We’re excited to announce the 2022 Afrofuturist Weekend taking place October 5th-October 9th. The event is a weekend-long celebration of Black artists making forward-looking work that envisions radically positive futures for Black people. Deploying new technologies, drawing upon history, subverting and inverting exploitative hierarchies, Afrofuturism puts Black people at the center of narratives about the future. There will be performances, visual art installations, video presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and immersive experiences meant to generate a call to action to realize these visions. Join us!

This year we’ll have performances from Ben LaMar Gay, our Dark Matter Residents, an Afrofuturist Ball from GoldGrrl and Fabulous Freddy Prodigy, educational experiences, and so much more to be announced soon. Please mark your calendar and stay tuned for more updates. This will be a beautiful weekend not to miss here at Elastic Arts.

Lineups (subject to change!)

Wednesday October 5th, 6pm SOUTHSIDE at Fourtune House, 4410 S. Cottage Grove
– panel discussion with David Boykin, Makafui Searcy, Cat Mahari and Ashanti Owusu-Brafi
– performances by Ashanti Owusu-Brafi, Naydja Bruton, olula negre
$FREE$

Thursday October 6th, 8:30pm
Improvised Music/Dark Matter/ AfriClassical Futures joint presentation:
– We Free Strings (NYC)
– Cristal Sabbagh, Marvin Tate, olula negre
$15

Friday October 7th 7:30pm
– Opening ceremony ft. Sura Dupart and Stepchild
– Cat Mahari with the Chi-Buck Krump Collective x Chicago Chen Taiji Association
– Justy
– AfroFuturist Fashion Ball co-hosted by Fabulous Freddie Prodigy, Michael Kelly, Fatou Wade, Katrina Brook Flores, GoldGrrl, and DJ King GNS

$15

Saturday October 8th, 2-5p AFTERNOON OUTSIDE at Solidarity Triangle (NxNW corner of Milwaukee/Kimball)
– Ben Lamar Gay, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., and Ugochi Nwaogwugwu
– GoldGrrl
– Naydja Bruton
$FREE$

Saturday October 8th, 5:30pm EVENING INSIDE at Elastic Arts
– Cat Mahari conversation activation
– Choppin Block – artist showcase
– Ashanti Owusu-Brafi
– Raymond Pinto (NYC)
– Oui Ennui
– Ben Lamar Gay Ensemble with special guest Angel Bat Dawid
$15

Sunday October 9th, 2pm-9pm
– Compositions by Mahari Collier, Rayna Golding and Angel Bat Dawid
– Cat Mahari Activation #3
– AfriClassical Futures performances by olula negre and Dark Matter Residents
– Panel discussion with Julian Otis.
$15

Register: https://elasticarts.org/events/afrofuturist-weekend-ft-ben-lamar-gay-dark-matter-residents

This engagement is partially supported by the Joyce Foundation, by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

$15 per day / $35 Three Day Pass (Thursday excluded)