In the lead-up to Tuesday’s keynote speaker event, campus organizations have been hosting programming related to this year’s One Book One Northwestern selection, “How the Word is Passed.” The Block Museum welcomed contemporary artists Mendi and Keith Obadike last Saturday for a sonic performance that reexamines the history of anti-Black violence in the United States. Ava Mandoli has the story.
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS STORY CONTAINS MENTIONS OF ANTI-BLACK
VIOLENCE THAT SOME LISTENERS MAY FIND UPSETTING.
[Clip of performance]
HOW CAN WE HUMANIZE STATISTICS? IN THE BLACK BOX THEATER AT THE WIRTZ CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS MENDI AND KEITH OBADIKE ATTEMPTED TO ANSWER THAT ESSENTIAL QUESTION.
THE IMMERSIVE AUDIO EXPERIENCE WAS PART OF AN EVENT HOSTED BY THE
BLOCK MUSEUM OF ART IN CONJUNCTION WITH ONE BOOK ONE NORTHWESTERN. MENDI AND KEITH’S ONGOING PROJECT, “NUMBERS SERIES,” TRANSFORMS NUMERICAL DATABASES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE INTO SONIC INFORMATION. THE ARTISTS’ WORK DRAWS ON THEMES FROM THE BLOCK’S WINTER-SPRING 2022 EXHIBIT, A SITE OF STRUGGLE: AMERICAN ART AGAINST ANTI-BLACK VIOLENCE, AS WELL AS THIS YEAR’S ONE BOOK ONE NORTHWESTERN SELECTION, “HOW THE WORD IS PASSED” BY CLINT SMITH. NEARLY 50 PEOPLE GATHERED FOR THE HALF-HOUR PERFORMANCE, TITLED “NUMBERS STATION 2 [RED RECORD].”
[People clapping]
THIS INSTALLATION OF THE NUMBERS STATION PROJECT WAS BASED OFF OF
IDA B. WELLS’ 1895 PUBLICATION, “RED RECORD.” THE BOOK TABULATED
STATISTICS ABOUT ALLEGED CAUSES OF LYNCHING IN THE UNITED STATES.
Obadike: The name of the project we took from these sort of Cold War radio
broadcasts, where people would read numbers off it. And these things would be
decoded on the other side by a spy with a codebook with a pad to decode
information… So we were kind of interested in transmitting information with
these numbers. And we’re interested in what was hidden behind these numbers.
SITTING BEHIND A TABLE DRAPED IN A BLACK CLOTH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
DARK THEATER, MENDI AND KEITH RECITED NUMBERS IN A SOLEMN TONE. AS
THE PERFORMANCE CONTINUED, THE AUDIENCE STARTS TO RECOGNIZE
PATTERNS. THESE ARE DATES. AND EACH DATE FROM “RED RECORD” IS A
DAY A PERSON WAS LYNCHED.
[Artists reciting dates]
THE COUPLE’S RECITATIONS WERE UNDERLIED BY A SOUNDSCAPE THAT
BORE UNRELENTINGLY INTO THE STILL, SOMBER ATMOSPHERE. EVEN THESE
SEEMINGLY ARBITRARY SOUNDS WERE IMBUED WITH MEANING.
K.O.: Let’s say we have a date of 09– we might translate that into 900 Hz. Or if we
have a day like 13, we might translate that into 1300 Hz. So you’re hearing those
things sonified.
MENDI AND KEITH’S PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTES TO A DIVERSE ARRAY OF
PROGRAMMING PUT ON BY DIFFERENT CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS IN
ASSOCIATION WITH ONE BOOK ONE NORTHWESTERN. THIS YEAR’S BOOK,
“HOW THE WORD IS PASSED,” IS A NONFICTION WORK THAT USES SPECIFIC
LOCATIONS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD TO REEXAMINE
THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY. STUDENT FELLOWS AND AMBASSADORS CONTRIBUTE TO ONE BOOK THROUGH BOOK SELECTION PROCESS AND YEAR-LONG PROGRAMMING. COMMUNICATION SENIOR MARK BERRY DESCRIBED THE STUDENT COMMITTEE’S SENTIMENT BEHIND THIS YEAR’S BOOK SELECTION.
Berry: It’s a book that’s – it’s been out for two years now, I think – but every
day since its publication, it has become even more relevant. With all this political
stuff that’s happening in Florida and Texas with book banning and with critical
race theory backlash, every day there has been new developments in our current
political system that directly relate to what this book is talking about and are why
this book exists. We’re really excited to have such a fresh and modern and really
important “now” book for this year.
PROFESSOR LESLIE HARRIS OF THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT IS THIS YEAR’S
ONE BOOK FACULTY CHAIR. SHE IS A HISTORIAN OF SLAVERY WHO “HAS
FOCUSED ON COMPLICATING THE IDEAS WE ALL HOLD ABOUT THE HISTORY
OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES; AND FINDING WAYS TO
COMMUNICATE THESE NEW IDEAS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.” AFTER
ATTENDING MENDI AND KEITH’S PERFORMANCE, SHE REFLECTED ON THE
ROLE NUMBERS PLAY IN HOW WE REMEMBER HISTORY.
Harris: There are some numbers that we know and we hope that what they
symbolize gets across, but there’s a fear that people just become a number.
Nobody wants to be a number. But they really, I think, challenge that and say that
now these numbers have a meaning and we can bring meaning to them. They
bring meaning to it. They force us to understand the meaning of those numbers.
TO MENDI OBADIKE, ABSTRACTION IS A WAY TO REINSTILL EMOTION INTO
NUMBERS AND REMIND LISTENERS OF THE PEOPLE BEHIND THOSE DATES.
Obadike: That’s the practice of this project, is to know what can be
communicated, experienced, meditated upon, with nothing but numbers.
[Music: “Respiration”]
CLINT SMITH WILL BE DELIVERING THE ONE BOOK KEYNOTE LECTURE AT
NORTHWESTERN ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18. HE’LL FIRST SPEAK IN A
MODERATED DISCUSSION ON THE CHICAGO CAMPUS FROM 12:15-1:15 P.M. AT
THE HUGHES AUDITORIUM, AND AGAIN ON THE EVANSTON CAMPUS FROM 5-6
P.M. AT THE MARY B. GALVIN RECITAL HALL. AFTER THE EVANSTON EVENT,
SMITH WILL ALSO PARTICIPATE IN A BOOK SIGNING. PROGRAMMING FOR ONE
BOOK WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
[Music: “Respiration”]
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M AVA MANDOLI.
