CV and Life experiences
Viktor L. Ewing | Givens
SouthernAndroid.com | www.participatorymusiccoalition.org
SouthernAndroid00@gmail.com
Curatorial, Research and Public Arts
Viktor le. Givens is a found object installation performance artist whose practice centers around the gathering and arrangement of ancestral objects to activate spaces for site specific public rituals. By connecting the material culture of his ancestors with pre and post modern spiritual theologies, le. Givens hopes to extend and reimagine the folk customs of his family . His material archive is comprised of the forgotten and discarded household items found during excavations of East Texas, Louisiana, Havana Cuba and Mexico City. . Through the accumulation of these rich cultural artifacts , le. Givens. seeks to create spaces that inspire the activation of cultural and spiritual memory.
Education
2017 Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia College Chicago
Interdisciplinary Arts Book and Paper
2015 Masters of Arts Interdisciplinary Arts , Columbia College Chicago 2010 Fisk University Bachelors of Arts Sociology : Art , Nashville TN Viktor L. Ewing | Givens
www.SouthernAndroid.com | participatorymusiccoalition.orgPH: 832‐916‐6304 Email: Southernandroid00@gmail.com
Exhibition/Curatorial/ Research/Creative Consultancy Opportunities
Viktor le. Givens is a found object installation performance artist whose practice centers around the gathering and arrangement of ancestral objects to activate spaces for site specific public rituals. By connecting the material culture of his ancestors with pre and post modern spiritual theologies, le. Givens hopes to extend and re-imagine the folk customs of his family . His material archive is comprised of the forgotten and discarded household items found during excavations of East Texas, Louisiana, Havana Cuba and Mexico City. Through the accumulation of these rich cultural artifacts , le. Givens. seeks to create spaces that inspire the activation of cultural and spiritual (re) memory. Currently Viktor’s practice is exploring the creative potential in reinterpreting the archive to produce interdisciplinary new works.
Education
Forever The Multiverse
2017 Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia College Chicago
Interdisciplinary Arts Book and Paper
2015 Masters of Arts Interdisciplinary Arts , Columbia College Chicago
2010 Fisk University Bachelors of Arts Sociology : Art , Nashville TN
Vanderbilt University Institute for International Education Scholar international fellowship Sojourns:
2011 Edna Manely College of Performance and Visual Arts Kingston, Jamaica
2009 Universidade Federal da Bahia Salvador , State of Bahia , Brazil
2008 University of Ghana Accra Legon Accra, Ghana 2008 Howard University, Washington DC
2007 Rust College , The Gambia, West Africa Introduction to Departure, a cross pollination study
Installation / Performance Exhibitions
2020
Freedom Summer Visual Mix Tape: CAHM Lab artist residency Intensive: Contemporary Arts Museum Houston TX
Mothership 9: Virtual Exodus: The great Cosmic Migration Digital Performance Saloon: Elastic Arts, Chicago IL
In Search for Lucille: Ancestral Reverence Intensive, Carson House Plantation Marion NC
Brown Ecologies Residency Retreat: Esperanza Spalding Productions: Tygh Valley Oregon
Jubilee 11213: Black Spatial Relics MicroGrant for Community Care Performance Research Digital Saloon Lab NY
Inter//Stellar: Devised Digital Theater: National Black Theater & NYU Tisch School of Drama NY
Requiem for Jazz: University of Chicago: Sun Dance film Festival Documentary: Angel Bat Dawid and tha Brotha Hood
Heritage Settlements Retreat: North Star 'nd Associates: Southern Android Institute Crockett TX
Beyond Space exhibition : Detroit Carr Center : Curator Carrie Mae Weems / Anita Bateman
Revival: Detroit Carr Center: Performance Cultural Arts intensive: Southern Android Productions
Black Artist Retreat: Armory New York City: : Theaster Gates Curator
REACH Festival Kennedy Center: Washington DC; Carrie Mae Weems curator
2019
The Spirit that Resides: 13th Havana Biennale : Magnan Gallery: Carrie Mae Weems ; Curator
Black Spatial Relics Conference
Beyond Space exhibition & symposium, Detroit Carr Center
Le Guess Who? Jazz Festival Utrecht NL
ReWire International Festival: The Hauge NL
Hyde Park Jazz Festival: Chicago IL
Jazz Fest Berlin
Uber Jazz Festival: We are Starzz: Hamburg Germany
Beyond Space symposium, Detroit Carr Center
2018
Mo’lasses (re)enactment Fisk University Spring Arts Festival Nashville TN
Song of Solomon a Opera , Co-prosperity lab , Chicago IL
Recollection recall: afrofututrity Google Fiber Nashville TN
In search of my familiar Southside Community Arts Center Chicago IL
2017
Remnants of a Dream: Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago,
Recalled Recollections Ancestral Lore: DuSable Museum, Chicago IL
LIT: Mo’lasses: MFA Thesis Exhibition: Book and Paper Gallery Columbia College Chicago.
Black Box : An Afrofuturist Opus : LeRoy Nemian Center, School of the Art Institute
Old Black magic, Chicago Art Department ACRE residency Exhibition, Chicago IL
The Revival :Chicago Home Theater Festival, 4H gallery , Chicago IL
2016
The in-between spaces; Black Matter, Black Magic, Black Manhood: Root Work Gallery, Chicago
Before I wake: Elastic Arts Center. ,Chicago IL, Washington Park
Eliza’s Peculiar cabin of Curiosities: ; Lynden Sculptural Garden Milwaukee WI.
Black Art; Ancestral Legacy; Civic Center of Crockett, Dallas Museum of Art
88th annual Fisk University Spring Arts Festival : Alfred Steglitz Gallery, Nashville
Ancient Futurity: Afro-futurism Conference , The New School New York
Sugah’ Another kind of sweet: BING arts incubator, University of Chicago
Conjuring tomorrow: an immersive exhibition. C33 Gallery,Chicago IL
Aint’ I, She a Woman Ain’t she: Hunter International Gallery
2015
Engage/ Connect: Anthropological Mixed Tape Performance saloon : HAUS Creative Arts Center,
Columbia College
Black Intersectionality Critique University of Chicago , Arts Incubator ,Chicago IL,
Ancestors Wake ,College Art Association Video Art Graduate Saloon ,New York Connect/Engage , Arcade Gallery Department of Exhibition and Performance Spaces Columbia College
2014
In Search of my Familiar, South Side Community Art Center Chicago IL, Welcome Home: They Seek a City ,The Art Institute Chicago, IL
Margret Burroughs Collective “ What Shall I call? “ African Festival of the Arts Chicago, IL KUUMBA Ritual theater Anniversary, Southside Community Art Center Chicago, IL
Faheem Majeed RISK: Empathy, Art, and Social Practice Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL Faheem Majeed Shacks and Shanties Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab, Chicago , IL
Fo Wilson : Wading in the water of Sweet Forever , Center for Black Music Research Chicago , IL
Memoirs from the Pews Margaret Burroughs Collective, Fo Wilson Studio 1905, Chicago, IL
2013 Here Now Where Then Annual African American Art Exhibition Actors Theater Louisville, KY
Hear no Art see no Art 83rd Annual Spring Arts Festival, Fisk University , Nashville, TN Colored Musings National Black Theater Festival, Washington, DC
2012 82nd Annual Spring Arts Festival Aaron Douglas Gallery Fisk University , Nashville,
2011
The Tides that Binds ,Studio 147, Calabash Festival of the Arts, Kingston Jamaica Collective Representation Edna Manley College of Performance and Visual Arts, Kingston, Jamaica Jitney August Wilson, American Negro Theater Company, Nashville , TN
Lectures and Special Projects
B.A,R Black Artist Retreat Theaster Gates The PArk Avenue Armory NYC
Freedom Colonies Family Day: Ancestors Wake, Institute of Texan Cultures
Conversations: The politics of Race, Gender & Art Fisk University
Moses Reggie Wilson Shango Baptist Ring Shout IntensiveDance Center Juke Clap Stomp Movement therapy Honey Pot Collective
Black Arts performance Theater Val Gray Ward Chicago
Fabulating free: Black Spatial Relics Conference: Philadelphia PA
Texas Historical Commission: East Texas Preservation Project
African American Automobility: Collaborative design publication: Jonathan Calm
Freedom Colonies Family Day: Ancestors Wake, Institute of Texan Cultures
Conversations: The politics of Race, Gender & Art Fisk University
Black portraiture Conference: Ancestry Matters , New York University, Florence Italy
FREE/PHASE Center for Black Music Research Chicago Cultural Center
Alumni in the Arts Series: Fisk University, Nashville, TN
African Spirituality in Black Freedom Struggles: Freedom Square, Chicago IL
All in : Making Art and community in Chicago ,Columbia College Chicago
River See: Jazz Theater Institute 2013|2014 , Sharon Bridgeforth Links Hall ,Rockefeller Chapel Chicago, IL
HARAMBEE African American Cultural Affairs Publication editor, Columbia College Chicago
Memoirs from the pews Pan African Literary Forum , Accra Ghana 2008
Curatorial Experience
2019
Vestige: the Spirit that Resides: Magnan Gallery Havana Cuba
2016
Anthropological Mixed Tape Collaborative Saloon Quincy Wong Performance Art Center, Columbia College , Chicago, IL
2014 Sister Spirits Khalil Anthony: The Black space, Chicago, IL, Participatory Music Coalition: Experiments in Sound , Transitions East Sound Lab, Chicago, IL
2011
Children Shorts International Black Film Festival Nashville, TN
Job Experience:
2016
Columbia College Graduate Assistant for the office of Multicultural Affairs Assistant 2012-2017
Artistic Director for the Margaret Burroughs Collective,
Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Cultural Enrichment Initiative “ Barbershop”
Visual \ Performance Arts Coordinator for the Participatory Music Coalition
2014
Academy for Urban School Leadership : Teaching Artist C
2013
Programming manager Healthy Eating Active Living, Artist Intensive Workshop Nashville TN
Tennessee Arts Commission: Metro School District Art Smart Teaching Artist.
Art Smart Aesthetic education training.
Awards/ Honors
Chicago Parks District: Night out in the Parks Grants recipient
Follet Fellowship Full Tuition Award Columbia College Chicago 2013
Black Spatial Relics honorable mention awardee: Material Culture and cognition: Can matter change the mind?
Detroit Carr Center Independent research scholar: Archives and the Liminal
Mary Allen Museum of African American Art and History research apprentice: Tulane University: Amistad Research Center: Negro Education in Texas 1900-1960