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The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver showcases the visual and sonic output of Southern culture
“Dirty South” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver on November 29, 2022. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
The exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver celebrates “the visual and sonic output of the American South.” MCA’s The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse is the only location outside of the American South where the show will take place.
MCA’s Miranda Rush, senior curator at Ellen Blass, says this is the fourth time the exhibition has been held.
“The MCA is the only venue that is not in the American South, but I believe that in order to have a greater understanding of American history, we need to understand the heritage of the American South, so bringing this show here is actually very important. It feels relatable,” Rush said.
Kevin Sipp’s “Take It To The Bridge/Trance-Atlantic” is on display at the “Dirty South” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver on November 29, 2022. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
Nadine Robinson’s “Coronation Theme: Organon” was installed in the “Dirty South” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver on November 29, 2022. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
The show’s original curator, Valerie Cassel Oliver of the Virginia Museum of Art, had extensive connections with Gulf South musicians after spending time in Houston. After Cassel Oliver relocated to Richmond, Virginia, she created a show that explores the history of her artistic practice from the turn of the 20th century to the present day.
There was a clear inspiration in turning this vast idea into a cohesive journey as visitors walked through the exhibition.
“I focused on music, especially modern Southern hip-hop, because … the introductory text begins with ‘The South has something to say. The South always had something to say,” said Cassel Oliver. “But it’s something about how it emerged in modern Southern hip-hop that really gave it a kind of intrusion and a mirror to reflect what was always there.”
The exhibition is divided into three sections: Landscape, Vision/Spirituality, and Blackbody. Unlike the usual exhibitions at the MCA, where works are made up of decades of contemporary art, “Dirty South” explores the African-American music of the South by featuring the work of artists from the last century. Celebrate cultural and visual traditions.
“I mean, even though these artists were born and raised in the South, we don’t usually think of them as Southern, but they carry a lot of it with them and they put that aesthetic into their work. There was an overlay that said,” says Cassel. Oliver said. “So it makes sense that what I saw as the new bravado feeling was really always there. The younger generation has moved forward outward.
“I started comparing it to the rise of Southern hip-hop, and Southern hip-hop kind of gave a new story to a South that didn’t exist before it was traumatized, traumatized. It was a civil rights issue, and this was a very new way of looking at myself as an African-American.”
The Dirty South also reveals the intersection of Southern culture, visual arts and music.
This exhibit invites visitors to think about jazz, how it is celebrated as an original American musical form, and all the cultural intersections that have occurred to give rise to it.
“But my statement was what is the visual equivalent of jazz,” said Cassel Oliver. “Where’s this notion of improvisation? Where’s the bending of the material, not just the bending of the notes? Where’s the same conceptual framing that we use in black music? Where do we see it?” How do you look at it?That’s where those intersectionality come from.Conceptually it’s how an artist approaches a particular field.And the same thing when you think about improvisation is visual will happen to.”
Cassell Oliver said the South always had something to say, but something about how it manifested itself in contemporary Southern hip-hop inspired her vision.
“The South has become very multifaceted, but we see naturalism in terms of African-American journeys,” she said. You can see how it has always been reflected in the visual arts.”
The exhibition’s name, Dirty South, may be confusing to those unfamiliar with the term, but Cassell Oliver said it was intended to celebrate the history of the South as a unique force. I was.
“To be honest, before it was invented in hip-hop, it was a term I understood, a term of endearment, that the South itself is an agricultural society, a land that is an agricultural economic powerhouse. She said, “The economy of the South was originally born out of the land itself. It’s literally … a society that has its roots in the soil.”
The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse runs through Sunday, February 5, 2023.
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