Exhibition Stories, Northwestern Learning, On Equity and Action

“What it means to struggle together”: Ashleigh Deosaran on The Living Image of Sound

In Spring 2023 The Block opened The Living Image of Sound: Notes on Jazz and Protest at Northwestern a concise exhibition exploring the intersections of visual art, music, and student-led social justice movements during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The exhibition features artwork and ephemera related to the trailblazing poet and musician Sun Ra and […]

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Northwestern Learning

Collection Talk: Alan Cohen, “Now (Slave Plantation, St. John, Virgin Islands), 09-01” [Video]

Throughout 2022-23 a series of talks considers works from the Block’s collection that reckon with the history of slavery, white supremacy, symbols of nationhood, and social inequity. This series is held in connection with 2022–23 One Book One Northwestern selection “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America” by Clint Smith. In […]

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Programs & Events

“This battle has been fought with images” Sarah Maza, Andrea Carlson, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Chris Pappan on art and history

Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts: Thinking about History with The Block’s Collection considers our constantly changing understanding of the past through the lens of artistic practice. On September 29, 2021 the Block Museum hosed a keynote conversation with exhibition artists Andrea Carlson, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Chris Pappan who discussed how artists, artworks, and museums shape and challenge […]

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Collection Spotlight

Collection Spotlight: Untitled #17 (Forest), Dawoud Bey

Title: Untitled #17 (Forest) from the series Night Coming Tenderly, BlackArtist: Dawoud Bey (American, born 1953)Date:  2017Medium:  Gelatin silver printEdition: Edition of 6Dimensions: 44 x 55 in.Credit Line: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, purchase funds provided by Susan and Richard Rieser Dawoud Bey’s series Night Coming Tenderly, Black is a photographic […]

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Programs & Events

Fred Wilson explores Afro Turk identities in “Afro Kismet” [Video]

Internationally acclaimed artist and MacArthur Fellow Fred Wilson addressed audiences at The Block on April 16, 2019. In his talk, Wilson shared insights into his work Afro Kismet— resonant with themes of migration and history explored in the exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa. Throughout his career, […]

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Artist Collaborations, Northwestern Learning

Unlocking Sounds of the Past: Experimental sound workshop with Dario Robleto and Patrick Feaster

What does an image sound like?  This is the question that Northwestern University students sought to answer in an experimental workshop earlier this month.  Students in computer science, engineering, sound arts, and art theory and practice joined together for a day-long session with artist Dario Robleto and media historian Patrick Feaster to delve into the […]

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