Cloud of Whiteness

This interactive installation was conceived as a microcosm of our current and trans-historical political climate. As such, it is a hostile space.

Construction materials – brick, canvas, rope, and repurposed motors – are layered against the seemingly invisible technologies of digital surveillance. Custom software and physical computing activate a handmade cradle dropping theatrical snow. Viewers engage the work by building or deconstructing brick structures. Conversations around acculturation, assimilation, notions of “passing”, and other aspects of conceptual whiteness unfold through performances, viewer interactions, and public forums.

The project was initially commissioned for SPACES’ First 100+ Days exhibition, with iterations presented in the Ammerman Center Biennial Symposium on Arts + Technology, Current Sessions Performance Series, and produced by Chicago DanceMakers Forum at the Chicago Cultural Center. See more on that iteration, Chimeric Whiteness, Or Nightmares Passing as Normal.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS /

  • Performances by Tuli Bera, Ogie Iyahen, Leila Khoury, Gregory King, Angela Luem, Alana Parekh, Haydée Souffrant, and Megan Young
  • Curation by Christina Vassalo (SPACES), Peter Taub & Aaliyah Christina (Elevate Chicago), and Alexis Convento (Current Sessions)
  • The Ammerman Center commission developed in collaboration with Angela Davis Fegan and Gregory King, with installation support from Connecticut College students

PRESS /

ON VIEW /

  • Biennial Symposium on Arts + Technology (2018)
  • Chicago Cultural Center (2018)
  • DanceMakers Forum (2017)
  • Current Sessions (2017)
  • SPACES (2017)

DOCUMENTATION /

  • Angela Davis Fegan, Jerry Mann, Corey Melton, Alex Miller, Evan Prunty, Leonardo Selvaggio, and Megan Young