Aural Futures Series:
[Warning: Limited Seating Available, for 100 people - "First Come, First Served!". Doors open at 6:30pm.]

Janelle Monáe’s “Dirty Computer” + Shorts Program
(Andrew Donoho & Chuck Lightning, 2018, 48 min, USA, English, Color, Digital)

Janelle Monáe, in conjunction with her album Dirty Computer, has produced an accompanying “emotion picture” (according to her, “a narrative film and accompanying musical album.”)The emotion picture ties Monáe’s recent music videos into one cohesive, Afro-futuristic whole. Welcome to the world of Dirty Computer, where marginalized people fight to exist in a world that wants to rid them of their “dirt” (read: difference). As Monáe said in her momentous coming-out interview: “I want young girls, young boys, nonbinary, gay, straight, queer people who are having a hard time dealing with their sexuality, dealing with feeling ostracized or bullied for just being their unique selves, to know that I see you. This album is for you. Be proud.”

Shown with:

The Model (chapter one): "Marcello in Limbo" (Seu Jorge and Almaz)
(Kahlil Joseph, 2011, 4 min, B+W, Digital)

The Model (chapter two): "Oshun and the Dream" (Seu Jorge and Almaz)
(Kahlil Joseph, 2011, 8 min, B+W, Digital)

The Dig, “You and I and You” 
(Terrance Nance, 2015, 8 min, Color, Digital)
 

About the Aural Futures Series:

-- Curated by Ingrid LaFleur from AFROTOPIA & Negar Mottahedeh at Duke University

Often music is the first introduction to the cultural movement Afrofuturism. The Aural Futures series looks at how electronic music created a foundation in the development of Afrofuturism, explores the history of certain music movements like Afropunk that have introduced Afrofuturism to a larger audience, and how the Afrofuturist aesthetic is used to visually express the music and provide a narrative.

To complete the music ecosystem, we have curated a selection of storytellers and performers from Detroit and Durham to create an Afrofuturist evening of musical vibes and visions (Oct 26, 9pm in Duke Coffee House). Hearing the music, watching the performance and the organic movement that it calls forth is an integral part of the Afrofuturist experience.

Sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI), the Forum for Scholars & Publics (FSP), the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI), the Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts—Duke Arts, the Program in Literature, the Department of Cultural Anthropology, the Department of African & African-American Studies, Duke Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, and Duke Performances.

This event is a part of Visionary Aponte: Art & Black Freedom, a nine-week art exhibit and accompanying series of conversations, screenings, performances, residencies, and workshops at Duke University organized by the Power Plant Gallery and the Forum for Scholars and Publics. The exhibit is curated by Édouard Duval-Carrié and Ada Ferrer and is based on a digital humanities project called Digital Aponte. More information online at aponte.dukefsp.org.

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Screen/Society screenings are free and open to the public.

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