Radiant Beings by Roland Knowlden
April 15 at 7:30pm to May 23 at 6:00am
In the windows of Co-Prosperity - 3219 S Morgan, Chicago
Radiant Beings is a map between two spaces, a current presence and an origin. The window installation invites viewers to step within the vibrant hues of the beings whose skin radiates outwards. These thermal hues illustrate the notion of origin through color. The radiating colors speak to the melanin content of black skin as a result of the thermal properties of our geographical origin. That relationship to the continent of Africa is rendered visible through the thermal hues that can be found on heat maps. The radiant beings embody the knowledge of origin, and a feeling of belonging that can be carried within the black body. The beings become maps connecting here and there. Being, both where we are and where we come from.
Within CoPro’s windows, the series of film works, Radiant Beings, is looped on screens and projected on reflected surfaces. The durational images are accompanied by geographical models and narrative text that together map a relationship between present being and origin.
Programming:
Opening of Radiant Beings
Projectors and screens are turned on for the first time, everyone is invited to see the first night of the show from the sidewalk. Masks and social distancing will be observed.
In the sidewalks of Co-Prosperity 4/15 at 8pm.
Radiant Beings: A Conversation
Roland will was joined by Anthony Stepter in this live-streamed dialogue about the exhibition and some of the ideas behind its thesis. Livestreamed via Lumpen.TV on 4/22.
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This show is a part of Co-Prosperity Peers, a series of solo exhibitions initiated by the Co-Prosperity Programming Council. Four artists are selected each year to take over the Co-Prosperity windows and hold programming during the run of their show.
Roland Knowlden is an African American artist and architectural designer. As an architect, he is interested in our physical environment, and the cultural and social implications of materials as they map and construct space. As an artist, Roland aims to articulate a visual language for a more invisible experience of space. His work questions notions of race, origin, belonging, boundaries, and power. Mapping, whether visualized through film or drawing, becomes a tool for Roland to create space. His work aims to not only reproduce our environments and experiences, but to produce new spatial realities.