Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Woman Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970

Jan. 24 – May 24, 2008 (Part II); Sept. 14 – Dec. 8, 2007 (Part I)

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art collaborated with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston to present the groundbreaking exhibition Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970. It included projections, installations, interactive CD-ROM projects, experimental film, and video work by more than 40 artists. Unlike the more conventional genres of painting and sculpture, video art, the focus of this exhibition, emerged in the latter half of the 20th century.

Cinema Remixed & Reloaded was the first exhibition to examine the critical contributions that black women continue to make to the field of video art. Cinema Remixed & Reloaded featured works by established artists who became interested in the video medium in the 70s and 80s, such as Camille Billops, Barbara McCullough, Howardena Pindell, and Adrian Piper. They were presented alongside such midcareer artists as Berni Searle, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems, who continually garner international acclaim. Works by emerging artists, including Elizabeth Axtman, Debra Edgerton, Lauren Kelley, Jessica Ann Peavy, Pamela Sunstrum, and Lauren Woods, were also included.

Works featured in Cinema Remixed & Reloaded examined themes that were provocative, humorous, socially engaging, and thought provoking. While exploring personal experiences and dissecting popular visual culture, the artists in this exhibition provide contemporary views on several important topics including memory, loss, alienation, racial politics, gender inequities, empowerment, and the pursuit of power. Cinema Remixed & Reloaded examined the many rich contributions black women artists make to the medium. Part I focused on themes that engage the complex perceptions surrounding the black female body and the spaces of empowerment where women have defined themselves. Part II continued the explorations raised in Part I and examined such subjects as classic cinema and the male gaze.

Cinema Remixed & Reloaded was curated by Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and Valerie Cassel Oliver, curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.