Posted on May 19, 2022
A slavery-era instrument is on the National Mall, singing 'songs of liberation'
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https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/ [login to see] /a-slavery-era-instrument-is-on-the-national-mall-singing-songs-of-liberation
An unusual artwork in the Sculpture Garden on the National Mall also makes unusual sounds: archaic and uncanny.
It's an old-fashioned steam calliope, an instrument once commonly seen in carnivals and on riverboats many decades ago. But this calliope was designed in 2018 by a leading American artist, Kara Walker, and plays music composed by Jason Moran, a luminary in the world of jazz.
The Katastwóf Karavan looks like a circus wagon. It's decorated with certain images Walker is famous for: silhouettes. But Walker's work is far from the sentimental black and white portraits that used to hang in oval frames in wealthy homes. It shows slavery at its most brutal in the antebellum South. Her silhouettes seem cut from history's shadows.
"It's the liminal space – that's what I'm always drawn to," Walker told NPR. "The ambivalent, the liquid, the fluid."
An unusual artwork in the Sculpture Garden on the National Mall also makes unusual sounds: archaic and uncanny.
It's an old-fashioned steam calliope, an instrument once commonly seen in carnivals and on riverboats many decades ago. But this calliope was designed in 2018 by a leading American artist, Kara Walker, and plays music composed by Jason Moran, a luminary in the world of jazz.
The Katastwóf Karavan looks like a circus wagon. It's decorated with certain images Walker is famous for: silhouettes. But Walker's work is far from the sentimental black and white portraits that used to hang in oval frames in wealthy homes. It shows slavery at its most brutal in the antebellum South. Her silhouettes seem cut from history's shadows.
"It's the liminal space – that's what I'm always drawn to," Walker told NPR. "The ambivalent, the liquid, the fluid."
A slavery-era instrument is on the National Mall, singing 'songs of liberation'
Posted from npr.org
Music
Slavery
American History
Washington
Art
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."perhaps this musical monument has something to offer at a moment when Americans are struggling with new technology, labor and debt crises, ethical consumption and a staggering wealth gap, she says. Here is a machine from the past that has learned new music. It's singing to us in solidarity."...
..."perhaps this musical monument has something to offer at a moment when Americans are struggling with new technology, labor and debt crises, ethical consumption and a staggering wealth gap, she says. Here is a machine from the past that has learned new music. It's singing to us in solidarity."...
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