Edgar Arceneaux: Written in Smoke and Fire

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A large gallery with a slatted wood structure like a cabin, and a wall work with mirrored box and a glass window at an angle

Installation view Edgar Arceneaux: Written in Smoke and Fire, MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2016. Photo: Peter Harris Studio

Location
Hayden & Reference Galleries
Featured Artists
Edgar Arceneaux
Explore all artists who have exhibited at the List in our Artist Index.

Edgar Arceneaux’s work in installation, sculpture, drawing, photography, and video, draws inspiration from a wide-ranging set of sources: American history, astronomy, science-fiction, architecture, music, and movies.

His solo exhibition at the List Center presents three major, interlocking projects that reflect on history and remembrance, and consider how specific national, cultural narratives change over time. The body of work titled A Book and a Medal (2014) takes inspiration in part from the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and connects 1960s history with the landscape of contemporary, postindustrial American cities. Arceneaux’s recent work The Library of Black Lies (2016) constructs a labyrinthine, Borgesian book repository including various “variations” of books, including volumes by prominent African-American thinkers. The new installation Until, Until, Until (2016), premiering at the List, examines Broadway legend Ben Vereen’s controversial performance at the inaugural celebration for Ronald Reagan in 1981, which was televised nationally in a truncated version and derailed his career for decades. Throughout the exhibition, Arceneaux combines sculptural object, historical record, and fictional text in an effort to complicate the construction and transmission of knowledge.

Edgar Arceneaux is featured in the most recent PBS series Art in the Twenty-First Century, Season 8 (2016). View the segment here.

Edgar Arceneaux (b. 1972 in Los Angeles) lives and works in Los Angeles. Arceneaux was the director of the Watts House Project from 1999-2012. Solo exhibitions of his work have been mounted at Kunstverein Ulm, Germany; Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; and the Project, New York, among others. He has been included in group shows at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris; Mona Bismarck American Center, Paris; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Orange County Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Kunstmuseum Basel; and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, and many more.

Edgar Arceneaux: Written in Smoke and Fire  is curated by Henriette Huldisch, Curator, MIT List Visual Arts Center

Sponsors

Exhibitions at the List Center are made possible with the support of Cynthia & John Reed and Terry & Rick Stone. The accompanying publication is generously supported by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation; Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels. The List Center is thankful to Alberta Chu & Murray Robinson for their additional support of the opening reception.

General operating support is provided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Council for the Arts at MIT, the Office of the Associate Provost at MIT, the MIT School of Architecture + Planning, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and many generous individual donors. The Advisory Committee Members of the List Visual Arts Center are gratefully acknowledged.

Images

A large gallery with a slatted wood structure like a cabin, and a wall work with mirrored box and a glass window at an angle
A dark space with a blue spotlight, a large projection of a woman and man performing with an audience in silhouette in front
Installation view of Edgar_Arceneaux: Written in Smoke and Fire, exhibited at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2016.
A large dark slatted wood cabin structure with pointed roof and lit from within, almost filling the space it’s in
A close up of vertical wood shelves with several rough textured encrusted books the same color as the shelves
A close up view of a tight space filled with wood shelves, a mirror, and sugar encrusted books a similar color as the shelves
A view from inside an attic like space with dark wood planks, a slanted ceiling, lights and a doorway slanted at the top
In a darkened space, a projected video of a man in lights, onstage, wearing a top hat and performing with arms outstretched
A wood slatted wall with a framed picture on the right, and five dark framed     boxes in a row, lit from within, on the far wall  
Five wall pieces in a row. Three in the middle with framed glass at 45 degree angles,  and a light box with text at each end
A darkened space with a video screen in the center, large blue and green oval spotlights, and a small bar bathed in red light 

Events

Videos

Edgar Arceneaux: Written in Smoke and Fire

Preview image for the video "Edgar Arceneaux: Written in Smoke and Fire".

Related Publication

Edgar Arceneaux Written in Smoke and Fire

2017, MIT List Visual Arts Center

View publication

Book cover for Edgar Arceneaux Written in Smoke and Fire featuring a black and white photograph of a man with black charcoal covering his face. He has a concerned look as he gazes to the right.

Press

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