Porch Talks: March 12, 2022 | 3-4PM
Opening + Community Market: March 12, 2022 | 4-7PM
On View: March 12, 2022 – June 5, 2022
Join us for the unveiling of Round 53: The Curious Case of Critical Race…Theory? on March 12, 2022. This Round is Danielle Burns Wilson’s inaugural opening as Project Row Houses Curator and Art Director.
About Round 53: The Curious Case of Critical Race…Theory?
“We are a society that has been structured from top to bottom by race. You don’t get beyond that by deciding not to talk about it anymore. It will always come back; it will always reassert itself over and over again.” –Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
Created in the 1970s by legal scholars, Critical Race Theory (CRT) was developed as an academic concept to help understand the structural and racial disparities that endure in our society, engendering differential experiences of law and policy across lines of difference. The idea was to shift our thought processes to a more systemic evaluation of racism, as opposed to the more prevalent notion that racism manifests through the thoughts and deeds of individuals. The theory is not a specific curriculum, training, or agenda. However, today the very term itself has become politically charged, creating controversy around the country.
This is especially true concerning how young people are taught social justice and equity in America. Last year, in many states including Texas, lawmakers have passed legislation restricting how teachers can discuss current events, encourage civic engagement, and teach about America’s history of racism. By the end of 2021, Texas Senate Bill 3 was passed, enforcing how social studies is taught in schools K-12, prohibiting concepts of discussing race and racism.
The added disruption that sprang from America’s most recent reckoning with racism and social injustice has called Round 53 to respond to the current conversations around CRT. Round participating artists Leah Gipson, David-Jeremiah, Adam W. McKinney, Tammie Rubin, Bradley Ward, and ROUX, a collective comprised of Rabéa Ballin, Ann Johnson, Delita Martin, and Lovie Olivia were encouraged to explore more critical frameworks as well as how the term is currently leveraged as a catch-all for personal assumptions and/or systems of belief but also respond to the more generalized lived realities that inform the theory.
The University of Houston Downtown Critical Race Studies Center, The Houston Young Lawyers Association (HYLA), and Kindred Spirits Design Co. have also collaborated to transform one of the art houses into an education house. The goal is to dissect, interpret and better understand the theory. The space will also be used to conduct workshops and gatherings throughout the duration of the Round.
Americans are socialized to mitigate problems with action. However, when the problem is structural inequality and institutionalized racism, somehow controversy ensues. We intend to clear up the misnomers of the theory; to not allow ourselves to be impeded from thinking critically about race, racism, and power and their links to the disparities within our social systems. As we embark upon Project Row Houses’ 30th anniversary, Round 53: The Curious Case of Critical Race…Theory? Continues the introspective work of previous Rounds by inviting examination of our own ideologies through the works of artists whose themes of and concerns with the African diaspora/ Blackness/ the Black experience have transcended generations.
