Hiteshree Ðas
         
    AbŏUt

The Black City Astrolabe


From the multiple displacements of race and gender, enter The BLACK City Astrolabe, a space-time field comprised of a 3D map and a 24-hour cycle of narratives that reorder the forces of subjugation, devaluation, and displacement through the spaces and events of African diasporic women. The diaspora map traces the flows of descendants of Africa (whether voluntary or forced) atop the visible tension between the mathematical regularity of meridians of longitude
and the biases of international date lines.

How can we articulate alternative space-time frameworks that reflect diasporic memory, movement, and multiplicity beyond Western constructs of geography and chronology?


Explore Project Website  
Supported by


Graham Foundation
African Futures Institute
MIT Center for Art,
Science & Technology
MIT School of
Architecture & Planning

  Team


Curator
Lesley Lokko, 
Laboratory of the Future

Artist
J. Yolande Daniels

Research
 C. Battikha, E. Bilal, A. Boscoli Salas Rodrigues, 
H. Das, H. Meihan Davis, D. Qingyi Duanmu, J. Fan, P. Fan, A. Eslami Fard, A. Haridis, M. Jovanovic, K. Joseph Kalmar, T. Logan King, N. Kwun, N. Iman Rich, R. Teuman, A. Deborah Lauren, Tsogbe, H. Ting Wong, C. Qin, S. Verma.


 




Installation site (Interior)

The installation design process began with in-depth research into the space-making contributions of Black diasporic women around the world. This research mapped the regions, cities, countries, and continents connected to their impact onto an astrolabe, visually charting their influence. Found images were then curated and  collaged into a dynamic animation, which was projected at the tunnel’s end.





 

The meridians and timeline decades are indexed to an infinite conical projection metered in decades. It structures both the diaspora map and timeline, and serves as a threshold to project future structures and events. 


The BLACK City Astrolabe is a vehicle to proactively contemplate things that have happened, that are happening, and that will happen. Yesterday, a ‘Black’ woman went to the future, and here she is.