ZANDERLAND Gets Provocative in New Digital Art Installation

On April 15th, 2017 at 7PM, ZANDERLAND will debut a digital art project entitled "The Black Spectacle" at the Eternal Blackness Art exhibition, "Eternal Illumination." The experimental and avante garde style of ZANDERLAND will be a prominent feature of this exhibit. "The Black Spectacle is a digital art installation that examines the portrayal and dissemination of blackness via mediated imagery. This piece seeks to examine the pervasive construction of Black identity by mainstream media through the use of programming and viral content.

The use of black bodies as spectacle is not a new phenomenon. However, in the age of all-access, on-demand, digital media, the use of spectacle has garnered increased implementation. Film and television are historic culprits in the creation of spectacle. Yet, the insidiousness of Black spectacle has transcended from “black face” and minstrel performance and the parading of Sarah Baartman to “reality tv”, video vixens, “artistic works,” and the latest viral, youtube sensation.

"The Black Spectacle" aims to interrogate these mediated images by asserting the theoretical question of who controls the media and to what extent is it used for. This exhibit serves as an intense juxtaposition of “Eternal Illumination,” which features powerful and dignified images of blackness as means of illuminating the richness of African people throughout the diaspora. Together, these bodies of work are designed to challenge the hegemonic use of mediated imagery to suppress Black people and degrade Black bodies.

Collectively, our work is designed to cultivate a true, Black aesthetic capable of capturing and portraying the multifaceted, yet universally connected, black experience via the propagation of empowered black peoples. The Eternal Blackness Art and ZANDERLAND collaboration was born from the need to "re-present "the image of blackness as rich, filled with diversity, and in all of its soulful and artistic beauty.

BEWARE...The images you consume.

ZANDERLAND