Moor Mother & Rasheedah Phillips' Black Quantum Futurism awarded residency at CERN, the world's largest particle physics lab

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  • The Philadelphia duo will create a new artwork based on charge, parity and time reversal symmetry.
  • Moor Mother & Rasheedah Phillips' Black Quantum Futurism awarded residency at CERN, the world's largest particle physics lab image
  • Black Quantum Futurism, the multidisciplinary duo of Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) and Rasheedah Phillips, have been awarded a residency at CERN, the European Organization For Nuclear Research. The prestigious residency will build off of Black Quantum Futurism's previous work, which includes a book, Black Quantum Futurism: Theory & Practice (Volume 1), as well as the Community Futures Lab, an Afrofuturist community center in North Philadelphia. BQF uses writing, music, film and visual art within creative research projects that center the idea that quantum mechanical interpretations of time are more in line with Afrocentric ways of thinking than prevailing Western schools. For their residency, planned to take place in summer 2021, the duo will work with scientists at CERN, a research organization that looks after the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. BQF's proposal was selected from 564 entries as part of Collide, an annual competition inviting artists from across the world to apply for a research-led residency at CERN in Geneva and Barcelona. As part of the residency, Ayewa and Phillips will create a new artwork, CPT Symmetry And Violations, that builds on the physics concept that stands of charge, parity and time reversal symmetry. "The project seeks to understand the ways in which quantum physics can influence how people think about, experience and measure time in everyday reality, exploring the possibilities that quantum physics offers beyond the limitations of traditional, linear notions of time," explain the artists. "Through the project we will connect with scientists based at CERN to learn more about their investigations of time in physics—specifically through studying experiments being done on CPT symmetry, CERN scientists' investigations into quantum theories of gravity, and other phenomena of quantum physics as it concerns inquiries into time." Moor Mother's recent releases include collaborative work with billy woods, YATTA and Justin Broadrick & Kevin Martin.
    For more on Black Quantum Futurism's Collide Residency Award, check out the official press release. Photo credit: Kenzi Foto
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