PENN QTR: Local Artists Collaborate on Exhibit Exploring Intersection of Data & Censorship in Celebration of Banned Books Week

As we increasingly entrust others with our personal information and data, how can we ensure that our data is safe and protected from abuse and misuse? UNCENSORED: Information Antics, an all media art exhibition, will bring together local DC artists to explore the myriad of roles that data collection and visualization play regarding issues of privacy, participation, and location of the self. UNCENSORED: Information Antics will be on display at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library from September 24 – October 22 to celebrate Banned Books Week, an annual national celebration of the freedom to read, express and create. Through photography, video, installation and sound the artists participating in UNCENSORED: Information Antics investigate the complexity of an intensely networked milieu with thoughtfulness and humor.

Works by the following local artists have been selected by an advisory committee and will reflect the ways in which data is collected, mediated, censored and transposed into alternate forms and expressions. The advisory committee includes Mary Early, Curator of Hemphill Gallery, Karyn Miller, Acting Director and Director of Exhibitions at Arlington Arts Center, Violet Mantell, Program Associate of Cultural DC / Flashpoint Gallery and Matthew Mann, artist and Library Associate with the DC Public Library.

Confirmed artists to date include:

• Nancy Daly
• Brian Davis
• Nekisha Durrett
• Hasan Elahi
• Evan Hume
• FreeSpace Collective / Mike Iacovone & Billy Friebele (DC Public Library’s Makers in Residence)
• Nate Larson & Marni Shindelman
• Paul Shortt
• Kelly Towles
• Workingman Collective
• Fabiola Yurcizin

UNCENSORED Opening Night, a fundraiser for the DC Public Library Foundation, will take place on Friday, September 25th. Funds raised will support the DC Public Library Foundation’s goal of supporting local artists and D.C.’s burgeoning arts and culture scene, as well as other library programs including lecture series District of Change, the Our City Festival, the D.C. Music Archive and more.

The party will feature signature cocktails inspired by local mixologists’ favorite banned books, live music from local musicians including Baby Bry Bry & the Apologists, Delafield String Band and Reginald Cyntje, a pop-up market curated by style guru and event chair Jenn Barger, performance art and so much more. Other event chairs include restaurateur and mixologist Derek Brown, Proper Topper’s Anna Fuhrman, founder of BYT Svetlana Legetic, Maketto’s Will Sharp, A Creative DC’s founder Morgan H. West, participating artist Kelly Towles, DeNada knitwear designer Virginia Arrisueño, and DC Brau.

Opening night will feature signature cocktails from the following mixologists:

• Adam Bernbach, 2 Birds 1 Stone
• Phil Clark, Mockingbird Hill
• Philip Greene, Author, To Have and Have Another - A Hemingway Cocktail Companion and Brand Ambassador, Hemingway Rum Co., Papa's Pilar Rums
• Trevor Frye, Jack Rose Dining Saloon
• Chris Libby, Zaytinya
• Duane Sylvestre, Collectif 1806
• Chantal Tseng, Redeye Menus About UNCENSORED: Information Antics

The UNCENSORED: Information Antics art exhibition will be at the MLK Library from Friday, September 25 – Thursday, October 22. Banned Books Week is September 27 – October 3, 2015.

UNCENSORED Opening Night: Friday September 25, 2015, 6:30 – 9:00 pm
Great Hall at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library; 901 G Street, NW; Washington, D.C.

Tickets for UNCENSORED Opening Night are available here.
Individual ticket: $50
Host ticket: $250 for 4 tickets, a gift bag and special recognition