In 1857, the Dred Scott Decision decreed that Black people were not U.S. citizens, and therefore not entitled to sue for freedom. The ruling was an overt authorization of racism, and is a horrible stain on American history. Indeed, the Civil War began four years later. Returning to the ruling and its documents, the conceptual artist Charles Gaines has created Manifestos 4. This 2020 installation—comprising four drawings, two videos, and a musical composition—dismantles the rationale of the racist texts. Alongside it is Sky Box II, also from 2020. —E.C.

New Work: Charles Gaines
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
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