About

Smack Mellon is thrilled to host a conversation between exhibiting artist Tariku Shiferaw and physicist Dr. Stephon Alexander, moderated by the exhibition’s curator, Rachel Vera Steinberg. In this talk Shiferaw will discuss his installation, Mata Semay, which combines painting, sound, and sculpture, fusing abstraction that re-engages ancient African diasporic knowledge with sound and image making practices from history through the present. Through this installation, Shiferaw proposes a new mythology to imagine how the night sky would exist if diasporic cultural contributions were considered in the global consciousness. Alexander revisits the interconnection between music and the evolution of astrophysics and the laws of motion. He explores new ways music, in particular jazz music, mirrors modern physics, such as quantum mechanics, general relativity, and the physics of the early universe. Finally, he discusses ways that innovations in physics have been and can be inspired from “improvisational logic” exemplified in Jazz performance and practice.

For the second public program in conjunction with the 2022 Summer Exhibition, You’d Think By Now, Smack Mellon will host a performative lecture by artist Dawn Kim. My Gift is a testimony of a two-year quest to right a wrong. Consisting of pictures made and found by the artist, the 140-slide presentation maps a logical approach to faith, law, and magic. Bio: Dawn Kim is an artist who examines everyday complexities through (mis)recorded histories. Taking on forms of video, artist’s books and lectures, her work attempts to make visible systems of power that have been hidden, forgotten, or overlooked. She received her MFA from Yale University in 2020.

Join us for a reading with artist and poet Aristilde Kirby, the third event in conjunction with the Summer 2022 group exhibition, You’d Think By Now. Kirby will primarily read from Project P.S. or Pretty⚝Suite, her manuscript in progress containing the titular characters of her recent book, Daisy & Catherine², published by auric press. Aristilde Kirby (b. 1991) is a being constellation of given human category: a poet, artist, thinker & more born in the Bronx, NY. She has been featured in Artforum & as a part of Illiberal Arts, an exhibition & publication at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. She has published chapbooks with Belladonna, Black Warrior Review, & Best American Experimental Writing 2020. She’s done radio programming with Montez Press Radio, performed at Basilica Hudson Soundscape, been featured at Miguel Abreu Gallery as well as Smack Mellon, done art writing for Recess @ ACE Open, & taken part in numerous collaborations. Daisy & Catherine² is her first book length project, to be reissued later this year via auric press. You can call her Aris, like Paris without the P.

Join the exhibition's curator Rachel Vera Steinberg for an intimate walkthrough and discussion of the exhibition's themes.