Larry Achiampong : Open Season

Working across sound, video, performance, and installation, London-based artist Larry Achiampong (b.1984) explores shifting notions of identity and belonging in our post-digital age. OPEN SEASON is the artist’s first international solo exhibition and features works from the past five years.

The exhibition includes a new version of works titled #OPENSEASON, based on Achiampong’s ongoing series of blackboard drawings, as well as Sunday's Best - a newly commissioned video piece.

At the heart of Achiampong’s practice is an exploration of the different cultural spheres that he inhabits as a British-Ghanaian artist, deeply entrenched in the oftentimes anonymous and fluid citizenry of the digital realm. Mining a plethora of images, sounds, and texts from his personal archives and those freely available on digital search engines, social media platforms, and virtual environments including Facebook, YouTube, and Wikipedia, Achiampong explores the ways in which mass information sharing have afforded multiple histories and cultural identities to emerge. OPEN SEASON presents works that consider how belief systems within the diaspora are inflected by colonial influences. Delving into the virtual spaces of everyday life and drawing on the artist’s personal experiences, other works on view tease out the ironies of political solidarity forged through fleeting digital interactions.

Larry Achiampong: OPEN SEASON is curated by Yesomi Umolu, Exhibitions Curator, and is presented by Logan Center Exhibitions. Additional support provided by Arts Council England and the British Council.

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Finding Fanon Screening and Artist Talk
Friday, September 16, 7pm
Stony Island Arts Bank | 6760 S Stony Island Ave

Join us at the Stony Island Arts Bank for a screening of two films in the Finding Fanon (2015–present) trilogy followed by a conversation with artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, moderated by Yesomi Umolu, Logan Center Exhibitions Curator.

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Opening Reception and Performance
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Wednesday, September 21, 6–8pm
Logan Center Gallery | 915 E 60th St, Chicago

Achiampong will deliver a live, in-gallery performance that draws out a relationship between aspects of history embedded in various audio samples and future worlds of videogame visuals.

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All events are free and open to the public.

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https://arts.uchicago.edu/