This week Off the Cuff sat down with Christopher McIntyre, the visionary behind “Br(OK)en Genius,” a project striving to spark conversation about Milwaukee’s segregation and poverty issues. On Nov. 21-22, the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center (901 15th Ave.) will host the project’s inaugural multi-arts event featuring McIntyre’s photographs of the inner city, along with spoken word performances by Firey Phoenix, Brit Nicole, Na’ima, Nigel Wade, Bobby Drake and Remy The Gambit; and live music by Monique-Elise, Shane Laufman and Montreal Cain.
What is your main goal for this project?
Healing. We have a society where they remember all of your mistakes but they forget your successes very quickly. How could we look at Milwaukee as a case study and how could, through the brokenness and [through] presenting our questions, find answers and hope and love so that we can heal?
Tell me about your photographs and their subject matter.
These pieces deal indirectly with me—the experience of being an African American male—because it’s not only a case study of Milwaukee, it’s a case study of my life. There was a gentleman who was a Nobel Prize winner and he went on record to say that African Americans should stop reproducing for the sake of sparing the world of stupidity. So looking at this, it’s a secret rebuttal to him. It’s like, OK, does economic status and spirituality being stripped and a culture being exploited in every way possible play on the making and breaking of genius? And if it’s broken, can it be healed? And I believe it can be. And it crosses color lines, but I’m just putting myself on the chopping block, if you will.
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What can audiences expect from you and your collaborators?
If you’re in the audience, you’ll see musicians on raised platforms. You’ll see spoken word artists one by one on a raised platform. And then in the middle will be projected huge the work. And then the stage will be turned into a gallery where everyone can come up and experience the work and politic with the artists.
I couldn’t have asked for a better cast. I truly believe it’s Milwaukee’s best as far as spoken word artists as well as musicians and it’s not an egotistical thing—I’m just really proud of my city.
You’ve described the performance as a “living movie experience.” What is the unique power of movies as an art experience?
Movies can truly change perception of a culture. Case in point: Scarface . When that came out everyone who could relate to his story was like, “Well, to come from nothing to something—I wanna do that too!” Most of the people who I’ve dealt with love laughing, they love stories, they love visual imagery. And these are people who are perceived by society as hardened criminals or thugs but they, too, are able to be affected by art. So how much more a person who hasn’t been tainted or corrupted yet? We’re people of stories, parables. Those things live forever. But we need to tell our own stories, otherwise they’ll never be told.
What’s next for Br(OK)en Genius after the SMPAC exhibition?
It depends on how this weekend of the 21st and 22nd goes, and how people feel about it. We’re going to do a community talkback in December at Translator [415 E. Menomonee St.].
For more information and updates on “Br(OK)en Genius,” as well as tickets to the SMPAC performance, visit brokengeniusmke.com. For artist interviews and a documentary of the project, visit its YouTube channel.
