Black/Queer/Abstract: A convening on the occasion of Julie Mehretu | Part 1 of 4

Inspired by Julie Mehretu’s multidisciplinary practice and guided by her interests, this day-long convening gathers together artists and thinkers across disciplines whose work engages with Black and Queer radical thought through forms of abstraction. The event seeks to mobilize the power of imaginative thinking and to celebrate a collective project of world building. Bridging the arts, humanities, and sciences, the program presents broad conversations between artists and scholars who are at the forefront of their fields and who form a creative network with which Mehretu’s work is in dialogue. 0:00–5:44 Welcome Adam D. Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director, Whitney Museum of American Art 5:44–16:21 Opening Reading Natalie Diaz, poet 16:21–1:30:49 Abstraction and Black Modernism Moderated by Rujeko Hockley, Arnhold Associate Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art Steven Nelson, art historian and Dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) Julie Mehretu, artist Martin Puryear, artist Adrienne Edwards, Engell Speyer Family Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, Whitney Museum of American Art.