MAH x Indexical: Zekarias Musele Thompson- spatial facilitation #10

spatial facilitation, a term of art in physiology, refers to stimuli that contribute to the accurate processing of visual information. That is to say, there are certain things that we see, that help us see more precisely. spatial facilitation is an ongoing project of mapping clearer vision through walking, noticing, the breath, and the saxophone. ANALOG SOLUTIONS FOR ANALOG PROBLEMS.

for spatial facilitation #10 we will visit the exhibition Young, Gifted, and Black at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. We will look for the tethers that bind, and release.

About the Artist

Zekarias Musele Thompson (b. 1983, they/them/their) is an artist based in Oakland, CA, and Reykjavik, IS often working in sonic composition, mark-making, photography, collaborative group practice & performance, and writing. Their practice is concerned with humanity’s conceptual and emotional organizational structures—and how we bring them into material form. Zekarias has presented solo exhibitions and projects at the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, The Lab, and the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies. They have performed at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Gray Area in the Bay area — as well as Associate Gallery, Ásmundasalur, and Open in Reykjavík, Iceland. They have collaborated with artists such as Oysterknife, Salimatu Amabebe, Zack Parrinella, Pétur Eggertson, Phillip Laurent, Lonnie Holley, Zachary James Watkins, Claire Fleming Staples, Laraaji, Miles Lassi, Jessica Ackerley, and more.

Zekarias is an instigator of the Musele Project, a sound, image, performance, and facilitation practice that encourages deep, empathic listening, and a co-founder of Working Name Studios, a collectively owned and organized arts institution with the mission of building institutional stability and equity for underrepresented creative practices, ideas, and people. They are part of the Emerging Artist Program at the MoAD for 2024, and are currently an MFA candidate in the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley.

Image:

Portrait of the Artist Just in Front of their Favorite Place

2023

Photo credit: Ástríður Jónsdóttir