University of Richmond Museums kicks off a new season with immersive exhibitions and films
Arts
The University of Richmond Museums is showcasing three new exhibitions at the Harnett Museum of Art, organized in collaboration with UR’s Department of Art & Art History, running from Feb. 4 to April 25.
Politics of Place, curated by art professor and filmmaker Jeremy Drummond, is a rotating exhibition featuring the work of nine contemporary filmmakers and two artist collectives who explore how geographic locations influence ideas of identity and power. The exhibition will include Drummond’s award-winning film, Monument, as well as screenings by filmmakers Basma al-Sharif, Kevin Jerome Everson, Sky Hopinka, Tiffany Sia, and others.
Drummond has been curating film and video programs for festivals since he was a graduate student, receiving VHS tapes from directors around the world. “My approach to art making, teaching, and curating has always been wrapped up in this notion of building a community of people around films,” Drummond said.
The films in the series are short, running from 8 to 35 minutes on a continuous loop, and will change every two weeks on Thursdays. According to Drummond, the films' ideologies examine place beyond physicality and encompass social and political implications, community dynamics, access to power, and the collective imaginary.
“The works give us the space and the opportunity to engage with things that are extremely important right now,” Drummond said.
The filmmakers use innovative techniques — such as collage, a soundtrack with brainwave-generating beats, archival footage, environmental recordings collected from a demolished public housing site, and red and green washes considered impossible for the eye to see simultaneously — to tell their stories.
Drummond sees the exhibit as a teaching tool and will require his classes to see all the films.
The exhibit opens with Drummond’s Monument, a film that combines Super 8 footage of the decaying 20-foot presidential busts, formerly located at the Presidents Park attraction near Williamsburg, Virginia, and video scenes from Monument Avenue in Richmond taken during the George Floyd protests.
Other exhibits
Abigail DeVille: A Mourning, a newly commissioned installation, draws on the artist’s family history to examine the development of Black mental health care. Abigail DeVille, an internationally renowned sculptor, is known for her large-scale immersive installations made with found objects. Her work has also been exhibited at The Whitney, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Black Work: Absence/Absorption features a number of artists engaging with the question: what is black? “Black is absorption, a gathering, all colors held at once, refusing to reflect,” writes curator and art professor Kymberly Newberry. “While some works reference histories of Black liberation, the focus is on material, spatial, and perceptual practices rather than race or identity alone.”