Mothership: Voyage into Afrofuturism – The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Institution: Oakland Museum of California

Grant Cycle: Fall 2019

Amount: $75,000

Type of Grant: Exhibition Support

Afrofuturism is a lot of things. It’s the past, present, and future reimagined through a Black cultural lens. Visionary, spiritual, and generative, it is art, music, literature, and cinema that expresses a just future where Black people and Black ideas thrive. It is fantasy and science fiction that envisions the African Diaspora and Black culture as central in a technically advanced and culturally rich civilization. It is also the ordinary—now— in this very moment and the everyday pleasures that may often be seen as mundane. Afrofuturism is a strategy for Black community building.

The Oakland Museum of California’s exhibition Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism presents the work of some of the central figures of this cultural phenomena—author Octavia E. Butler, avant-garde jazz musician Sun Ra, and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph. The exhibition also includes contemporary artworks, a Dora Milaje costume from the film Black Panther, photography, and other historical objects, as well as a replica of the Mothership itself— musician George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic’s Afrofuturistic vessel—which houses an otherworldly video installation, a curated playlist by DJ Spooky, and more. Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism connects important figures of Afrofuturism and the ways in which Afrofuturism is present in our everyday lives.

Alun Be, “Enlightened Play,” Edification Series, 2017. Reproduction. Courtesy of the artist. © Alun Be

Alun Be, “Potentiality,” Edification Series, 2017. Reproduction. Courtesy of the artist. © Alun Be

Ruth-Marion Baruch, Black Panther and son, Free Huey Rally, De Fremery Park, Oakland, CA,1968. Reproduction. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz. Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones Photographs. © The Regents of the University of California

Ruth-Marion Baruch, Reading the Black Panther paper at Bobby Hutton Memorial Park, Oakland, CA, 1968. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz. Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones Photographs. © The Regents of the University of California

Chelle Barbour, "Reptilian Warrior," 2018. Work on paper, 28 x 16.5 in. Courtesy of the artist. © Chelle Barbour

Chelle Barbour, "The Bluest Eye," 2018. Work on paper, 35 x 25 in. Courtesy of the artist. © Chelle Barbour

Chelle Barbour, "You For Me," 2018. Work on paper, 35 x 25 in. Courtesy of the artist. © Chelle Barbour

“[The Georgia Negro] Occupations of Negroes and whites in Georgia,” 1900. Reproduction. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-33889

Thomas E. Askew, African American family posed for portrait seated on lawn. Georgia, 1899. Reproduction. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-08762

Thomas E. Askew, Four African American women seated on steps of building at Atlanta University, Georgia, circa 1899. Reproduction. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-08778

Olalekan Jeyifous, “Shanty Mega-structures: Makoko Waterfront,” 2015. Reproduction.Courtesy of the artist. © Olalekan Jeyifous

Patti Perret, Photograph of Octavia E. Butler seated by her bookcase, circa 1980 Reproduction. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. © Patti Perret

Alisha B. Wormsley, “There Are Black People In The Future, The Last Billboard, Pittsburg, PA,” 2017. Reproduction. Courtesy of the artist. © Alisha B. Wormsley

1976

Warhol acquires the first of several compact 35 mm cameras, and over the next 11 years shot approximately 130,000 black-and-white images, claiming that “having a few rolls of film to develop gives me a good reason to get up in the morning.”