BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions

Artist Kahlil Joseph, known as the director of Beyoncé’s Lemonade film, transforms his news channel installation BLKNWS, presented at the Venice Biennale, into a documentary film about black history, identity, and future possibilities. Civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois’ unfinished Encyclopedia Africana and the Afrofuturist Art Biennale take the viewer on a journey through 347 years of the past and future. Watching this film is like listening to a music album or reading through an encyclopedia of collective memory. Here the museum is a space where grand narratives are finally rewritten and the oppressed, erased, or appropriated cultural heritage of Black people is reclaimed.

Afrofuturism is both a movement and a creative approach that allows us to explore Black history through a futuristic, often science fiction lens. It is a form of archaeological storytelling from the future, decolonizing Black identity and creating new representations of it. Although this movement is not new, in my opinion, it has not yet run its course – on the contrary, it offers new artistic strategies for talking about overlooked cultures, memory, and decolonization. This film is a perfect example of Afrofuturism. – Program curator Eglė Maceinaitė

Kahlil Joseph 

Kahlil Joseph is an American filmmaker and video artist known for his innovative work that blends cinema, music, and visual art to explore themes of Black culture, identity, and history. He has directed acclaimed music videos for artists like Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé, while his video installations have been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Venice Biennale and the Tate Modern.