On the Line

Directed by: Rashaun Richardson

The premiere of Rashaun Richardson’s film marks the conclusion of On the Line, a three-year long cycle of research, exhibition and performance that looks at the workday chore of laundry to explore gender, culture, social difference and memory. The project has developed a unique format for transdisciplinary collaboration to enables artists and anthropologists to generate new work through public engagement. Under the direction of UCR Professor, Susan Ossman, this NEA funded program involved over 90 local, national and international artists and anthropologists in exhibitions, performances, seminars and participatory interventions across Riverside. Visual artists, dancers, musicians, writers and anthropologists had an opportunity to draw on an archive of “laundry stories” developed at these events to generate new work, fostering further dialogue at subsequent encounters. Richardson’s film shows how artworks were created for and transformed by On the Line events held outside the Arlanza, La Sierra and Casa Blanca public libraries in 2016. In keeping with the project theme, he adopts a fluid, non-linear approach to documenting the work of the collective. 

On the Line participants will share their thoughts about the film, discuss the high and low points of the project, and explore its potential as a model for future work across the arts, humanities and social sciences.