Between December 2020 - February 2021 we aired the Black Reverly Quiet Storm, a three-part radio show by Derrais Carter as part of his commission with If I Can’t Dance that explored different modes of storytelling, placing Carter himself in the role of the late-night DJ.

The Black Revelry project takes up the detail—or “the sample”—as a method for reading the iconic 1976 painting Sugar Shack by Ernie Barnes, a painting that has circulated widely within Black popular culture (for example, as the cover art for Marvin Gaye's album I Want You) across over four decades.

On November 25th Derrais Carter’s Black Revelry: In Honor of “The Sugar Shack”, the thirteenth publication in the If I Can’t Dance Performance in Residence series will be launched at the Sandberg Instituut. To celebrate this launch we invite you for a seven-hour live broadcasting marathon featuring the three episodes of Black Revelry Quiet Storm and concluding with Late Night DJ 1980, a very special guest set from publication contributor DJ Lynnée Denise. Throughout the day, the original radio shows will be augmented with words from Carter reflecting on the publication and the new sets of relations generated within its pages.

You can tune in from wherever you are (and the marathon will as well be broadcasted by partnering radio stations reboot.fm in Berlin and dublab in Los Angeles). When in Amsterdam, be welcome to join us in the listening lounge at Sandberg Instituut, where at 20.30 an on-site conversation will take place between Carter and publication contributor S*an D. Henry-Smith with an introduction from If I Can’t Dance curator Megan Hoetger.

For more information about Black Revelry and the publication please visit the website of If I Can't Dance.