic art biennale aboard the fictional cruise ship The Nautica. An image of a work by Puryear appears among the found images incorporated throughout the film. Designed to follow the sonic textures of a music album, BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is adapted from artist Kahlil Joseph’s acclaimed video art installation presented at the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2019. The film interweaves fictional and historical figures in an immersive story spanning 247 years across land and sea. The ocean reveals its mysteries to passengers aboard The Nautica who are willing to pause and listen. The film can be understood as an inventory of collective memory and diasporic history unfolding through a layered narrative structure. Its blend of fictional and documentary forms draws inspiration from Martin Puryear, W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Saidiya Hartman, Hortense Spillers, and others, juxtaposing their ideas and imagery with archival material and clips drawn from YouTube, social media, film, television, and journalism. Contributing artists, including Arthur Jafa and Garrett Bradley, bring distinct perspectives across the film’s 21 tracks, which were mastered by an audio engineer. We look forward to seeing you at this unique site-specific film-viewing experience!
|