Black Utopia LP with Cauleen Smith February 27 - February 28
Aurora Picture Show is pleased to present the Texas premiere of Black Utopia LP - A Cauleen Smith Movie which will be hosted in partnership with Project Row Houses at the historic Eldorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin Street) on Saturday, February 28 at 7PM. Black Utopia LP is an audio visual performance featuring images and sounds from the archives of American composer Sun Ra and his Chicago business partner, Alton Abraham. In addition to the performance, Aurora Picture Show will also host a free artist talk with Cauleen Smith the day before on Friday, February 27 at 7PM at their 2442 Bartlett location.
The Black Utopia LP relies on analog technology: a turntable, a 35mm slide projector, 2 vinyl LP's and over 900 35mm slides are synchronized live by Smith to the LP soundtrack. Conceptualized as a film, but performed live with still images, Black Utopia LP was built on the foundation of sound from audio archives housed at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. Sun Ra rehearsals and lectures were then intercut with audio artifacts ranging from research interviews conducted by the artist to clips and samples gleaned from vinyl from neighboring Chicago archives like The Dr. Wax Record Collection at Dorchester House and the artists' personal record collection. The 35mm slides document ephemera from the Sun Ra Alton Abraham archive housed at the University of Chicago, but as the artist's research expanded so have the slides which now include images from the artist's personal iphone sketchbook, from over a dozen libraries and archives across the country and also includes Houston history, folklore, news clippings and images of and by Houston artists.
Sun Ra was an influential and innovative jazz composter, bandleader, keyboardist who became known for his interstellar take on big band orchestral arrangements and performance. In addition to his music, he was also lauded as a poet and philosopher known for his cosmic philosophy. Sun Ra claimed to be from Saturn and preached spiritual awareness and peace. Cultural critics and historians have identified the work of Sun Ra as an explicit model for understanding concepts of the contemporary conceptual art movement known as Afrofuturism, a cultural movement that mixes science fiction, fantasy, non-Western religions and Afrocentrism.
As Smith describes, "The LP is not so much a literal document of the life of Sun Ra, but a proposal for possible futures in imagined spaces and places. The audio component of the LP Movie is fixed and burned into wax. But the visual component is ever shifting and adapting to address the continued research of the artist as well as to involve the landscape and history of the spaces in which the LP is performed." Of the work, Art in America wrote, "(Smith's) constellational approach to filmmaking parallels Sun Ra's freestyle compositions and spiritual belief in the astral world, while reawakening the political possibilities of black experimental culture."
Cauleen Smith is a an interdisciplinary artist whose work reflects upon the everyday possibilities of the imagination. Though operating in multiple materials and arenas, Smith roots her work firmly within the discourse of mid-twentieth century experimental film. Drawing from structuralism, third world cinema, and science fiction, Smith makes things that deploy the tactics of these disciplines while offering a phenomenological experience for spectators and participants. Cauleen Smith is best known for her experimental works that address the African American identity, specifically the issues facing black women today and for being a major player in the movement of Afrofuturism. Smith received a BA from San Francisco State University from The School of Creative Arts in 1989. She earned an MFA from The School of Theater-Television-Film, University of California, Los Angeles in 1998. Her films have been featured in numerous film festivals and have received multiple honors. She also received a Texas Film Production Fund grant from The Austin Film Society.
While earlier versions of this work have been performed previously at venues such as Threewalls (Chicago) and RedCat (Los Angeles), the Aurora Picture show performance will be customized to reflect Houston. The performance will take place at the culturally and historically significant Eldorado Ballroom, a venue that is managed by Project Row Houses.
The Eldorado Ballroom was the heart of Houston's musical community from the 1930s through the early 1970s, where internationally recognized musicians such as B.B. King and Count Basie performed, and home grown successes like Sam "Lightning" Hopkins, Albert Collins, Conrad Johnson, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Johnny Clyde Copeland, and Joe Hughes all lived and performed within a few blocks of each other. This historic venue was the destination of choice for upscale blues and jazz performances, as well as afternoon talent shows and sock-hops. More recently, Project Row Houses has worked to restore and maintain this Texas Historical landmark.
Co-presenter Project Row Houses is a community-based arts and culture non-profit organization in Houston's northern Third Ward, one of the city's oldest African American neighborhoods. The mission of Project Row Houses is to be the catalyst for transforming community through the celebration of art and African-American history and culture.
The following events are part of this program: Artist Talk with Cauleen Smith Friday, February 27, 7:00PM Free Admission Cauleen Smith is a filmmaker, screenwriter and video installation artist. She will give an artist talk about her past and present artistic and film projects. She is best known for her experimental works that address the Afro Futurism and African American identity, specifically the issues facing black women today. Get the behind the scenes information about her presentation on Saturday, Black Utopia LP - A Cauleen Smith Movie.
Black Utopia LP - A Cauleen Smith Movie Co-presented with Project Row Houses Live Cinema Performance with Cauleen Smith Saturday, February 28, 7:00PM Location: Eldorado Ballroom, 2310 Elgin St Aurora and Project Row Houses Members Free, Non-Members $10 Black Utopia LP is a double vinyl LP accompanied by 35mm slides synchronized in live cinematic performance. A hybrid of the academic lecture, and musical performance, The Black Utopia LP is a deeply original off-shoot of years of research which artist and filmmaker Cauleen Smith devoted to Afrofuturism—a cultural movement that mixes science fiction, fantasy, non-Western religion and Afrocentrism. The legendary Sun Ra (1914–93) and his Arkestra were a key figures in this movement. Smith produced over 800 35mm slides: images of objects found in archives, recorded or appropriated from occult, astronomical, and historical sources. The slides are projected in a 90-minute performance to the sounds of both sides of an LP Smith recorded—a collage of lectures, rehearsals and live performances by Sun Ra.
