8 (a) Review
Clayton, Jace. “Breaking Point.” Artforum, March, 2019.
This review examines the recent solo exhibition of work from 2012-18 by American artist Kevin Beasley at the Whitney Museum in NYC. Of particular interest is the two room installation, A view of a landscape: A cotton gin motor. In the first room, a functioning motor from an Alabama cotton farm (active in-situ from 1940-73) is presented, encased a soundproof glass box and surrounded by active microphones. The rusting machinery is switched on and running, and although one may suspect it to emit noise, nothing can be heard. Likewise, the speed of its spinning motion so frantic, it appears motionless without any sonic signification. The second room is a darkened space where the sound of the engine is audible, but no significant visuality is engaged. Clayton speculates that these actions are in line with the displacement of black America as part of an ongoing and cautionary tale of relocation, ownership and mortality.
8 (b) Book
Rancière, Jacques. The Politics of Aesthetics. Translated by Gabriel Rockhill. London: Continuum, 2004.
a journey that wasn't 