The Engine Room Residencies: Ishmael Butler

We are excited to welcome Ishmael Butler, of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets, for the second of three artist residencies to activate Gary Simmons: The Engine Room. Butler and collaborators will be bringing his brand of abstract and experimental songcraft to the Henry during the latter half of June. 

We invite you to visit the gallery and experience Butler’s process while he is rehearsing, writing, and experimenting in the space. Due to our health and safety protocols, visitors are highly encouraged to sign up for a free timed ticket in advance. Walk-up tickets are very limited. Time spent in the gallery will be limited to maintain a safe occupancy. 

In-gallery public residency date: 

Live Performance Broadcast via the Henry’s YouTube page: July 3, 6 PM (PDT)

Gary Simmons: The Engine Room, on view through August 22nd, guides the framing of this residency and its intention to center and support Black artists of Seattle’s creative scenes. At the center of the exhibition is Garage Band, a 24x24-foot installation inspired by suburban garage spaces and their associated mythos of inspiration, invention, and tinkering. Garages have long been spaces for DIY artists to explore their creative practices with relative freedom. The interest of this residency is to see how this exploratory, jamming space can be translated into a large, open museum gallery. Beyond Garage Band, the exhibition also hosts a suite of new paintings and sculptures, as well as B Sides, a massive erasure drawing Simmons created for this exhibition that channels the songwriting of Jimi Hendrix—all fuel for the artists to be in dialogue with as they approach creating or re-creating in the space.

Invited artists will spend several days during the month of their residency (May, June, or July) within the garage installation and the gallery to tinker with, improvise, and share their musical craft in both private and public engagements. Each residency will culminate in a live-streamed performance.

ABOUT ISHMAEL BUTLER 

Seattle-based emcee and producer Ishmael Butler, of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets, is one of the preeminent visionaries of hip-hop of the last quarter century. Drawing on the astral freedoms practiced by Sun Ra and George Clinton, Butler’s eclectic and extra-terrestrial stylings reference hip-hop, dub, jazz, R&B, soul, funk, African, experimental, and pop, while also splintering, rebuilding, and expanding the possibility of sound. His collaborators have included other innovators like Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Erik Blood, and Battles, and his most recent album with Shabazz Palaces, The Don of DIamond Dreams, released by Sub Pop in 2020, continues to showcase the fluid bounds of Butler’s approach to songwriting and world building. 

Gary Simmons: The Engine Room programs are co-organized by the Henry and LANGSTON, an arts & culture organization that guides generative programs and community partnerships that center Black art, artists, and audiences and honors the ongoing legacy of Seattle’s Black Central Area. Co-organization and production support for the Engine Room Residencies provided by Bubba Jones. The program is presented in conjunction with Murmurations, a Seattle-wide arts collaboration featuring a series of exhibitions, performances, screenings, community conversations, artist talks, and other programs co-developed between cultural organizations. Learn more about Murmurations and upcoming events at facebook.com/MurmurationsSeattle.