Carrie Mae Weems A Class Ponders the Future from Constructing History, 2008 © Carrie Mae Weems Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York / Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
Join us for a long table discussion chaired by Imani Mason Jordan with Rebecca Bellatoni, Samra Mayanja, Lola Olufemi and Shenece Oretha.
They will share their perspectives on compassion, identity, and social justice, providing unique insights into their work and its impact. We encourage everyone to get involved in these non-hierarchical conversations, as we hope to think critically about the world we inhabit and the role of the arts in it.
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Artists
Rebecca Bellantoni is an artist based in London. Bellantoni mines everyday occurrences and abstracts them. Investigating, through the lens of metaphysics, spirit/energy, religion and the aesthetics of them. Troubling the accepted/expected ‘real’; and the experiential ‘real’; how might these removed borders offer portals to self, collective reasoning and healing thought/action. Black geographies and their attendant realities are a research element.
Recent works have been presented at/with In the house of my love, Brent Biennial (London, UK, 2022); Frieze live (London, UK, 2021); Aggregates, Ausstellungsraum Klingental (Switzerland, 2021); Coalition of Care, PUBLICs (Helsinki, Finland, 2019); La Manutention, Palais de Tokyo (Paris, France, 2019; in collaboration with Rowdy SS).
Rhoda Adum Boateng is a writer and archivist, working under the moniker trusting mechanics to think through possibilities in maintenance and metabolization. Rhoda is in the current cohort of the Griot’s Well Poetry Development Programme and is a member of BORN::FREE writer’s collective. She works as Project Archivist for the McKenzie Heritage Picture Archive, a large-scale collection of Black and Asian photography at Black Cultural Archives. Recent workshops and readings include speculative planning & the shared city (2023) at LARC, Rear View (2023) at Biblioteka and a world without you is not a world: reading & writing black feminist futures (2022) at Glasgow Zine Library.
Imani Mason Jordan is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, editor and curator interested in poetics and performance. Imani is also one half of Languid Hands, a London-based artistic and curatorial collaboration with DJ and filmmaker Rabz Lansiquot. Their practice explores collaboration, curation, black study and experimentation across exhibitions, moving image, text, performance, publications and public programming. In January 2023, Languid Hands joined 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning as Lead Curators.
Recent projects include TREAD/MILL: WIP (Somerset House Studios 2021 and Aspen Art Museum, 2022); ATLANTIC RAILTON: LIVE with Ain Bailey (Serpentine Pavilion, 2021) & WELCOME NOTE IN A WELCOME SPEECH with Libita Sibungu (Gasworks, 2019; Spike Island, 2020; Sensing the Planet / Serpentine, 2021).
Samra Mayanja is a writer and artist. Her work records and fictionalises the narratives that the living conjure in order to deal with loss. She also observes and presents the poetics that life offers us. Mayanja’s work is the residue from translations between writing, drawing, animation, pedagogy, film, installation and performance. Her practice is heavily supported by the instability of these translations and how the limits of each medium give life to the next.
She has exhibited and performed widely, including at MAMA (Rotterdam), Kampnagel (Hamburg) and Eastside Projects (Birmingham) and lectured at Glasgow School of Art, Museum of London, University of Leeds and UP Projects (London).
Lola Olufemi is co-author of 'A FLY Girl's Guide to University' (Verve Poetry Press, 2019), author of 'Feminism Interrupted: Disrupting Power' (Pluto Press, 2020) and 'Experiments in Imagining Otherwise' (Hajar Press, 2021). She is a member of 'bare minimum', an interdisciplinary anti-work arts collective and the recipient of the 2020 Techne AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership between The Stuart Hall Foundation, CREAM and Westminster School of Arts. Her work focuses on the uses of the imagination in revolutionary cultural production; its relationship to futurity, political demands and 'imaginative-revolutionary potential'. Her short story, "Red" was shortlisted for the 2020 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing prize.
Shenece Oretha (b.Montserrat) is a London based multidisciplinary artist sounding out the voice and sound’s mobilising potential. Through installation, performance, print, sculpture, sound, workshops and poetry she amplifies and celebrates listening and sound as an embodied and collective practice.
Her solo shows include Called to Respond, Cell Project Space, London, (2020), TESTING GROUNDS, Cafe OTO Project Space, London, (2019). Group exhibitions include, SURVEY II, G39, Cardiff and Jerwood Arts, London (2021), Cinders, Sinuous and Supple, Les Urbaines (2019), Lausanne, Switzerland (2019) and PRAISE N PAY IT/ PULL UP, COME INTO THE RISE, South London Gallery, London, (2018). Shenece was recently commissioned to make a new work in response to the sound archive at the British Library as part of the CCA Show – Notes on Play (2021).
The Pit
Location
The Pit is located on Level -2 within the main Barbican building and can be accessed via the stairs or lifts on Level G, next to the doors to the Lakeside Terrace.
Address
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS
Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.
We’ve plenty of places for you to relax and replenish, from coffee and cake to wood-fired pizzas and full pre-theatre menus
Access
The Pit floor (level minus 2) can be reached via the main lifts – please note that only two of the four lifts go to this floor. Access Step-free access from the Pit floor foyer to any front-row seat. All other seats lead off stepped aisles.
Mobility
Spaces for two wheelchair users in the front row (at stage level), with companion seats. Front row seats are also suitable for people with limited mobility.
Assistance dogs
Because space in the auditorium is limited, we recommend that you leave your dog to be cared for by a member of the foyer staff during the performance.
Amplified sound
Amplified sound is provided through a headset for people with impaired hearing. Audio-described performances use a wireless network to relay through a headset a live description of the scenery, costumes, facial expressions and action. Headsets are available. You can obtain one 30 minutes before the performance from the programme desk inside the Pit Theatre entrance.
Large-print exhibition information
To request a large print copy, please call the Theatre on 020 7638 8891 before your visit.
For more access information, please visit our Accessibility section.
