Cloud of Whiteness

SPACES Gallery commissioned seven artists to develop new works in response to the initial phase of Trump’s presidency, specifically with regard to his administration’s immigration policy. The artworks feature stories from immigrant and refugee communities, consider how the media influences our political discourse, and capture the radical potential of artistic activism. These hard-hitting and varied perspectives from residents of Ohio’s strategically positioned swing state are further supported by a timeline of actions that introduce, enact, and protest immigration during this time of political urgency and uncertainty.

This initiative, curated by Alexis Convento, unfolds as a dynamic series of performances and interactive installations in New York City. For Volume VII: On Resistance, Convento commissioned nine works by artists who interrogate systems of control through strategies of conflict, transgression and care, showcasing unruly gestures, multimedia interventions, and radical choreographic structures. The series emphasizes the breadth of the dance field, from the hyper-regulated body to playful disruption, while demonstrating how embodiment provides the ideal medium for arts activism.

This commission for the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology Biennial Symposium was developed in collaboration with visual artist Angela Davis Fegan, performance artist Gregory King, and with support from Connecticut College students. Once installed, the gallery undergoes continuous transformation with shifting boundaries and barriers, but the underlying programming remains consistent. Mechanisms of control prolong a predominance of “whiteness” in the space.

The whiteness of Nuclear Winter presents itself in white painted bricks, theatrical snow, and the light-skinned bodies able to move about the space unimpeded. Whiteness is measured by processing digital surveillance images and maintained through a protectionist system of linear logic and physical computing. The pervasive and compounding micro-aggressions of this chimeric whiteness are a thing of nightmares, a Nuclear Winter.

Print works on paper are installed as serial public texts. They cut into the unequal power constructs of the space, while encouraging public discourse on race and privilege. The analog printing methods document the labor of resistance and provide stark contrast to the supposed supremecy of digital mediums. They make space for difference within the otherwise hostile environment.

Gregory King works to create places of refuge within the gallery. His signature approach considers dance as a social text, communicating rituals of experience. So, as he negotiates his Blackness through lived rituals, he reminds himself not to stop to ask permission or forgiveness.

The project was developed as a collective, multi-modal work that combined an interactive installation with participatory workshops. Supported by the Chicago Dancemakers Forum and mentored by Meida Teresa McNeal, it invited participants to explore embodied responses to race-biased technologies while researching how emerging technologies shape social and spatial dynamics. Excerpts were presented through Elevate! at the Chicago Cultural Center, adding to the event’s broader exploration of power and resistance in public life curated by Peter Taub and Aaliyah Christina.