Funded by the Mellon Public Curatorial Expression Program and curated by Lauren Siegel, Sarah Then Bergh, Marie Lambert, and Romain Pasquer, "Between Nothingness and Infinity" will feature a three-day live performance of "Black is Blue" by artist Oupa Sibeko (South Africa, b. 1992). Sibeko is an interdisciplinary performance artist whose work moves between performance installation, photography, film and community-based activism. Oupa’s playful, often humorous, and at times satirical approach deals with the matter and politics of the body as a contested site of labor, and as an object that assimilates the spirit of the moment and adapts to its environment. Enabling opportunities for affective and relational encounters using ritualistic performance and play, he seeks to critically engage approaches to the body, particularly the black male body, the history of representation and the ways in which certain subjectivities have been (and are) figured, (black) pain, (black) spectacle, (black) negation, and the ethical implications of reimagining and re-enacting pain. Sibeko was shortlisted for the top 17 in the Henrike Grohs Art award 2020, awarded a Mail & Guardian top 200 and David Koloane award in 2019, and a Richard Haines all-rounded performer award by Wits University Humanities Faculty 2015. He has taken part in group and solo shows in Namibia at the National Art Gallery of Namibia, Wits TPO Gallery, Wits Art Museum, Room Gallery, Melville Art Project, Greatmore Studios in Cape Town, The Freezer Hostel and Theatre in Iceland and Art Room in Parkhurst. As an independent artist, Sibeko teaches and volunteers in schools and universities around Johannesburg, South Africa.

Black is Blue (2019-ongoing) is concerned with the widespread practice of using seawater for healing and spiritual purposes. Deriving from Nguni and other traditions, this practice is linked to the “people of water,” usually water-based diviners, for whom the sea is a realm of ancestors, a site for spiritual cleansing and grounding; the sea holds potential to heal and its curative powers live in the water. While in the past such practices occurred at the coast, with urbanization and industrialization, the practice has been adapted and now one can purchase bottles of sea water inland. The main purpose of this project is to describe and artistically explore beliefs and practices involving bottled seawater for spiritual, health and healing purposes.

Black is Blue is an invitation for people of all ages to be immersed in a sensory exploration in a durational performance with Sibeko lying on two deck-chairs facing down with four fish hooks attached to his back in a blue-lit room, with a floor covered in sea salt. The work inspires people to embrace the myth of an inland sea as a way to rethink the urban space, who belongs in it and how they occupy it. Through a comical yet thought-provoking video of a man fishing from a puddle on the streets of Johannesburg, Black is Blue calls on humanity to return to the sea to repair wounds and for spiritual grounding.

View Oupa Sibeko's performance in the Wing Gallery in the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University from Sep 29-Oct 1, 2022 from 10a-5p.

2022 Cornell Biennial
Sponsored by the Cornell Council for the Arts and curated by Timothy Murray, the 2022 Cornell Biennial "Futurities, Uncertain" features exhibitions, installations, and performances by 23 international and 17 Cornell-based artists. Free and open-to-the-public events will rotate on the Cornell Ithaca campus and the Cornell Tech campus in New York City from July through December 2022.

Attend our Celebration Weekend from Sep 15-17, 2022 on the Cornell Ithaca campus. The full list of participants, along with the calendar of 2022 Cornell Biennial events, will be updated in real time at cca.cornell.edu/biennial.