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Keith Obadike, ‘Blackness for Sale’, 2001
The artist attempts to sell his blackness on eBay as a net performance. The description of what buyers would obtain in exchange for money was full of ironic but ellusive references to the history of objectifying black bodies in the slave trade and the contemporary commodification of black culture.
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jst6NcMsZEA)a
A few years back I saw a video with Adrian Piper explaining that she was collecting her own detritus and preserving it via the Adrian Piper Research Archive Foundation. Mendi & Keith Obadike auctioned Keith’s Blackness on Ebay in the 90s. I reflect on other Black artists negotiating agency and survival. Then I think of Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece which is arguably about a sort of depression and the feeling where you no longer care to keep anything for yourself.
But selling my hair means something very different than the clothing. Hair sheds and grows. It’s a crop. A resource. I’m interested in thinking of one’s own body as a resource or commodity. If hair is a commodity, it is one that can be replenished.
The body on the other hand, is finite. Selling my image means just that. It’s an image. To me, it barely feels like mine. It’s a body that I own, that I’ve created and then captured via a camera. It now exists separate from me and can be reproduced ad infinitum. There’s comfort there. Also, if the Black female body must be commodified, why can’t the body it derives from have agency over its commodification?
From “The Coded Body” by E. Jane, originally published in The Offing: http://theoffingmag.com/enumerate/interview-in-fragments-with-artist-e-jane/
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E. Jane is a conceptual artist and MFA candidate at the University of Pennsylvania.
Keith Obadike, "Blackness for Sale" (2001): in 2001, Keith Obadike auctioned his "blackness" on eBay in an alleged attempt to sell his identity, as an exploration of how identity functions online. eBay took the auction down after four days for violation of vending policy. Individuals responded with humorous questions, asking if they could exchange their whiteness for Obadike's blackness, and asking about the shipping, whether Obadike's blackness was considered a perishable. Here's the description of the item:
"This heirloom has been in the possession of the seller for twenty-eight years. Mr. Obadike's Blackness has been used primarily in the United States and its functionality outside of the US cannot be guaranteed. Buyer will receive a certificate of authenticity. Benefits and Warnings Benefits: 1. This Blackness may be used for creating black art. 2. This Blackness may be used for writing critical essays or scholarship about other blacks. 3. This Blackness may be used for making jokes about black people and/or laughing at black humor comfortably. (Option#3 may overlap with option#2) 4. This Blackness may be used for accessing some affirmative action benefits. (Limited time offer. May already be prohibited in some areas.) 5. This Blackness may be used for dating a black person without fear of public scrutiny. 6. This Blackness may be used for gaining access to exclusive, "high risk" neighborhoods. 7. This Blackness may be used for securing the right to use the terms 'sista', 'brotha', or 'nigga' in reference to black people. (Be sure to have certificate of authenticity on hand when using option 7). 8. This Blackness may be used for instilling fear. 9. This Blackness may be used to augment the blackness of those already black, especially for purposes of playing 'blacker-than-thou'. 10. This Blackness may be used by blacks as a spare (in case your original Blackness is whupped off you.) Warnings: 1. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used during legal proceedings of any sort. 2. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used while seeking employment. 3. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used in the process of making or selling 'serious' art. 4. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used while shopping or writing a personal check. 5. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used while making intellectual claims. 6. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used while voting in the United States or Florida. 7. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used while demanding fairness. 8. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used while demanding. 9. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used in Hollywood. 10. The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used by whites looking for a wild weekend. ©Keith Townsend Obadike ###"
Mendi + Keith Obadike african metropole: sonic city lagos (2012) sound installation
This piece is a sound installation co-commissioned by the Rhizome.org and Ramapo College. "Sonic City Lagos" is a multi-channel sound art work based on the major pathways of the city of Lagos. The artists collected samples of industrial sounds, conversations with people in the city of Lagos, and the acoustics of the city’s architecture. The installation makes use of flat panel ultrasonic speakers that project a narrowly focused and extremely unidirectional beam of sound. These speakers, placed at key nodes in the room, pan around the room driven by a computer-controlled system..
Today's artist(s) will be Mendi + Keith Obadike.
This is documentation of an internet art work by Keith Obadike. He manipulated Ebay itself and sold "blackness" as a critique of the "ethnic" part of ebay which is basically selling cultures off to white people etc.
more Keith Obadike + Mendi projects: http://www.blacknetart.com/index1_1.html
