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The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) is pleased to announce a presentation by New York-based author, poet and professor Cheryl Fish on Thursday, August 19th at 7:00 p.m. Ms. Fish will consider poet and African-American rights activist June Jordan's collaboration with architect and engineer Buckminster Fuller in the 1960s on the "Skyrise for Harlem" project and how their challenge to "slum clearance" was an early example of environmental justice and the importance of connecting dwelling space to the psychic and social well being of a community. The collaborative project �Skyrise for Harlem� fits within the paradigm of what we would now call urban environmental justice: the recognition that where we live, work, play, and pray constitutes our environment, and that poor communities and communities of color have been burdened with disproportionate toxic exposures as well as neglect and discrimination. June Jordan, poet, essayist, orator, Black English advocate and social justice activist, who died of breast cancer in 2002, transformed the bounds of self and society with a revolutionary vision, and is an unacknowledged poet-philosopher of urban environmental justice. She textually and visually mapped the dimensions of affect and race, political economy, language and place. Early in her career, Jordan studied architecture and advocated a transformative urban planning that has never been thoroughly acknowledged or explored. In 1965 she collaborated with Buckminster Fuller, an engineer, architect, mathematician and poet, best known for his geodesic dome designs, and also for what he called �Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science,� to attempt to solve humanity�s major problems through the use of technology, supporting more people with less resources. Jordan and Fuller proposed a redesign of Harlem to challenge the typical urban planning schemes of the time as well as the practice and rhetoric of �slum clearance.� Though "Skyrise for Harlem" was never realized, the project can still be instructive with regard to how people can work across race, class and gender to invent new paradigms that have the potential to transform the way we live and conceptualize our place. Presented in collaboration with the French Broad Institute (FBI). The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) preserves and continues the unique legacy of educational and artistic innovation of Black Mountain College. We achieve our mission through collection, conservation, and educational activities including exhibitions, publications, and public programs. For additional information please call Alice Sebrell at 828-350-8484. (Images provided by BMCM+AC.)
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