September 26 – December 20
Underground Resistance (UR) is a collective started by “Mad” Mike Banks and Jeff Mills in 1989 in Detroit. The ethos of the organization was founded on principles similar to those of workers’ unions, including the United Auto Workers (UAW), to act as a vestige for working class Black Detroiters at a time when divestment in the city and its communities was high. The beginning lines of their manifesto anchor the collective’s spirit: “Underground Resistance is a label for a movement. A movement that wants change by sonic revolution.” In the 1990s, Banks brought a Detroit-based techno duo called Drexciya (Gerald Donald and James Stinson) to UR. As Drexciya, Gerald and James, along with others, created a sonic and visual orthography that imagined an underwater realm born of the Middle Passage and unfolded in Drexciya’s music and within the liner notes of multiple UR album releases.
The myth of Drexciya has come to life through associated visual artists, notably Detroit-based artists Frankie C. Fultz, who designed the original album artwork for The Return of Drexciya (1996), and AbuQadim Haqq, who designed the original album artwork for Neptune’s Lair (1999) and The Book of Drexciya Volume One, on view here.
In the exhibition galleries, representations of the sonic and visual orthography unfold.
This installation is accompanied by a playlist created by Cornelius Harris, Label Manager for Underground Resistance and Submerge.
This work is accompanied by a playlist, accessible HERE.
Commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art and co-presented with the Art Museum at the University of Toronto
Bio
Bio
Underground Resistance presents Drexciya and beyond
Underground Resistance Manifesto
Underground Resistance is a label for a movement.
A movement that wants change by sonic revolution.
We urge you to join the resistance and help us combat the mediocre audio and visual programming that is being fed to the inhabitants of Earth, this programming is stagnating the minds of the people; building a wall between races and preventing world peace.
It is this wall we are going to smash.
By using the untapped energy potential of sound we are going to destroy this wall much the same as certain frequencies shatter glass.
Techno is a music based in experimentation; it is music for the future of the human race.
Without this music there will be no peace, no love, no vision.
By simply communicating through sound, techno has brought people of all different nationalities together under one roof to enjoy themselves.
Isn’t it obvious that music and dance are the keys to the universe?
So called primitive animals and tribal humans have known this for thousands of years!
We urge all brothers and sisters of the underground to create and transmit their tones and frequencies no matter how so called primitive their equipment may be.
Transmit these tones and wreak havoc on the programmers!
Cornelius Harris
Cornelius Harris is a key figure in Detroit’s cultural scene. He is Label Manager of the iconic techno collective Underground Resistance and Submerge. A curator and advocate of Detroit’s musical history and culture, Harris acts as a representative for the influential Detroit techno label, often discussing its political and world-building projects.
Image courtesy of Underground Resistance.
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Accessibility
Art Museum at the University of Toronto - Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Accessible entrance and washrooms
Accessible ramps / elevators
AODA compliant building
Accessible parkingJustina Barnicke Gallery (7 Hart House Cir.) Accessible Entrance: Use the entrance at 7 Hart House Circle (southeast entrance) or the accessible ramp at Tower Road (2 Tower Road).
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Getting There
Art Museum at the University of Toronto - Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Parking: Limited Paid
TTC: Near Museum station; Queen’s Park station; St. George Station; 506 Carlton streetcars
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