Upcoming Programming: Movie Night!
Tune in on Saturday, June 27th at 7:30 pm to watch Layla Muchnik-Benali's sunny and stunning piece, waving goodbye (or hello) to the sun. In collaboration with Hopkins Hall Gallery x Urban Arts Space, we’re bringing you a mystical movie night like no other. The movie night will be livestreamed via YouTube from this page! Alternatively, the link to the actual YouTube page, you can find it here.
Grab some popcorn and watch the sun set on your screen during this virtual movie night event. Click on the video thumbnail below to join the livestream when it is time. See you on Saturday, June 27th!
About
waving hello (or goodbye) to the sun is a project that, among other things, is interested in questions of power. Given that one of the fundamental power structures that defines the U.S. is white supremacy and the daily, systemic oppression of Black people, I am including links to Columbus-based organizations that are currently leading in the local and global movement to support Black lives. Please consider learning about and following the organizations listed below.
Columbus Freedom Fund (CFF): https://www.facebook.com/CFFOhio
Black Queer & Intersectional Collective (BQIC): https://bqic.net/
Columbus Freedom Coalition (CFC): https://www.facebook.com/cbusfreedomcoalition/
Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ): https://www.facebook.com/SURJColumbusOhio/
SURJ @ OSU: https://surjohiostate.weebly.com/
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waving goodbye (or hello) to the sun is a public, communal video project with the intention of carving out time and space to acknowledge, feel, and thank the sun. Collaborators record videos of themselves waving goodbye (or hello) to the sun as it sets (or rises). The only submission requirements are that videos should be at least three minutes long and filmed horizontally, and anyone is invited to participate.
To date, this project has received over twenty submissions made by over twenty-five collaborators; they can be found at www.wavingtothesun.com. If you would like to submit your own video, find the submission form at https://bit.ly/sunwaving. If your video meets the minimum requirements, it will be posted to the website. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis and will continue to be accepted even after this exhibition closes.
Three central questions of waving goodbye (or hello) to the sun might be: How could a communal, public approach to making a film provide avenues for questioning and unraveling hegemonic power and systemic hierarchies on a small, daily scale? What happens if you and I intentionally devote at least three minutes to the cosmic on a given day? Whose labor and time is in/visible in the process of making a film?
Every video submitted for this project was filmed on the colonized and settled land of Indigenous peoples across the United States. OSU and Hopkins Hall Gallery are land grant institutions, meaning their existence is built on the intentional and violent seizure of Indigenous lands, specifically from the Shawnee, Miami, Lenape, and Wyandotte peoples. As filmmakers Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer write in their film Empty Metal: “This acknowledgment does not function as closure, resignation, or acceptance of the structural conditions of settler-colonialism that remain in effect today.”
Call for Submissions!
You are invited to become a participant in the project by submitting your own video. You can film yourself, someone you know, or even a group (*social distance when appropriate) waving goodbye or hello to the sun. To see previous submissions, visit http://www.wavingtothesun.com/
If you’d like to create a full-length submission, make sure that your video is at least 3 minutes long and filmed horizontally. Also, ensure that you are facing the direction of the sun (whether that be with your face or back towards to camera) to give a proper greeting as it rises or goodbye as it sets. Once you’ve made your video, you can submit it by using this form. Videos that meet the requirements may be added to the ongoing project and, if you submit your video before June 22nd, it will be considered for inclusion in a virtual movie night coming up soon – stay posted for details!
If you’d like to create a shorter submission to share via social media, there are no length or filming requirements. Simply wave hello or goodbye to the sun and then post with the hashtag #wavingtothesun and tag Urban Arts Space.
We look forward to seeing your creativity - now, it’s time to wave to the sun!
Video Stills
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 10 (winter solstice), digital video, 5:51, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 1 (layla), digital video, 5:58, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 8 (arman, gauri, jack, luna, shannon, and thornton), digital video, 5:11, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 7 (sandy, loukah, and dani), digital video, 3:51, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 6 (roxane, theo, enzo, and mathilde), digital video, 3:08, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 16 (corey), digital video, 6:36, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 15 (chris), digital video, 3:15, 2020
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 11 (layla), digital video, 4:20, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 9 (federico, kyle, layla, and michael), digital video, 5:14, 2019
Still from waving goodbye to the sun no. 18 (loukah), digital video, 2:43, 2019
Featured Videos
waving goodbye to the sun no. 20 (reba), digital video, 6:56, 2020
waving goodbye to the sun no. 5 (naïma & layla), digital video, 3:51, 2019
waving goodbye to the sun no. 4 (de’avin), digital video, 2:27, 2019
waving goodbye to the sun no. 10 (winter solstice), digital video, 5:51, 2019
waving goodbye to the sun no. 12 (arman, jack, luna), digital video, 3:05, 2019
waving goodbye to the sun no. 13 (sinking feeling), digital video, 3:37, 2020
waving goodbye to the sun no. 14 (alice, de’avin, layla, richard), digital video, 7:50, 2020
Hopkins Hall Gallery Summer Series features short-term projects including performances, installations, audience-participatory work, and public programs or activities by Ohio State University graduate students.
