The colorful, floral vibes of Artechouse’s spring cherry blossom exhibit will soon give way to Aṣẹ: Afro Frequencies, a summer installation designed to bring African culture and storytelling to life. Visitors to Wharf’s audiovisual art area can immerse themselves in the Afro-Surrealist art of June 13. Interactive exhibits will allow the public to practically try on a classic mask and walk on a futuristic African map.
“I tried to deal with a lot of those forgotten and untold stories about African kings and queens,” says Vince Fraser, the London-based artist whose creations are featured in the exhibition. “I will take anything from the past, like an ancient African mask, and then bring it into the present. “(Aṣẹ refers to the Yoruba people’s philosophical concept of the force to create change. ) Prior to his career in the visual arts, Fraser worked on interior design: 3D storytelling, he says, feels herbal to him. Audio with rhythmic percussion and poetry spoken through music and poet Ursula Rucker accompanies Fraser’s works in the installation.
“It’s a black culture birthday party,” says Artechouse founder and artistic director Sandro Kereselidze. “The purpose here is to technique the total narrative in a festive way and engage other people. “The exhibition’s main installation, titled Visions of the Black Experience, will come with 20 to 25 minutes of video loops exploring social justice issues and the triumphs of the global black community.
The exhibit will come to DC completely new from its existing exhibit at the Bellagio Fine Arts Gallery in Las Vegas and debuted last summer at Artechouse’s Miami location. “We want to recreate, reconfigure and redesign the content to have our areas compatible with making sure we retain the aesthetics: the story, the power and the dynamics,” says Kereselidze. “Every area we have is very different. ” At the DC location, the installation will include several galleries with seven distinct artworks, adding a sculpture projected inside a room entirely covered in mirrors.
The exhibit will mark five years since Kereselidze, a Washington resident since 1994, opened the organization’s first here in DC.