
Ayana Contreras at Perrotin New York, 2019.
Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli.Soundtrack: Ayana Contreras
Contemporary sound-based artists transform your MCA experience on select Fridays with custom soundtracks reflecting their perspective of works on view. DJ sets and live bands occupy spaces in the museum as the building itself amplifies their sound constructions.
About
For this virtual event, Ayana Contreras, DJ and host of Reclaimed Soul on Vocalo Radio and WBEZ, responds to the exhibition Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago with a set of soulful deep cuts focusing on Chicago's cultural and music history.
Audio of the set will be available on the MCA’s web page at noon alongside a selection of images chosen from the exhibition by Contreras.
Soundtrack is organized by Curator January Parkos Arnall and Coordinator Cameron McEwen with the Performance and Public Practice team.
Featured images

Duro Olowu, Fall/Winter 2017, Look 10

Richard Hunt, American, b. 1935, Small Hybrid, 1964. Steel; 17 ½ × 9 ½ × 10 in. (44.4 × 24.1 × 25.4 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Morton A. Sterling, 1981.39
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Duro Olowu, Fall/Winter 2019, Look 16
Photo: Luis Monteiro
Daniele Tamagni, Sapeurs posing in front of Memorial Savorgnan de Brazz, Brazzaville, 2008. Chromogenic development print. Frame: 37 1/2 in x 47 in; paper: 26 in x 36 in.
Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago
Kerry James Marshall, Portrait of a Curator (In Memory of Beryl Wright), 2009. Acrylic on VC; 30 7/8 × 24 7/8 × 1 7/8 in. (78.4 × 63.1 × 4.8 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York,
© Kerry James Marshall
Sanford Biggers, American, b. 1970. Quilt 24, 2013. Antique quilt, assorted textiles, acrylic, and spray paint; 77 × 79 in. (195.6 × 200.7 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of Mary and Earle Ludgin by exchange, 2013.24
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Sheila Hicks, Evolving Tapestry—Soleil, 1984.
Wound, tied and knotted dyed linen, 3 parts, which may be stacked in variable configurations. 14 x 16 x 15 in. (35.6 x 40.6 x 38.1 cm). The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago; Gift of the artist, 1995.45a-c. © Sheila Hicks. Photo © 2019 courtesy of The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago.
Sister Gertrude Morgan, Chart of Revelations 10, 11, 12, 13, c. 1970. Pen and paint on poster board; 22 x 28 in. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Susann Craig, 2002.4.
Playlist
Playlist
- "What Is Wrong With Groovin'" – Early Editions
- "In My Body's House" - Gene Chandler
- "Allah Wakbarr" - Ofo The Black Company
- "Freedom Road" – The Pharoahs
- "Feel Like Making Love" - Bob James
- "The Morning Song" - Les McCann
- "Good Morning Love" – The Ones (Yaw and "Khari Lemuel)
- "Summertime" - Clea Bradford
- "Try and Try" - Afro Funk
- "Banana Leaf" - DJ Ayana
- "Myself When Young" – Dorothy Ashby
- "Emile (Night Rate)" – Aural Exciters
- "Dat New Black (Alternate Version)" - avery r. young
- "Woman Pin Down" - Dan Satch and his Atomic 8
- "Up, Up, and Away" - Impressions
- "Swim Swim" – Ben LaMar Gay
- "More Bread to the People" - Action 13
- "Batá Chop (edit)" – Quin Kirchner
- "And I Love Him" – Friends of Distinction