Installation view: What Endures, 2016.
What Endures investigates the gesture of dance as a symbol of persistence and resilience amidst the economic downturn and global social upheaval. The focal point of the exhibit, Just Because We’re Magic Doesn’t Mean We Aren’t Real, consists of interlocking platforms upon which the artist’s works on paper are based. The wood sculpture was designed in conversation with the enduring architecture of the Coney Island Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster constructed in 1927, and still in operation today. The sculpture is both a stand-alone work, as well as an evolving and integral part of each separate performance and encounter to which it lends a physical scaffold. Breathtaking work from the series Blind Sum showcases Olujimi’s mastery of long exposure composition and print production. Olujimi’s photographs reflect the complex role of dance marathons as mass entertainment events during the Great Depression. These endurance contests often lasted weeks, providing much needed entertainment, purse money, and fame during an era of severe deprivation. With an eerie prescience to present day “reality shows,” these contests blurred the line between theatre and reality. A mix of the heroic and grotesque, of kitsch and desperation, these spectacles were meant to test the capacity of individual will. While the dance marathons challenged many gender and class expectations, they were vehemently racially segregated. Olujimi’s work examines the repercussions of such omissions in the creation of mythic space. It emblematizes the common contests of endurance, persistence, and defiance and the desire to live beyond the capacities that we have internalized.
Installation view: What Endures, 2016
Installation view: What Endures, 2016.
Installation view: What Endures, 2016.