THE CULTURE. HIP HOP AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Coin­ciding with the 50th anniver­sary of the birth of hip hop, the SCHIRN is dedi­cating a major inter­dis­ci­pli­nary exhi­bi­tion to its profound influ­ence on our current art and cultural land­scape. Hip hop first emerged in the Bronx, New York in the 1970s as a cultural move­ment among Black and Latinx youth who expressed them­selves through MCing, DJing, graf­fiti writing, and break­dancing. Hip hop has now evolved into a global phenom­enon that has driven numerous inno­va­tions in music, fashion, tech­nology, as well as visual and performing arts. Grounded on the origins of hip hop in the U.S., yet with a focus on art and music from the last twenty years, the exhi­bi­tion features over 100 paint­ings, photographs, sculp­tures, and videos, as well as fashion and vinyl, by inter­na­tion­ally renowned contem­po­rary artists including Lauren Halsey, Julie Mehretu, Tsch­a­balala Self, Arthur Jafa, Khalil Joseph, Virgil Abloh, and Gordon Parks. THE CULTURE illu­mi­nates hip hop’s unprece­dented economic, social, and cultural resources and further­more addresses contem­po­rary issues and debates – from iden­tity, racism, and appro­pri­a­tion to sexu­ality, femi­nism, and empow­er­ment.