PHILADELPHIA, PA.- This summer, in celebration of its centennial, the
Barnes Foundation debuts a newly commissioned immersive film installation by artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien, CBE RA (b. London, 1960). On view in the Roberts Gallery from June 19 through September 4, Once Again … (Statues Never Die), a five-screen installation, explores the relationship between Dr. Albert C. Barnes, Barnes Foundation founder and early US collector and exhibitor of African material culture, and the famed philosopher and cultural critic Alain Locke, known as the Father of the Harlem Renaissance.
Once Again … (Statues Never Die) stars actor André Holland (Moonlight and Passing) as Alain Locke, Danny Huston (Succession and Marlowe) as Dr. Barnes, rising star Devon Terrell (Barack Obama in Barry) as sculptor Richmond Barthé, and Sharlene Whyte (Small Axe and Lessons of the Hour) as the Curator. It also features a special appearance by singer and songwriter Alice Smith.
“This project explores Dr. Barnes and Alain Locke’s storied relationship, its mutually formative critical dialogue, and its significant impact on their work as cultural critics, educators, organizers, and activists on behalf of various African American causes,” says Julien.
Drawing on Julien’s extensive research in the archives of the Barnes Foundation, the film explores the reciprocal impact of Locke’s political philosophy and cultural organizing activities, and Dr. Barnes’s pioneering art collecting and democratic, inclusive educational enterprise.
Exploring Locke’s engagement with the Barnes collection, Isaac Julien both honors Locke’s important contribution to the arts and invites critical conversations around the African material culture that influenced the Black cultural movement. The installation spotlights Dr. Barnes’s subsequent writings on the meaning and value of African material culture and its import to the African diaspora, which were reproduced in Harlem Renaissance periodicals including Opportunity. In the film, Julien revisits themes he approached in his landmark 1989 film Looking for Langston and continues his exploration of the queer subculture of the Harlem Renaissance in his reflection on the relationship between Locke and sculptor Richmond Barthé, for which Barthé’s sculptures were staged at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). A selection of his sculptures will also be presented in the Barnes exhibition, along with works by Matthew Angelo Harrison (b. 1989) and African objects from the Barnes collection.
The exhibition also examines the display and significance of African material culture in western art museums. Imagining his installation as a form of what he calls “poetic restitution,” Julien also alludes to contemporary restitution debates, specifically as they relate to works looted in the Benin Expedition of 1897, in which British troops destroyed the centuries-old Kingdom of Benin. Once Again … (Statues Never Die) joins contemporary debates around colonialism and the display of African material culture in European museums with recourse to the 1953 film by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, Les statues meurent aussi (Statues Also Die), a groundbreaking work that was banned soon after its debut in France for its anti-colonial sentiment, but which raised important questions about the acquisition and display of African works in European museums. Combining an original script written by Isaac Julien and Martina Klich with recently discovered archival footage from the 1970 film You Hide Me by Nii Kwate Owoo, which drew attention to African material culture stored in the British Museum, Once Again … (Statues Never Die) engages with current restitution debates.
“A visionary collector and pioneering educator, Dr. Barnes was also an advocate for the civil rights of African Americans, women, and the economically marginalized,” says Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President and exhibition curator. “Committed to racial equality and social justice, he established a scholarship program to support young Black artists, musicians, and writers—including poet Gwendolyn Bennett and artist Aaron Douglas, both associates of Locke—who sought to further their education at the Foundation and beyond. It is this important and lesser-known chapter of the Barnes Foundation’s history that Isaac Julien—with his distinguished career as a maker of deeply compelling and thoughtful video installations, his sustained commitment to investigating African diasporic politics and culture, and his abiding interest in the Harlem Renaissance—is bringing to light.”
Following its debut at the Barnes, Once Again … (Statues Never Die) will be presented during the Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present in the United Arab Emirates in March 2023.
The Barnes has engaged cultural partners across Philadelphia, including The Fabric Workshop and Museum; Institute for Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania & BlackStar Projects; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art to present other works by Isaac Julien during the run of Isaac Julien: Once Again … (Statues Never Die) and beyond. Related programming is listed below. Visit the website for more details.
