Team Leader:

Descent & Transformation

Descent & Transformation

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:
Picture of Kathie Foley-Meyer Ph.D
Kathie Foley-Meyer Ph.D

mixed media artist and curator

Picture of Max Marcellus
Max Marcellus

Filmaker

Team Members:
Picture of Melody Jue
Melody Jue

Associate Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara

Picture of Stefan Helmreich
Stefan Helmreich

Professor of anthropology at MIT

Picture of Anya Yermakova
Anya Yermakova

Composer, sound artist, scholar and performer

Picture of Anna Davidson
Anna Davidson

Multimedia Artist