PMA Professor Mendi Obadike and AAP Professor Keith Obadike will participate in a marathon reading of the book Studies into Darkness: The Perils and Promise of Freedom of Speech, along with other contributors to the book. The event, organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, will take place virtually from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm EST on November 21. Studies into Darkness was originally released in 2022, edited by Carin Kuoni and Laura Raicovich, and co-published by Amherst College Press and the Vera List Center. Mendi + Keith Obadike will read their work In the Mouth of This Dragon from 8:05 pm to 8:45 pm EST.
“In 2018, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics explored the promise and perils of Freedom of Speech through a series of seminars with artists and curators,” said Mendi Obadike. “Keith and I participated in the first seminar in the series (Mapping the Territory), and we were commissioned to make a work for the closing seminar, which we called In the Mouth of This Dragon. The marathon reading on Friday is from the book that was published (Studies into Darkness), collecting texts from the seminars. We close the evening starting at 8 p.m., reflecting on that project and sharing some of it.”
Studies into Darkness explores freedom of speech through the lenses of history, poetics, and social justice, bringing together the writings and ideas of dozens of contributing artists, activists, curators, and writers.
Mendi shared, “Our work In the Mouth of This Dragon is an installation and musical performance that brings three texts into conversation: ‘Tongue-Tongue,’ a folktale from across Africa and the Diaspora that warns against saying too much; Hatata—a treatise from a 17th-century Ethiopian philosopher, Zera Yacob, who was forced into exile for his speech; and 20th-century poet Audre Lorde’s important essay The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action, from which our title takes its name.”
Structured as a 12-hour program spanning multiple time zones and connecting disparate locales, the marathon features essays, poetry, songs, scores, and letters, forming an open classroom with multiple entry points to the historical and contemporary discourse on free speech politics. Participants include the book’s co-editors Carin Kuoni and Laura Raicovich, VLC’s Re’al Christian and Eriola Pira, and contributors Zach Blas, Aruna D’Souza, SHAWNÉ MICHAELAIN HOLLOWAY, Prithi Kanakamedala, Amar Kanwar, Silvia Federici, Svetlana Mintcheva, Obden Mondésir, Mendi + Keith Obadike, Vanessa Place, Michael Rakowitz, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Nabiha Syed, and Jeanne van Heeswijk.
“I feel so fortunate that making art has brought us closer to the wisdom of other artists and theorists—from the ancient times to the present—and to our inherited and invented creative forms for deciding when and how to speak, remembering our history, and emboldening ourselves,” said Mendi Obadike. “We look forward to gathering with other artists to think together again and to share what we have learned with our broader community.”
Learn more about the event details at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics website.
Photo by Anson Wigner
