A condition of Blackness is that it functions within the realm of the impossible, exceeding limitations via crucial strategies of fugitivity and adaptability. Frank B. Wilderson III, Black studies theoretician and author of the recently published “Afropessimism” notes that the classification of humanity has always kept certain lives outside of its boundaries, and that the positionality of Blackness within the designation of “human” retains a status of nonbeing, such that Black people are subject to an unrelenting stream of gratuitous violence and social death. In our attempt to experience the impossible—to know a part of our shared history—we are thwarted by the linear time of our corporeal present. “Descent & Transformation” endeavors to skirt that boundary with an interactive, immersive experience that fuses art and science
Team Leaders:
Kathie Foley-Meyer Ph.D
mixed media artist and curator
Max Marcellus
Filmaker
Team Members:
Melody Jue
Associate Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara