Living Colour's Vernon Reid Brings 'Artificial Afrika' Multimedia Project Back

You know Vernon Reid as Living Colour's guitarist and vocalist, but did you know that he's also a visual artist? Reid is bringing his thought-provoking multimedia experience 'Artificial Afrika' back with a performance at Le Poisson Rouge, as a part of the NYC Winter JazzFest. The project examines and challenges our perception and ideas of Africa. From the well-intentioned "afrocentric" folks all the way down to the ignorant racist douche-bags, we're all guilty of having mythological ideas about a continent most of us don't really know... The videos and music included were created by Reid himself. If you're not in NY, you can still get an idea of what 'Artificial Afrika' is about in the pretty well-done promo video Reid released (watch it below). And don't let the door hit your preconceived ideas' on their way out. ;) Check it out...
- Lou C-D

Tags: Afrika, Art, Artificial, Colour, Exhibition, Living, Multimedia, Reid, Vernon, Visual

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Comment by BLACKAMERICA on January 22, 2011 at 4:25am: cool shit

Comment by HCIIMAN on January 16, 2011 at 11:53am: In the video; the leopard's hat is on Mobutu's head, not Mugabe's...

In Congo (ex Zaïre), the leopard skin is indeed a symbol of power and royalty. In the western world the focus given to such artifact over-shadows, or disqualify it's very meaning. This is not about fashion, this is not about folklore, this actually has a meaning in some African tradition.

Great work and initiative. I find it really interesting and important to question the representation made of Africa, in a global world this representation (made by western countries) definitely serves a political/economic purpose.