Film chronicling the early life of Black intellectual and former Binghamton University Professor, Walter Rodney, and Q & A session with the film’s Director Professor Matthew J. Smith coming to the Bundy Museum of History and Art
 
Thursday, April 26, 4:30-6pm in the Bundy Museum Annex Theatre (behind 129 Main Street in Binghamton, NY). Doors open at 4pm.
The Binghamton University Sociology Department and the Bundy Museum of History and Art proudly present a screening of The Past is Not Our Future and an evening with the filmmaker,Professor Matthew J. Smith of the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus, Jamaica). The event will be held on Thursday, April 26, 4:30-6pm in the Bundy Museum Annex Theatre. Doors open at 4pm.

The film documents the early life and intellectual development at the University of the West Indies of one of the Caribbean’s most iconic voices, Walter Rodney. Rodney is known for his groundbreaking academic work, including How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. He was also a professor at Binghamton University. In 1980, he was assassinated by the Guyanese state for his political activities.

Equally, the film is a tribute to the Caribbean during the pivotal early years of the 1960s when it was breaking free from colonialism and grappling with the meaning of independence.

The film takes an unconventional approach to its subject. More than a biography, it is a distillation of the making of a revolutionary figure during a key moment of revolutionary awakening in the Americas. To do this, the film draws on texts written by Rodney as a student at the UWI, many of which have only been recovered during research for the project. Rodney’s words form a narrative thread throughout the film and are read in voiceover by a young Guyanese student of the UWI, Mr. Johann Waldron.

Film director Matthew J. Smith is Professor in History and Head, Department of History and Archaeology, The University of the West Indes, Mona. His areas of research include Haitian politics, society, and migration. His most recent publication is Liberty, Fraternity, Exile: Haiti and Jamaica After Emancipation (University of North Carolina Press, 2014).

Sponsored by: Sociology Department (BU), Africana Studies Department (BU), Latin American and Caribbean Studies Department (BU), and the Bundy Museum of History and Art.

INSTALLATION | music may be one of the most unique artistic events ever endeavored in Binghamton – part concert, part performance art, part meditation, part punk, a tribute, creation with the goal of transcendence,  a collection of musicians and performers coming from around the country to join with me, inspire my brush, and collaborate across senses and genres.
 
Additionally, and excitingly, we are bringing cutting edge tech into the gallery to broadcast every session live stream through Twitch.tv (which has a Bob Ross channel & current MST3K Marathon) and on our website installati0nmusic.com (the 0 is a zero). We need your voice to help us reach out to the folks who will come to the event at the Bundy, yes, but also to those folks who would like to come and can not, but can participate actively in real time with the community through engaging the live stream.  The home bound, the rural, the mobile-limited, the nursing home communities, centers of gathering and individuals are all welcome to participate in the live stream and be part of the community message board.
 

10-day interactive installation of music, performance, & painting exploring death & experience life Times TBA

Where: Bundy Museum 129 main Gallery in Binghamton, NY

LIVE-STREAM on INSTALLATI0Nmusic.com

When: Performances AUG 3 -12

Featuring:
AmarA (performance painter), Celestial Blue (music),

g.nome and the soulless minions of orthodoxy (musician),

Tri-Cities Opera (piano & vocals), John Wolfson (magician),

Flying Old Crows (performers), & jk (taoist & geek)

Press Pack with Graphics, Publicity Pictures, & Videos is available on Gdrive

Press contact: Clara Q, AmarAart.assistant@gmail.com

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Music has a way of getting around the walls we put up. Watching a person play or paint is hypnotic and meditative. Each session of INSTALLATION|music will be an immersive auditory and visual experience, as the intimate Bundy Museum gallery is taken over by a variety of musicians & performance painter AmarA for a live and world wide live-stream audience with the goal of creating a world wide conversation focused through music & through visual creation, on giving tribute, on seeing problems & envisioning solutions, & on art as a vehicle for conscious interaction.

“David Bowie died.” AmarA , project organizer & performance painter states, “He made music that defined my existence in ways just words cannot. It kicked off this year long journey of transmuting his music through my brush and my paints and that became the focus for the idea that became INSTALLATION|music. Music is this amazing key that unlocks parts of the mind, the painting interacts with that and reacts to it. “

So, here's the setup: The gallery is on the top floor of a big old house (built by the man who invented the Bundy punch clock – precursor to the IBM. The museum also, as a point of interest, hosts the Rod Serling Collection, the creator of the Twilight Zone was a native of Binghamton). When you come up the stairs, the musicians will be in a nook straight ahead. To the right and left is standing room and some seats ending at the floor protecting plastic and against the left and right walls: blank murals made up of dozens of small canvases attached together. Small webcams are set up and hooked into a computer in the corner. The lights go down and come back up and the performer of the day & AmarA enter. The lights come up. The experience begins.

AmarA tells us, “Each performer – Kari of Celestial Music and Victor from g.nome, magician John Wolfson and the Flying Old Crows – each of them stands firmly for a vital concept and their set will tell a story, create a conversation. The painting reflects that conversation, it reflects the world and its problems, and the solutions we envision. That is what artists do: Reflect & Envision. And everyone in the gallery with us and interacting through the live-stream will be part of that conversation and part of the vision.”

INSTALLATION|music has received partial funding from the Broome County Arts Council United Cultural Fund and sponsors Tri-Cities Opera, Bundy Museum of History & Art, I am Horror, Broome Stage Referrals, and Sound Concepts. AmarA*jk is running a KICKSTARTER campaign to take it from "happening" to "amazing." The campaign is currently 84% funded and ends on June 13.

Backer Rewards for the crowdsource campaign reflect the project influences: with quotes from Kandinsky, Allen Ginsberg, and – yes – David Bowie. Every backer of will have name or dedication inscribed on the back of the mural & high level backers will receive a part of the finished painting & an invitation to the “Masked | Reveal Ball” that marks the end of the installation on August 12, 2017.

ARTIST BIOS

AmarA(performance painter)

AmarA began performance painting in Seattle with bands Exit to Main and Celestine Rap. She gained some underground attention for her series Extra Artist on the Set painted from her experience as a punk rock extra on the Matthew Lillard directed film Fat Kid Rules the World. Along with belovedest & collaborator, jk, she is the artist in residence for Ithaca Shakespeare Company, Tri-Cities Opera, and Cider Mill Playhouse. She practices tai chi & occasionally plays the ukulele.

“I stand for a future where food, shelter, & energy are universal. I stand for a future where greed, envy, and guilt are not motivating forces. I stand for a future where the needs of humanity are balanced with the needs of the planet (and planets) in symbiotic co-existence. (basically, I am a star trek dork) I stand for these things even though I do not know how we get there & I project these things into the world through my art.”

@AmarAartist (twitter/medium)

Celestial Blue (music)

Kari is a singer/songwriter, a guitarist, pianist, and vocalist who describes her mission as songs for Life, Love, and Planet Earth. A native of New Mexico, Kari publishes her music independantly with the support of patrons through Patreon.com. She has cited the influence of Van Morrison, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Enya, Iron & Wine, and Jackson Browne. Her sound is folk-rock, pop and old-style country with a dash of island music.

“I stand for the trees, the wilderness, the wildlife, a culture in which we respect the natural world and understand that we are an integral part in it, not separate. Everything is connected. I believe in an awakening in which we are realizing our capacity for creation as a collective consciousness who values the diversity of life in all its forms and no longer views nature in terms of exploitation, but rather exploration. I believe only in nature are our minds satiated and our spirits nourished. I believe in love, gratitude, independence, Liberty, choice, free will and compassionate tolerance. I believe sound has power. I believe the cosmos are singing. I believe that sound begets light begets life. I believe music is a tool of communication that connects us all in a universal language and empowers us to be our higher selves.”

@CblueMusic (twitter)

g.nome and the soulless minions of orthodoxy (musician)

g.nome and the soulless minions of orthodoxy is a multi-layered, multi textured, genre-defying jam, flowing freely from ambient instrumental textures into striking, often funky improvisations into songs and back again. With influences as diverse as Medieval European Polyphony, Indonesian gamelan, Japanese Gagaku, European opera, and 70s Funk,Rock, and Jazz, g.nome (pronounced “gee’- nome”)and the soulless minions of orthodoxy creates music from across time and distance to which you may groove as you will.

“I stand for being smart: for not letting good information get drowned out by erroneous belief. I stand for shining a light in the dark. I stand for being a decent person, minimizing my inevitably negative impact on this planet and on others. I stand for taking care of my fellow humans and other living creatures; people should have what they need so that they might do what they want.”

Tri-Cities Opera (piano & vocals)

The mission of Tri-Cities Opera is the production of professional quality opera. Using the talents of young artists, we seek to benefit, enrich and educate our community.

Tri-Cities Opera’s Productions predominately serve the Southern Tier of New York State and Northern Pennsylvania. Tri-Cities Opera (TCO) was founded in 1949 as a singer’s workshop. By 1952 it had grown from presenting opera excerpts, to producing fully staged complete operas. It is the oldest continuously producing main-stage opera company in upstate New York providing regional identity, patronage for local businesses, local educational opportunities, and recreational benefits that enhance the quality of life for local residents. Performances include traditional grand productions at the Forum

Theater as well as innovative new productions in Savoca Hibbitt Hall, a new black-box theatre at the Opera Center on Clinton Street. Scenery and costumes produced by TCO rent throughout the USA and Canada. Winner of the Governor’s Award, NY State Council on the Arts, TCO has produced four world premieres.

@TriCitiesOpera (twitter)

John Wolfson (magician)

Audiences young and old are entertained and amazed by Magical John's many talents, whether he's producing objects out of thin air, juggling just about anything, or flying high over New York state on stilts.

Creed: My Quest is Universal. Eternity is my Kingdom. Immortality is my Life. Truth is my Worship. Love is my Law. The Mind is my House. Conscious is my Guide. Peace is my Shelter. Experience is my School.

Obstacle is my Lesson. Difficulty is my Stimulant. Joy is my Hymn. Pain is my Warning. Work is my Blessing. Light is my Realization. Adversity is my Instructor. Neighbor is my Brother. Struggle is myOpportunity. Future Time is my Promise. Order is my Path. Beauty is my Ideal. And Unity is my Ultimate End.

Flying Old Crows (performers)

We are the Flying old crows. We hail from this universe. No one knows from whence we came and how long ago, but we will again and again as the wheels and gears of time and space spin. We take concepts of geometry, music, space, and the body – smash them together to see what beauty form it takes. While moving the spirit to new heights we lovingly explore the realms of light and darkness through the experience of spectacle. Come fly with us.

jk(Taoist geek)

“every memory you have about every experience is a memory of your perspective, not the experience.”

Blink. Turn. Look again. The moment has changed. It's a new moment. Close your eyes and count to five, then open them. A new moment. Anew reality. What will you see now? What will you do now? Another moment passed.

@Jetsamk (twitter)