Radical Reading Room
May 3—Oct 27, 2019
Curated by Legacy Russell
Studio Museum 127, 429 W. 127th St.
For Radical Reading Room, The Studio Museum in Harlem invited over 40 artists, writers, publishers, and community organizations to share works—their own or those they admire—that engage with the history of Black printed matter and the discourse surrounding its circulation. The resulting contributions, presented for visitors to explore at its Studio Museum 127 location, address how art is produced and contextualized, the performance of language, and the creation of Black narratives. Housed in a site-specific structure, the reading room celebrates creators of African descent who contribute to contemporary visual culture and challenge structures of colonized knowledge production.
As Radical Reading Room pays tribute to Harlem as a site for Black creative congregation, we invite visitors to browse the available materials and contribute their own.
Studio Museum 127, our temporary programming space, is located at 429 West 127th Street between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues. Opening hours are Thursday through Sunday, 12 to 6 pm.
Radical Reading Room is organized by Legacy Russell, Associate Curator, Exhibitions, and designed by Rachael Elliott. Special thanks to Curatorial Fellows Alexandra Adams and Hanna Girma, and Eric Booker, Exhibition Coordinator.
Contributors to Radical Reading Room include: 3 Dot Zine, 8 Ball Zine, manuel arturo abreu, Elia Alba, Aperture Foundation, Apogee Journal, Sarah Gail Armstrong, American Artist, Kai Avent-deLeon of Sincerely, Tommy, Chloë Bass, BLK MKT Vintage Private Collection, Brown Paper Zine & Small Press, Cairo Clarke, Contemporary And (C&), Joseph Cuillier of The Black School, Aria Dean, Dottir Press, Kimberly Drew, Anaïs Duplan, Glory Edim of @wellreadBlackgirl, The Free Black Women's Library, The Freedom Archives, GenderFail Archive Project, Naima Green, Harlem Community News, Eric Hunt, E. Jane, Margo Jefferson, Rindon Johnson, Autumn Knight, Elizabeth Koke of Housing Works, The Lesbian Herstory Archives, Sarah Lewis, Ajuan Mance and 8-Rock Press, Charles Mason III, Devin N. Morris, Zora J. Murff, New York Amsterdam News, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Precious Okoyomon, Elise R. Peterson, Printed Matter, pssss.co, Brontez Purnell, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Recess Activities, Revolution Books NYC, Sable Elyse Smith, Sparkle Nation Book Club, Mandy Harris Williams, and Kandis Williams of Cassandra Press.
