Afrofuturism Exhibit

On November 4, we focused on Afrofuturism for our Black Lit Network series of exhibits. 

During the late 1990s, a variety of Black visual artists, musicians, creative writers, scholars, software engineers, event planners, designers, and cultural organizers engaged in wide-ranging discussions about science fiction and technology as they related to Black people and culture. Their online discussion group became known as the Afrofuturism List, a dynamic virtual space that fostered some of the earliest sustained conversations linking Black cultural production with digital and speculative futures. 

One of the recurring discussions on the Afrofuturism List focused on the distinct uses of technology and the creative reimagining of science fiction by Black people. Participants also frequently explored themes of innovation, particularly the ways Black artists and thinkers leveraged and advanced art, music, film, and digital media in new and transformative ways.

Contributors to the Afrofuturism List often reflected on how design in fashion, architecture, technology, and visual culture embodied Black speculative imagination. They examined how Black designers used form, texture, and digital tools to envision alternative worlds, crafting both functional and aesthetic responses to histories of exclusion and erasure.

Participants on the Afrofuturism List frequently discussed science fiction, considering what distinguished Black speculative narratives from mainstream sci-fi traditions. They examined how writers, filmmakers, and musicians reimagined the genre to explore Black histories, aesthetics, and futures.

Related: 

• Black Lit Network Exhibits