Kahlil Joseph

Now broadcasting: BLKNWS

two-channel fugitive newscast, 2018-ongoing

IN ORDER TO COMMIT TO REDUCING OUR ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION TOGETHER, THE VIDEO WORKS OF THE MIRE PROGRAMME ARE BROADCAST ONLY DURING PEAK HOURS, FROM 7AM TO 9.30AM, FROM 12PM TO 2.30PM AND FROM 5.30PM TO 8PM. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND HAVE A NICE TRIP.

This version of BLKNWS, especially created for Mire, is part of the programme of the 19th International film festival and forum on Human Rights taking place in Geneva March 5 – 14, 2021. 

Focused on the life experience of African-Americans in the United States, Kahlil Joseph’s videos systematically carry a political and social message, which is conveyed as much through images as through music. The artist’s work takes an entrepreneurial and contemporary journalistic approach to the issue of racial struggles in the United States, through a critique of the media and the ideologies they convey. With BLKNWS, the artist explores video as a collective experience and information industry, in which control and manipulation by audio-visual components can be deconstructed. Archival documents, news clips, television series, music videos, information from digital platforms, etc., form audio-visual samples of African-American popular culture, from which the viewer is able to discern the omnipresence and repetition of stereotypes and to modify his or her view. BLKNWS aims at becoming a real support for reflection, a global information network, a platform for dissemination, a constant, renewed and perennial archive of African-American culture. Most editions have a wired internet connection at their location, in permanent communication with the artist’s studio, who adds up the content in real time, thus reacting to the most topical events.

Work presented for the first time at the Biennale de l’image en mouvement at the Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève in 2018.
The version of BLKNWS for Mire was produced by the Fonds cantonal d'art contemporain, Geneva.