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Ben Caldwell

BEN CALDWELL

KAOS THEORY: The Afrokosmic Media Arts Of Ben Caldwell Art + Practice 12 October 2024–8 March 2025 Los Angeles
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Press Release

Meet Ben Caldwell. The dreamer from the desert who spent his youth gazing at the sky and watching his grandfather project films at a local movie theater. The young artist and soldier in Vietnam that shed his gun for a camera. The student who came of age within the LA Rebellion film movement of the 1960s to 1980s and who envisioned cinema as an instrument that could heal and emancipate. The community-minded filmmaker, educator, and cultural producer who in 1984 opened KAOS Network, the intergenerational media arts hub that has helped steward Leimert Park Village’s traditions of Black artistry, fellowship, and love.

Inspired by the award-winning book, KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell, this retrospective multimedia exhibition celebrates Caldwell’s archive and the vibrant creative life and communities of KAOS Network. Journey across time, geography, history, and memory with Caldwell’s varied practices of photography, film, video, music, performance, community-based design, and interactive media. Open up your spirit on this fantastic voyage into the lifeworlds of KAOS.

KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Media Arts of Ben Caldwell is curated by Jheanelle Brown, independent, curator, writer, and faculty of film/video at California Institute of the Arts, and Robeson Taj Frazier, author, producer, and professor of communication at the University of Southern California. This exhibition is co-presented by the California African American Museum (CAAM) and Art + Practice (A+P) as part of CAAM at A+P, a five-year collaboration.

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About the Gallery

Art + Practice (A+P) is a private non-profit foundation in Leimert Park, South Los Angeles, founded in 2014 by artist Mark Bradford, philanthropist and collector Eileen Harris Norton, and community activist Allan DiCastro. Occupying a nearly 20,000-square-foot campus in Leimert Park Village, A+P presents museum-curated contemporary art and provides support services for transition-age foster youth. Admission to its exhibitions and public programs is free and open to the public.

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Address
3401 W. 43rd Place
Los Angeles
United States
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 5pm
(1)
Los Angeles 3401 W. 43rd Place
Art Practice contemporary art institution in Los Angeles United States
Art + Practice
3401 W. 43rd Place, Los Angeles, United States
+1 (323) 337-6887
http://www.artandpractice.org

Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 5pm
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