Kara Walker, Julius Eastman & The Otolith Group, Sunday Service (with Kanye West),  Noah Davis, Frida Orupabo, Ufuoma Essi

Exhibition Not Without Joy is the first fundamental attempt at introducing the Czech public to work by artists who authentically live and reflect on highly diverse life situations, questions and issues whose importance far exceeds that of local and individual consideration.

The specific life and personal stories that formed each artwork may be seen individually, but they may also be generalised to the level of metaphors or symbols of certain key issues that lie in the foundations of unresolved current and past traumas existing at the very least between Africa, Europe and the US. Especially in America, the issue of slavery remains open. Racial discrimination, whether in the US or anywhere else, is a constantly recurring problem that cannot be overlooked. Gender issues have the same urgency at least on the socio-economic level on both sides of the equation, black and white. An outsider’s critical view of the consequences of European colonial exploitation – and deep-rooted Eurocentric thinking – is beyond essential, as is the need to examine the so far fairly rarely discussed theme of migration that can create new epicentres of tension in old societies unaccustomed to confronting the wider world.

In general, issues linked to the adaptation of migrants to life in societies with different existential emphases and social standards also need to be considered, as does the ability of both sides to find solutions to coexistence. This results either in deliberations about life in a ghetto, or about loneliness in the middle of a crowd. Less frequent themes include acculturation. We highlight it with testimony in the form of the transformation of traditional American gospel in relation to the issue of religious life in today’s US society. Today, we can no longer say that any of these problems are too remote and therefore do not concern us – that is one of the few recognised requirements of globalisation.

The exhibition’s title – Not Without Joy – paraphrases that of the 1930 book Not Without Laughter by the African American poet Langston Hughes. To elucidate the use of the word joy in this context, two short sentences written by Imani Perry (Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University) in 2020 are worth citing: “Joy is not found in the absence of pain and suffering. It exists through it.”

Not Without Joy is another part of Rudolfinum_Time-Based exhibition series presenting  time-based art – films, videos, and moving pictures.

Curator: Petr Nedoma

Rudolfinum Gallery