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Chicago, Illinois 60637 (773) 947-0600 740 East 56th Place

Contact:

Raymond Ward (773) 947-0600 ext 228 rward@dusablemuseum.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

QUESTION BRIDGE: BLACK MALES A NEW VIDEO EXHIBITION SCHEDULED TO OPEN AT THE DuSABLE MARCH 14, 2014

Chicago, IL. (15 January 2014) --- The DuSable Museum of African American History is honored to present a new exhibition entitled, Question Bridge: Black Males, which explores the full spectrum of what it means to be Black and male in America. The exhibition will open on March 14, 2014 and continue through May 18, 2014 at the Museum which is located at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue) in Chicago.

Question Bridge: Black Males is an innovative video installation created by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Chris Johnson in collaboration with Bayete Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair. The four collaborators spent several years traveling throughout the United States, speaking with 150 Black men, living in 12 American cities and towns, including New York, Chicago, Oakland, Birmingham and New Orleans. From these interviews they created 1,500 video exchanges in which the subjects, representing a range of geographic , generational, economic, and educational strata serve as both interviewers and interviewees. Their words were woven together to simulate a stream-of-consciousness dialogue, through which important themes and issues emerge, including family, love, interracial relationships, community, education, violence, and the past, present and future of Black men in American society.

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The exhibition includes multiple screens playing videos of the interviews, edited so that it appears as if the men are having a conversation. The artists hope that the Question Bridge project will be a catalyst for constructive dialogue that will help deconstruct stereotypes about Black male identity in our collective consciousness. The Question Bridge executive producers are Delroy Lindo, Deborah Willis and Jesse

Williams. Will Sylvester is the Post-Production Producer and Rosa White is the Supervising Story Producer. The Transmedia Producers are Antonio Kaplan and Elise Baugh of Innovent. --more

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Question Bridge @ The DuSable Page Two

Question Bridge: Black Males is a fiscally sponsored project of the Bay Area Video Coalition, supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Foundations Campaign for Black Male Achievement, the Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance Film Institutes New Frontier Story Lab, the LEF Foundation, the Center for Cultural Innovation and the California College of the Arts. Additional support was provided by the Jack Shainman Gallery. Local funding is being provided by Allsate.

For more information on the exhibition please call 773-947-0600 or visit our website at www.dusablemuseum.org. The DuSable Museum of African American History gratefully acknowledges the Chicago Park Districts generous support of the Museum. This project is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

The DuSable Museum of African American History is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM and Sunday from 12:00 NOON until 5:00 PM. Admission is $10 for adults ($8 for Chicago residents), $7 for students and senior citizens ($5 for Chicago residents) $3 for children ages 6 through 11 ($2 for Chicago residents) and children 5 years of age and younger are admitted free. The Museum may be reached by CTA buses #3, #4 and #55 and limited free parking is also available on the premises.

! About The DuSable Museum of African American History

The DuSable Museum of African American History is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the country. Our mission is to collect, preserve and display artifacts and objects that promote understanding and inspire appreciation of the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans through exhibits, programs and activities that illustrate African and African American history, culture and art. For more information on the Museum and its programs, please call (773) 947-0600 or visit us at www.dusablemuseum.org

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