Afrofuturism Tries to Find its Footing in Virtual Reality – The Chicago Maroon

Last Friday, the Stony Island Arts Bank showcased the work of international female art collective Hyphen-Labs.Their newest project,NeuroSpeculativeAfroFeminism(NSAF), attempts to revive the aesthetic movement of Afrofuturisma magical-realistscience fiction exploration of black culture and historyby incorporating contemporary design, neuroscience, and technology to preserve black culture in the digital age.

The NSAF project is highly ambitious; it places real-world objects alongside a virtual reality (V.R.) AfroFeminism experience. Unfortunately, Fridays promised V.R.demonstration flopped; the headset would not function properly, disappointing about 30expectant attendees.

NSAFs products seek to address the daily needs of black citizens in the digital age. One such product was a pair of huge, pink door-knocker earrings that record video on command. These conspicuous earrings, the group explained, could help many black women feel more secure in their everyday life. Another innovation was a digitally-printed headscarf, inspired by traditional African headscarves. What is more, the headscarf technology combats facerecognition algorithms by overloading the software, rendering the wearer untraceable. In an age of constant surveillance, the headscarf works to make black women feel more secure.

Hyphen-Labssfeature creation was a mixed-media, chiefly V.R.neurocosmetology experience. The viewer enters a spacehalf neurosurgery bay, half hair salonwhere, the event description stated, black women pioneer brain modulation and cognitive enhancement by embedding electrodes into extensions and braiding techniques. The need for a hair salon, according to the group, stems from technology designers failure to produce headset designs that accommodate larger hair.

When Hyphen-Labs was describing the fictionalcharacterswho inhabit the neurocosmetology salon, they introduced a black woman named TechnoAfricanum-Culturist, a billion-year-old trans-human.

What is a black woman whos a trans-human? an artist rhetorically asked the audience. [It is] where your technology is inextricably linked to your self. TechnoAfricanum-Culturist, for example, reportedly holds the balance of all of the universes in her larger-than-life silver afro.

The project, however, had some striking weaknesses. Headsets continued to malfunction during the event, and the productsthough they claimed everyday utilitywere impractically niche. Hyphen-Labs, moreover, includes only one black member.

Some of Fridays attendees appeared uncomfortable.One woman in the audience later asked, in reference to the digitally printed headscarf, as women, whether white, black, Asian, we all are vulnerable, so why did you specifically choose one particular group when pretty much everyone could wear [the headscarf]?

Acknowledging that I am not a member of the target demographic, I cant judge the appropriateness of this kind of artistic creation, but the project nonetheless struck me as drawing on cultural stereotypes in dangerous ways. There is no question that black culture must be preserved and promoted, but there must be a way to express its spirit without reasserting only its most visible tropes into the conversation. It felt odd that the artists would choose to address larger social issues through capitalist consumerism and by reducing women to their cosmetic choices. I getthe unshakable feeling that a black futuristic womans larger-than-life silver afro is analogous in this situation to, say, a Jewish futuristic mans larger-than-life silver yarmulke.