Artist & Influence: Mendi and Keith Obadike

For virtual viewing: https://emory.zoom.us/j/99694394806

Emory’s Rose Library proudly serves as the repository for the Camille Billops and James V. Hatch Archives. In 1981, Billops and Hatch began publishing Artist and Influence, a journal dedicated to preserving the oral histories of artists, art historians, filmmakers, and writers. For decades, the duo coordinated more than 1,500 interviews, with more than 400 appearing in print.

The Rose Library plans to continue this tradition by conducting interviews in the spirit of the originals and making them accessible to the public.

The first of this new Artist and Influence interview series will take place on Sept. 16, 2023. Speakers include:

• Amalia Amaki, PhD, artist and Billops-Hatch Advisory Board member, who will introduce the speakers;

• Miriam J. Petty, PhD, associate professor in the radio/television/film department at Northwestern University, who will interview the guests; and

• Mendi and Keith Obadike, multidisciplinary artists and professors at Cornell University, who create works of art, sound, and music.

In addition, all who register will receive a link the night before the live event to “Lull,” an overnight musical work by Mendi and Keith Obadike that creates a sonic environment for rest.

About Mendi + Keith Obadike:

Mendi + Keith Obadike are artists, composers, and writers. Their works sit at the intersection of art, music, and language and draw upon histories of experimental media art and performance. Their early collaborative works were pioneering pieces for the internet. Many of those works were experiments in form and explorations of their concept of “social filters,” which they define as a mechanism that allows or denies access to specific identities in physical or digital spaces. They have exhibited and performed at The New Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art. Their projects include a series of large-scale, sound artworks that engage cities, architecture, and public spaces. Learn more at blacksoundart.com.

*Photo Release: By registering for this event, I understand that photos and video will be taken at the event, and agree to the terms of the Emory University photo release policy. Please email Library Events for questions.