Zachary Blair
New Orleans 2019: Experiencing / listening
Machinations is an multi-sensory mosaic comprised of field recordings, soundscapes, photographs, and video recordings of redevelopment projects in the Parramore neighborhood in Orlando, Florida. Built in the 1880s by Orlando’s fourteenth mayor, James B. Parramore, the neighborhood was created to house the city’s black residents during the era of Jim Crow racial segregation. After decades of disinvestment and economic disenfranchisement, the Parramore neighborhood has recently become the site of university-driven revitalization led by a conglomerate of public and private schools that includes the University of Central Florida, Valencia Community College, and Webster University. Since 2017, east Parramore began its transformation into a new Creative Village that has been marketed by the city as the future site of Orlando’s technology and digital media industries. The primary goals of this exhibit are to (1) raise awareness of the experiences of displaced black communities at the hands of the State and (2) assist in the development of a new theoretical lens for critically analyzing racial capitalism.