Azikiwe Mohammed, aka DJ Black Helmet, has been DJ’ing in and around New York since 2005. He primarily spins a mix of deep funk, darker disco tunes and soul bangers and has done so for bars venues and arts organizations including but not limited to MoMA PS1, Material Arts Fair in Mexico City and Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY.

This DJ set is in conjunction with the closing weekend for “Jimmy’s Thrift of New Davonhaime,” on view at Ace Hotel Chicago’s first floor gallery through September 30.

About Jimmy’s Thrift of New Davonhaime

This summer at Ace Hotel Chicago, artist Azikiwe Mohammed stages a performative installation of his fictional thrift store, Jimmy’s Thrift of New Davonhaime.

New Davonhaime—a location conceived by Mohammed—is an amalgamation of the names of the five most densely populated Black cities in America: New Orleans, Detroit, Jackson, Birmingham, and Savannah. Jimmy’s Thrift of New Davonhaime was created to serve as a safe space for Black and Brown people living in America.

Through September 30, Ace Hotel Chicago’s first floor gallery will be transformed into a thrift store installation containing objects both created and found by Mohammed. Visitors will also find traces of Jimmy’s Thrift of New Davonhaime throughout the hotel, including a custom Spotify playlist, New Davonhaime merchandise in the Ace Hotel Store, and themed beverage collaborations developed by Ace Hotel with Mohammed for the run of the exhibition. $1 of each beverage will be donated to 826CHI, a nonprofit writing, tutoring, and publishing center in Chicago.

Mohammed will be on site for both the opening weekend and the closing of the exhibition during EXPO CHICAGO. Performing as thrift store owner Jimmy, Mohammed will offer critical conversations and accept donations from the public in the form of photographs to be added to Mohammed’s Black Community Family Albums. Mohammed will also be accepting contributions to the My First Time record series, a series of artist made records where Black and Brown people re-count the first time they “realized” they were Black or Brown. Both living archives offer an intimate and nuanced portrait of Black lives both contemporary and past.

Previous versions of Jimmy’s Thrift of New Davonhaime have shown at MoMA PS1, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, No Longer Empty, Knockdown Center, and Mana Contemporary Miami. Mana Contemporary and Ace Hotel Chicago’s presentation of Jimmy’s Thrift of New Davonhaime will be its most extensive iteration yet.

More info: http://www.manacontemporarychicago.com/jimmysthrift

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Tags: Ace Hotel, Azikiwe Mohammed, Azikiwe Mohammed DJ's Waydown, Chicago, Jimmy's Thrift of New Davonhaime, Mana Contemporary, near west side, Waydown