Remain To Be Seen
July 13 - August 25, 2017
Remain To Be Seen showcases the culminating work of the 2016-17 Arts + Public Life and Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture Artists-in-Residence, Yaw Agyeman, Lauren Ash, and Stephen Flemister. The ten-month residency program, housed at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park, supports Chicago-based multi-disciplinary artists whose practices critically engage issues of race, ethnicity, and community. Remain To Be Seen exhibits Agyeman, Ash, and Flemister’s reflections on self, identity, power, and visibility through sculpture, painting, installations, video, and sound.
About Lauren Ash
Lauren Ash is a socially-engaged artist and visionary most recognized for her leadership prioritizing black women in the wellness and editorial fields. As the Founder and Executive Director of Black Girl In Om, she promotes holistic wellness for women of color through a series of touch points including the online publication, social media, podcast, and offline experiences. Bridging the gap between culture and commerce, Ash co-founded lifestyle goods brand Lifestyle with Ivory + Ash, and is a founding member of Party Noire, a collective celebrating black womanhood with black joy centered parties and community gatherings.
As artist-in-residence within Arts and Public Life and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago Lauren has guided Seva, a monthly mindfulness series involving movement, meditation, and dialogue. Over the course of her residency, Lauren has created for you and for me, an audio guided meditation and affirmation EP and interactive, experimental self-care space featuring original and collaborative works. Her dedication and sustained attention to relentlessly representing and centering black women across all of her projects has garnered the attention of NYLON, Saint Heron, Vice’s i-D, Thoughtfully Magazine, ESSENCE, and many other platforms where she is recognized as a trailblazer and creative to watch. Lauren earned an MA in American Studies from Purdue University and a BA in Psychology from the University of St. Thomas.
About Stephen Flemister
Stephen Flemister is an interdisciplinary artist working in sculpture, printmedia and new media, with practices invested in modes of portraiture, influences of digital culture and their common forms of application. Through objects, installations, and experimental studies, Flemister explores methods of visibility and fabricated realities, among social systems. During his 10-month residency at the Arts Incubator, he created an interactive conversation platform, Thread.City, while working with portraits. Flemister received his BA in Interactive Arts and Media from Columbia College Chicago and his MFA in the Low Residency Program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His works have been shown at Hyde Park Art Center, Columbia College, South Side Community Art Center, and Arts Incubator with public installations and performance throughout Chicago.
About Yaw Agyeman
Yaw Agyeman is an interdisciplinary performing artist born in Chicago. He works primarily as a musician/sound designer but also has an extensive theater background (actor) and makes photos. Yaw’s work addresses language as cultural currency. His work also uses space as a way to share music, community, and culture.
He has toured in the play Red, Black and Green: a blues (MAPP) and performed in the world premiere of the musical, Mister Chickee's Funny Money (Chicago Children's Theater). The play features music from the Motown great, Lamont Dozier. He has been featured on VH1's Soul Cities a show produced by Nelson George that showcases singers in cities all over the country, as well as on the Africa Channel's, Soundtracks at Red Kiva, a program that focuses on artists of African descent. Currently, he is a member of the artistic collaboration, Black Monks of Mississippi, headed by the dynamic and prolific, Theaster Gates.
He has performed at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C., the Biennale in Venice, the Menial Collection in Houston, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, White Cube in London, documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany, Art Basel in Miami and the Whitney Biennial. His video work, den na ma ye, was exhibited at the American University in Washington D.C and at the Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College in Chicago.
In April, the Black Monks released three vinyl records and premiered a documentary in Helsinki at the IHME Contemporary Art Festival. He is a performer in the production, Pehlotah which will show at the Kennedy Center and Brooklyn Art Museum and will tour at other venues in 2017 and 2018.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Opening Reception
Thursday, July 13 • 6–8pm
Arts Incubator, 301 East Garfield Boulevard
After-Party at BING with special performances and DJ Selah Say
Thursday, July 13 • 8–10pm
BING Reading Room, 305 East Garfield Park Boulevard
Artist Roundtable (RSVP required. Email: npatin@uchicago.edu)
Wednesday, August 2 • 12–1pm
Arts Incubator, 301 East Garfield Boulevard
Fufu & Grits curated by YAW at Currency Exchange Café
Fridays • 12–2pm
Currency Exchange Café, 305 East Garfield Boulevard
Groups interested in visiting Remain to Be Seen should email Nikki Patin at npatin@uchicago.edu.
About Exhibitions at the Arts Incubator
The exhibitions program at the Arts Incubator offers a platform for Chicago-based artists to thoughtfully engage with the global, contemporary art world in a localized environment. The unique positioning of this program acts as a catalyst for collaboration and exchange, creating a dynamic and critical space. Exhibitions are realized throughout the entirety of the building and the surrounding Washington Park area, fusing temporal, public space with the dedicated interior. This coupling is echoed with the public programming efforts, as we introduce the work of national artists to the local conversation.