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JON RUBIN

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The $100 Assignment is in Aperture's The Photographer’s Playbook Edited by Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern

July 9, 2014

The Photographer’s Playbook
← Daily Mail (UK) "A swipe at Facebook and ideas for a blog: Spooky billboard uses an old-fashioned advertising medium to tackle some very modern ideas 90.5 Pittsburgh's NPR News Station Interview About The Last Billboard →

@JONRUBINSTUDIO

Alisha Wormsley’s powerful statement about her text — It started out as a black nerd sci-fi joke. A response to the absence of non-white faces in science fiction films and TV. Very much a response to many Afrofuturist writings, like Florence Oyeke’s: “After all, to quote musician Gabriel Teodros: “If we don’t write ourselves into the future, we get written out of tomorrow as well.” — Afrofuturism dares to suggest that not only will black people exist in the future, but that we will be makers and shapers of it, too.” This phrase became my mantra. Later on, I developed a body of work collecting objects from a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Homewood, from residents (my students, elders, folks on the street, at the library, etc.). I imprinted the objects with the words “There Are Black People in the Future”, then encased them in resin, creating artifacts of this amazing civilization. The work has become an archive of information, histories and myths that continue the diaspora’s apocalyptic narrative. I choose the term “apocalyptic” consciously, as it is informed by the slow demise of Black American neighborhoods. (And Still We Thrive). This body of work has already taken many forms: video, installation, street art, performance and now the billboard. I knew what it could mean in that East Liberty the moment Jon asked. It’s what it could mean in this city, country, world. What conversations could arise, what PTSD could be addressed, and just seeing something so obvious stated in this social climate is reassuring to some–to me. It becomes magical, as fantastic as a prophecy. I am deeply saddened by it’s removal. And yet I am comforted by how my Pittsburgh has stood up! I think we all know what it is to have discomfort. Let’s begin to work on methods to constructively investigate that discomfort without using power over anyone or anything else. It is not my calling to lead people in any given direction. An artist who inspires me told me, “Your job is to promote thought, not to tell people how to think. To provoke feeling, not to tell people how to feel.” However you might feel, whatever you might think, THERE ARE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE. (More @alishabwormsley)
Text Taken Down by Landlord—-For the past month The Last Billboard has been exhibiting Alisha Wormsley’s text “There are Black People in the Future.“ Alisha is a celebrated Pittsburgh-based artist and cultural producer (winner of the 2016 City of Pittsburgh Mayor’s Award for Public Art) whose work explores collective memory and the synchronicity of time, specifically through the stories of women of color. Alisha’s text for the billboard comes from her ongoing art practice, particularly her interest in Afrofuturism. Last week, The Last Billboard’s landlord, We Do Property, forced Alisha’s text to be taken down over objections to the content (through a never-before evoked clause in the lease that gives the landlord the right to approve text). I believe in the power, poetry, and relevance of Alisha’s text and see absolutely no reason it should have been taken down. I find it tragically ironic, given East Liberty’s history and recent gentrification, that a text by an African American artist affirming a place in the future for black people is seen as unacceptable in the present. The artist will be part of a public panel discussion about the text and its removal hosted by the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in the next few weeks. More information to come. - Jon Rubin, Founder and Curator of The Last Billboard @alishabwormsley #thereareblackpeopleinthefuture #thelastbillboard
Thrilled to have artist @alishabwormsley on The Last Billboard this month. #thelastbillboard #eastliberty
What a difference a year makes
Kelly’s Heaven
Growing parents
Limited edition signed by my surgeon. #bilateralkneereplacements
Following instructions.
The End
Excited to have Turner Prize winner Laure Prouvost provide this month's text to The Last Billboard. #laureprouvost #thelastbillboard
One of twelve text banners I am producing as part of a commission for @sfaiofficial Project description below: Jon Rubin's Photograph Yourself Naked at Your Parent’s House “retires" famous and infamous student art projects from SFAI's past. For this commissioned work, Rubin is working with SFAI librarian Jeff Gunderson as well as current and former SFAI faculty and students to develop this project, which will be revealed incrementally over the coming year. Rubin’s text descriptions of student artworks are displayed akin to a sports team that hangs a famous player’s number from the stadium rafters thus retiring it from future use. By bringing the descriptions of these historical student works into the new building, Rubin’s banners honor works that no longer need to be repeated and slyly provoke future projects. Over the next several months, Rubin will retire a total of 12 student-artist projects. The final reveal of the remaining projects and a celebration of their legacy will take place in March of 2018. Thanks to: @jonnherschend @hessemcgraw
One of twelve text banners I am producing as part of a commission for @sfaiofficial opening this Friday. Project description below: Jon Rubin's Photograph Yourself Naked at Your Parent’s House “retires" famous and infamous student art projects from SFAI's past. For this commissioned work, Rubin is working with SFAI librarian Jeff Gunderson as well as current and former SFAI faculty and students to develop this project, which will be revealed incrementally over the coming year. Rubin’s text descriptions of student artworks are displayed akin to a sports team that hangs a famous player’s number from the stadium rafters thus retiring it from future use. By bringing the descriptions of these historical student works into the new building, Rubin’s banners honor works that no longer need to be repeated and slyly provoke future projects. Over the next several months, Rubin will retire a total of 12 student-artist projects. The final reveal of the remaining projects and a celebration of their legacy will take place in March of 2018. Thanks to: @jonnherschend @hessemcgraw
His war thoughts.
No. @thecmoa
@thecmoa
#Repost @conflictkitchen ・・・ Big News: Conflict Kitchen Co-Founders and Co-Directors Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski have received an Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellowship to travel to select American cities and investigate the potential for Conflict Kitchen iterations throughout the U.S. Conflict Kitchen is soliciting interest for potential partners throughout the U.S. that can offer the community connections, organizational capacity, and funding to launch and sustain their own versions of the project, while staying true to the original mission and vision of Conflict Kitchen. Each series of research trips will culminate in a public event that presents the format and plausibility of a sustainable version of Conflict Kitchen that is owned and managed by local cultural and community institutions. For more information, please contact Conflict Kitchen at info@conflictkitchen.org.
Brett Yasko is on The Last Billboard this month. #thelastbillboard #brettyasko