Colored People Time (CPT) offers a profound exploration into how the history of chattel slavery and colonialism in America not only shaped the foundations of our country but exists in our present moment and impacts our future. The group exhibition travels to the List Center from the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, where it was organized by Assistant Curator Meg Onli.

Broken into three distinct chapters—Mundane Futures, Quotidian Pasts, and Banal Presents— the exhibition’s sequential framework roots itself within this malleable and fluid concept of time and builds new narratives and public discourse around the everyday experiences of black people in the United States. Unexpected connections between contemporary art, historical objects, and archival materials inform and activate each chapter, fostering innovative dialogue between the Penn Museum’s African Collection and a wide range of media and new commissions created by emerging and established artists, including Aria Dean, Kevin Jerome Everson, Matthew Angelo Harrison, Carolyn Lazard, Dave McKenzie, Martine Syms, Sable Elyse Smith, and Cameron Rowland. At the List Center, all three chapters are presented simultaneously.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue in the form of a reader published in early 2020.

Colored People Time is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania and is curated by ICA Assistant Curator Meg Onli.

Original support for Colored People Time was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia. Additional support has been provided by Arthur Cohen & Daryl Otte, Cheri & Steven Friedman, and Brett & Daniel Sundheim.