ABSTRACT BLACK:

Affective Evidentiary

At this two-day creative retreat in November 2023, Chicago researchers across artistic disciplines gathered to wonder at the terms of ‘abstraction’ as they relate to the terms of Blacklife and Black creativity. 

Convened by SLIPPAGE director Thomas F. DeFrantz and Ryan Dohoney, Associate Professor of Musicology and Director of Graduate Music Studies.

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What are the terms of Black performance in terms of an affective evidentiary?

While there continues to be a steady stream of research committed to exploring the terms of Black performance, broadly conceived, there has been little research that explores the nature of affective evidence that might exceed, or not be contained by, the category of Black abstraction in performance. This symposium, funded by the Provost’s Racial Justice Seed Fund, draws on research in phenomenology and race that explores the structures of feeling that might produce a Black familiar, or a Black sensibility, without obvious reliance on racialized expectations.

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ABSTRACT BLACK: AFFECTIVE EVIDENTIARY At this two-day creative retreat, Chicago researchers across artistic disciplines gather to wonder at the terms of ‘abstraction’ as they relate to the terms of Blacklife and Black creativity Nov 2-3, 2023 slippage lab supported by: THE RACE AND JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE SEED FUND OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY participating researchers: JAYVE MONTGOMERY JULIAN TERRELL OTIS DARRELL JONES YAW AGYEMAN TINA POST JANET DEES RYAN WAYNE DOHONEY THOMAS F. DEFRANTZ

Fall 2023

Participating Researchers

 

Yaw Agyeman

Janet Dees

Darrell Jones

Jayve Montgomery

Julian Terrell Otis

 

Tina Post

 

We wonder:

 What are the terms of Black performance in terms of an affective evidentiary? How are Black structures of feeling organized to allow Black life to emerge in a fullness of contradictory motivations, manifestations, and meanings? This research project brings together researchers in musicology and performance studies to wonder at the evidentiary processes of abstraction in relation to Black creativity.

How can Abstraction prepare audiences for Black presence seemingly devoid of a political content? What are the political concerns of abstraction as a mode of creative thought? 

How do modes of phenomenology proffer a mean of understanding the complex, asymmetrical motivations and outcomes for Black performance? What sorts of sites of Black life can be made evident within contexts of abstract performance?

This event is supported by SLIPPAGE and the Office of the Provost Race and Justice Collaborative Seed Fund.

 

ABSTRACT BLACK: the evidence