CHROME CITY THE 3RD: BANJEE FT VJUAN ALLURE
2015-08-08 19:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | AUX Performance Space, 319 N 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
THE MYSTERIOUS CHROME CITY WILL APPEAR ONCE AGAIN…
CYBORG NOISE QUEER ELECTRO SABOTAGE AFROFUTURIST NO WAVE
FEATURING SPECIAL GUEST VJUAN ALLURE originator of the HA remix vogue trax u know n love
WITH READINGS BY Metropolarity
AND PERFORMANCES FROM
Icon Ebony Fierce
Mr. Manic
King Azaz
Andromeda Sky
John Morrison
VISUALS BY CHASKA SOFIA
more tba
BANJEE
WHAT IS CHROME CITY ABOUT? WATCH FROM 13:40-13:54 AND YOU’LL KNOW. IT’S EVERYTHING.

A ⌔T ◉ N E ℳ E N T №.3
2015-08-14 20:00 | The Art Church of West Philadelphia, 5219 Webster St, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
A ⌔T ◉ N E ℳ E N T
< ♏︎E T A ⌔ T ◎ N E >
A ⌔ T U N E ♍︎ E N T
№.3
▲ ▼ ◼︎ ▼◀︎
◉ BLACK FUTURISM ✪ AFRIKAN RIDDEMS ▲
◎ SPACE BASS ◼︎ ANCESTRAL NOISE ►
◆ QUANTUM DYSTOPIA ◀︎ SOULDROMEDA ●
● ZULU NATION HEARTBEATS ◎ DARK MAGI BLUES ▼
◉ FREE JAZZ HOLOGRAMS ⌾
sound//waves
H P R I Z M
https://hprizm.bandcamp.com/
L I L D A V E
https://soundcloud.com/lildave
E X A KT L Y (DC)
https://soundcloud.com/cmpvtr-clvb
MOM² (DC)
MIND OVER MATTER MUSIC OVER MIND
https://soundcloud.com/bushmeat
ORGANIX TRIO (DC)
M M G Z
moormothergoddess.bandcamp.com
ANLI MARS
Special guests tba
Projections by Black Quantum Futurism
+++PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS GO TO HELP SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE
ROCKERS BBQ WEEKEND 2015
This event is apart of Rockers BBQ Weekend #RBW5 A 3 day diy festival based in Philadelphia showcasing marginalized artists and artist that create work that speaks out against injustice.
DAY #2 – AUGUST 15TH – ROCKERS – LAVA SPACE
https://www.facebook.com/events/410789349104259/
DAY #3 – AUGUST 16TH – RITUAL CAUSALITY – AUX VOX POPULI
https://www.facebook.com/events/1447678018874191/

RBW5 / ROCKERS BBQ WEEKEND 5
2015-08-15 19:00 | LAVA zone, 4134 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, 19104, United States
ROCKERS! —- AUGUST 15TH ————– LAVA SPACE
===========================================
THE KOMINAS
REBELMATIC
KAHLIL ALI
SLAPDASH SOUNDSYSTEM
ANDROMEDA SKY
DJ HARAM
TRNSGNDR/VHS
2 SPECIAL GUESTS TBA
HOSTED BY ST. SKRIBBLY LACROIX
WE WILL HAVE BBQ FOOD & SODA POP ON DECK
BRING BAKED GOODS LIKE CAKE & MORE CAKE
————————–———–====================
THE FEST TURNS 5 YEARS THIS AUGUST
WE WILL ALSO BE CELEBRATING 10+ YEARS
OF DOING ROCKERS IN PHILLY.
DAY #1 – AUGUST 14TH – ATONEMENT / ATUNEMENT – THE ART CHURCH
https://www.facebook.com/events/1112257575456155/
DAY #2 – AUGUST 15TH – ROCKERS – LAVA SPACE
https://www.facebook.com/events/410789349104259/
DAY #3 – AUGUST 16TH – RITUAL CAUSALITY – AUX VOX POPULI
https://www.facebook.com/events/1447678018874191/
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING OR VENDING OR WHATEVER EMAIL SDFSBOOKING@GMAIL.COM
ROCKERS IS A MONTHLY SHOW AND FESTIVAL THAT SHOWCASES BLACK/ MOOR / POC / QUEER / TRANS/ WOMYN ARTISTS THAT SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE SYSTEM

RITUAL CAUSALITY 001
2015-08-16 18:00 - 20:00 | AUX Performance Space, 319 N 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Black Quantum Futurism presents its first 2-hour gallery performance RITUAL CAUSALITY 001 featuring ancient anthropological finds, African/Black Diasporic time and memory rituals, and live sound experiments. Experience BQF theorists discovering the first computer in 100bc, lecturing on Sun Ra synchronicities, and Quantum Mapping our collective futures. RITUAL CAUSALITY 001 is a retrocausal retrospective starting with the latest BQF work, ANTI-KY-THE/RA, then spiraling backwards to the beginning with the NonLocality series. BQF’s first exhibition of works will be a multimedia experience that will include dance, sound, projections and speculative literary performances.
Black Quantum Futurism is inspired by afrofuturism, quantum physics, and African traditions of spatial-temporal consciousness. BQF weaves speculative reality with ritual, image and sound to present innovative works that offer practical techniques for escaping time loops, oppression vortexes, and the digital matrix.
BQF Collective is an artistic and literary collaboration between Camae Defstar (Rockers!; MMGZ) and Rasheedah Phillips (The AfroFuturist Affair; Metropolarity) which explores the intersections of futurism, literature, art, sound, creative media, DIY-aesthetics, and activism in marginalized communities. Forming in Summer 2014, the collective has created a number of community-based events, experimental music project, several zines, and an anthology of experimental essays called “Black Quantum Futurism: Theory & Practice Vol. 1,” which includes visions from other futurist writers and visionaries. www.blackquantumfuturism.tumblr.com /www.blackquantumfuturism.bandcamp.com
Day #3 Rockers Bbq Weekend #RBW5
$7-10 requested donation
Cash bar
Light refreshments
Zines/books/art for sale
This event is apart of Rockers BBQ Weekend #RBW5 A 3 day diy festival based in Philadelphia showcasing marginalized artists and artist that create work that speaks out against injustice.
DAY #1 – AUGUST 14TH – ATONEMENT / ATUNEMENT – THE ART CHURCH
https://www.facebook.com/events/1112257575456155/
DAY #2 – AUGUST 15TH – ROCKERS – LAVA SPACE
https://www.facebook.com/events/410789349104259/

NOWTOPIA
2015-08-28 19:00 - 22:00 | Leonard Pearlstein Gallery at Drexel University’s URBN Annex, 3401 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
|̿ ͇| |͇̿ ͇̿ ͇̿| ͇ Λ ͇/ ̿ ̿|̿ ̿ |͇̿ ͇̿ ͇̿| |̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿’ | |̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿|
Nowtopia is a place, an existence, a conciousness. Nowtopia is a constantly moving, intricate journey, a swim through nebula, the wet starstuff of human birth.
While Nowtopia doesn’t have a corporeal place to call home, it exists nonetheless as tachyon, flitting through our collective conscious as a memory, a movement or as hope. On August 28, we are presenting Nowtopia as an orbital space-station, a vector and nexus point where star-mapping, healing, and flux converge to create warps to other realms.
Organized by Chrome City denizens, conceived at the orbital worshipping point Laser Life, and realized through collective means via Metropolarity, Nowtopia is the blueprint vision visor, the conduit, the space place where time exists interdimensionally, never moving — artists exists like super-heroes as vibratory manifestations, as stories.
Each artist will set up in a different space, performing in a flowing “mix”, trans-imposing visual and kinetic imagery in accompaniment to their sounds. Dancers and movement mages will be present throughout the space. The idea is to provide a temporary autonomous zone, through art and music, with a nod towards super-hero bases, sci-fi academies and temporally autonomous non-localities.
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FEATURING READINGS BY METROPOLARITY
Ras Mashramani
Rasheedah Phillips
Alex Smith
Magus Eighteen
(effaced from facebook, find em here:
https://instagram.com/cyborgmemoirs/)
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VISUALS BY MARTIN PEEVES
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SOUNDSCAPES BY COUNTERFEIT
|̿ ͇| |͇̿ ͇̿ ͇̿| ͇ Λ ͇/ ̿ ̿|̿ ̿ |͇̿ ͇̿ ͇̿| |̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿’ | |̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿ ̶̿|c

Philly Zine Fest
2015-08-30 12:00 - 17:00 | The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
we may or may not be there.

Paper Jam Small Press Fest 4
2015-09-05 12:00 - 18:30 | The Silent Barn, 603 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11206, United States
The fourth installment of Paper Jam, a twice-annual and FREE small press / mini-comic / ‘zine fair held at the Silent Barn on Saturday, September 5th, 2015 and hosted by the Silent Barn’s own Ditko! ‘Zine Library.
Paper Jam brings together a selection of local up and coming small press artists and cross pollinates their work with the art and music scene of the Silent Barn. Paper Jam is fully curated by a regularly rotating crew including: Robin Enrico, G.W. Duncanson, Megan Manowitz, Liz Pelly, and Ølivia Fox
Exhibitors:
1.) Jeanette Wall
http://miscreantrecords.com/tag/zine/
2.) Rumi Hara
http://www.rumihara.com/comics.html
3.) Matt Crabe
http://mattcrabe.storenvy.com/
4.) Tom Toye
http://illogicalcomicsestate.tumblr.com/
5.) Esther White
http://estherswhite.net/
6.) Metropolarity (Philly)
http://metropolarity.net/crew/
7.) The AfroFuturist Affair (Philly)
http://www.afrofuturistaffair.com/
8.) Lambey Press
http://lambeypress.com/about/
9.) The Black Lesbian DIY Fest
https://blacklesbiansdiyfest.wordpress.com/
10.) Annie Mok (Philly)
http://heyanniemok.tumblr.com/
11.) Cathy G. Johnson (Providence)
http://cathyboy.tumblr.com/
12.) Robert Richburg
http://robertrichburgart.tumblr.com/
13.) O. Horvath (Providence)
http://queenofswordsinverted.tumblr.com/
14.) Julian Sh333p
https://www.facebook.com/Sh333p.graphix
15.) Allyssa Yohanna
http://www.allyssayohana.com/
16.) Hag Collective
http://hagcollective.tumblr.com/
17.) David Beyers (Boats) / Darren Shekailo
http://davidisboats.tumblr.com/
18.) Ray Ray Books
http://rayraybooks.com/
19.) JR Zuckerberg
http://floofyslandofwonder.tumblr.com/
20.) Ilana Blady
http://ilanablady.com/
21.) Elvis Bakaitis
https://elvis007.wordpress.com/
22.) Alex Krokus
http://alexkrokus.com/
23.) Tycho Horan
http://www.tychohoran.com/
✳✴❇
Performances in the 603^ Space
Including:
Black Quantum Futurism
https://blackquantumfuturism.bandcamp.com/
Readings from:
Metropolarity
&
NYC Zine Community
+MORE TBA+
See also: Silent Barn’s Safer Spaces policy http://silentbarn.org/about/saferspaces

Geekadelphia Presents: The Future of Philly Sci-Fi and Fantasy @ The Free Library
2015-09-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central Library | Skyline Room – 4th Floor, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
Philadelphia has been a nexus for science fiction and fantasy writers and fans for longer than many of us can remember. Numerous authors have made their homes in Philadelphia and produced some of the best works speculative fiction has to offer. The first Hugo Award was given out here. Isaac Asimov lived here. SF grandmaster Samuel R. Delany taught at Temple. But where is Philadelphia Sci-Fi and Fantasy heading? On September 9 at 7:00pm, in the beautiful Skyline Room of the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, you’ll have the chance to learn about the past, present, and future of sci-fi and fantasy in Philadelphia.
Led by notable science thriller author Jon McGoran, five of our best local authors will delve into topics like the founding of the Hugo Awards, the recent resurgence of fantasy on TV, how the fast-paced tech industry influences fiction, and so much more! After the main discussion, there will be time for the you, the lovely audience, to ask any questions you would like.
After the panel and Q&A are finished, the night is still not over! Big Blue Marble Bookstore will be on site selling each of the author’s newest books. You’ll have plenty of time to chat with your favorite authors and get your copies signed.
Below you’ll find a bit more about our excellent panelists and moderator for the night:
Fran Wilde is an author and technology consultant. Her first novel, Updraft, is out now. Her short stories have appeared in publications including Asimov’s, Nature, Tor.com, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Her interview series Cooking the Books–about the intersection between food and fiction–has appeared at Strange Horizons, and Tor.com.
Gregory Frost is the author of novels including the Shadowbridge series (Del Rey) and Fitcher’s Brides (Tor). His short stories have appeared most recently in Asimov’s, Supernatural Noir (Ellen Datlow, ed.) and Apex Magazine. He’s director of the fiction writing workshop at Swarthmore College.
Michael Swanwick has won five Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award in his long career of science fiction. He is the author of Dancing with Bears and the short story collection The Dog Said Bow-Wow. He has also made contributions science fiction field with critical essays as well as a biography of Hope Mirrlees.
Rasheedah Phillips is a public interest attorney, author, mother, Afrofuturist, and Aries living and working out of Philadelphia. She is also the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair, and a founding member of Metropolarity Spec Fic Collective. She recently independently published her first speculative fiction collection, Recurrence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales), and an anthology of experimental essays from Black visionary writers called Black Quantum Futurism: Theory & Practice Vol I. Phillips was recently a 2015 artist-in-residence with West Philadelphia Neighborhood Time Exchange. This fall she will be presenting at the Afrofutures UK Unconference, and performing, presenting, and guest curating at the AFROFUTURISM NOW! Festival in Amsterdam. Stay up to date and subscribe to the Future Light Cone newsletter.
Siobhan Carroll is an Assistant Professor at University of Deleware who specializes in British literature from 1750-1850 – the turbulent historical period called the “Romantic Century” – and in modern science fiction and fantasy. She is interested in the ways that literature has shaped our understanding of empire, community, and the natural world. Her book, An Empire of Air and Water, is out now.
Stephanie Feldman grew up in Philadelphia and studied writing at the University of Pennsylvania and then Barnard College. Her debut novel, The Angel of Losses, is winner of the Crawford Fantasy Award, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, and a finalist for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. It was included in best-of-the-year lists from the Washington Post, Book Riot, and Locus Magazine.
Jon McGoran is the author of the biotech thrillers Drift and Deadout, from Forge Books. Writing as D. H. Dublin, he is the author of the forensic crime thrillers Freezer Burn, Blood Poison, and Body Trace, from Penguin Books. His short fiction, nonfiction and satire have appeared in a variety of publications and anthologies. He is a founding member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, a group of published authors dedicated to promotion, networking, and service work.
Come out and support your local authors, library, and this little ol’ geeky blog!
Geekadelphia Presents: The Future of Philly Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Wednesday September 9 at 7:00pm
@ The Free Library of Philadelphia Central Branch 4th Floor, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Admission is totally FREE and you should RSVP to the Facebook Event!

Ferguson is the Future Symposium: Speculative Arts & Social Justice
2015-09-14 08:00 - 18:00
“Ferguson is the Future”:
Incubating Alternative Worlds Through Arts, Activism, and Scholarship
What stories about power, difference, and belonging fuel the social crises we face today? How does visionary fiction offer us models for creating new possible worlds? Can the combined insights and interventions of artists, activists, and scholars plot a different course forward? “Ferguson is the Future” is part of an ongoing collaboration to imagine and create alternative worlds that are more just and representative of humanity.
This symposium brings together a multigenerational panel of speculative fiction writers, activists, filmmakers, academics, and artists to discuss the historical, present-and-future manifestations of a social reality we wish to create and thrive in. As we work to shape change, we will use this space as an incubator and laboratory to grow new visions of the worlds we want to exist. Please join us for a day-long celebration and investigation to explore these timely issues.
Major support for the symposium was provided by a grant of the David A. Gardner ’69 Magic Project in the Council of the Humanities and a grant of the Lewis Center for the Arts.
Additional Sponsors:
Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network, Princeton Public Library, Princeton Department of English, Princeton Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Princeton Department of African American Studies.
A LIVESTREAM FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE WATCHED HERE

CO-ORGANIZERS
MOYA BAILEY
RUHA BENJAMIN
AYANA A. H. JAMIESON, Ph.D.
GUEST SPEAKERS
REYNALDO ANDERSON
STEVEN BARNES
LISA BOLEKAJA
ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN
ERIN CHRISTOVALE
DJ LYNNÉE DENISE
M. ASLI DUKAN
TANANARIVE DUE
JOHNETTA ELZIE
NETTRICE GASKINS
AMIR GEORGE
ANDREA HAIRSTON
NALO HOPKINSON
WALIDAH IMARISHA
JOHN JENNINGS
DENNIS LEROY KANGALEE
COLORED GIRLS HUSTLE
SORAYA JEAN-LOUS McELROY
DERAY_MCKESSON
ALONDRA NELSON
NNEDI OKORAFOR
DANIEL JOSÉ OLDER
BRITTANY N. PACKNETT
NUMA PERRIER
OUR OWN RASHEEDAH PHILLIPS
SOFIA SAMATAR
DOROTHY ROBERTS
NISI SHAWL
BE STEADWELL

PHILA•LALIA small press // hand made book & art fair
2015-09-17 12:00 - 2015-09-19 18:00 | Tyler School of Art, 2001 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, United States
PHILALALIA is a three-day small press/hand made book and art fair that brings together poets, publishers, zine makers, book artists, printmakers, comics artists & creative enthusiasts in a vibrant arts venue to showcase & sell their work.
PHILALALIA 2015 will take place Thursday-Saturday, September 17-19, from 12-6pm. The fair & all on-site events will be held at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, 2001 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA.
In addition to the book fair, there will be readings and performances, discussions & panels, and workshops and receptions throughout the day, as well as nighttime off-site events in different venues throughout the city. Click here for schedule information.
The fair and all related events are FREE to attend & open to the public.

NY ART BOOK FAIR at MoMa PS1
2015-09-18 12:00 - 2015-09-20 19:00 | MoMa PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue on 46th Avenue, Long Island City, NY, 11101, United States
No, we’re not gonna be there. But pick up a hot new story from Eighteen in Temporary Agency collective’s premier imprint of queer erotica/intimacies.

Metropolarity LIVE at the Kelly Writers House WXPN 88.5FM
2015-09-28 19:00 - 20:00 | Kelly Writer’s House, 3805 Locust Walk , Philadelphia, PA, 19139, United States
LIVE at the Writers House is a long-standing collaboration between the people of Kelly Writers House and WXPN (88.5 FM). Six times annually between September and April, the Kelly Writers House hosts a one-hour broadcast of poetry, music, and other spoken-word art, all from our Arts Cafe onto the airwaves at WXPN. LIVE is made possible by generous support from BigRoc.

AFROFUTURES_UK Conference & Exhibition Weekend
2015-10-10 10:00 - 18:00 | MAD LAB Manchester Digital Laboratory, 36-40 Edge Street , Manchester, M4 1HN , United Kingdom
AfroFutures_UK is a weekend event celebrating the intersection of futurism and the black experience. Featuring artists, academics, and activists, they aim to promote Afrofuturistic endeavours in the arts and technology. Metropolarity’s own Rasheedah Phillips, founder of the AfroFuturist Affair and Black Quantum Futurism collective, will be there as one of several excellent guest speakers.

AfroFutures_UK is a new collective made up of artists, writers, activists and academics interested in exploring the future black experience through multi-media and disruptive technologies.
Our seminal event is a Conference//Exhibition where we will be using themes and inspiration from Afrofuturism to probe and dissect our visions of the future, from the sociological to the scientific. We aim to bring together a range of theoretical discourse that touch on this aspect, from womanism/black feminism, queer theory to liberation theology and afrocentric philosophy.
There will be a series of talks during the day as well as film screenings, performances and practical workshops. The current list of confirmed speakers and workshop leaders can be found here. You can follow us on Twitter @AfroFutures_UK

Afrofuturism NOW!
2015-10-14 10:00 - 2015-10-17 18:00 | WORM, Boomgaardsstraat 71, Rotterdam, Netherlands
The AfroFuturist Affair/Black Quantum Futurism will be performing, presenting, and guest curating at the AFROFUTURISM NOW! Festival
The avant-garde is black! Afrofuturism is a cultural movement that has been existing for a couple of decades in America, Europe and Africa. Some prominent Afrofuturists are Sun Ra, George Clinton, Jeff Mills and Science Fiction writer Octavia Butler. Today, there’s a new wave of Afrofuturist writers, performers, visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, bloggers, activists. Contemporary Afrofuturists – Rasheedah Phillips, Ytasha Womack, King Britt and many others – fuse science fiction imagination with avant-garde & DIY culture while reflecting black diaspora.
From 14th to 17th October, WORM will celebrate contemporary Afrofuturism with the festival “Afrofuturism Now!”. In preparation of this event, our program will look back at the roots of this super-interesting cultural movement, with an extensive film program and a lecture in June.

LASER LIFE queer sci-fi reading series POTLUCK EDITION
2015-11-01 08:00 - 2015-11-30 17:00
THAT’S RIGHT WE’RE DOING THE DAMN THING ONCE AGAIN
IF YOU ARE A TRANS AND/OR QUEER PHILLY CAT AND WRITE/MAKE SOME KIND OF PERFORMABLE SPECULATIVE FICTION THAT YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH A ROOM PACKED FULL OF YOUR ILK, DROP US A LINE AT METROPOLARITY@GMAIL.COM

Future Perfect: A screening & workshop exploring future imaginaries from the New Right to the AfroFuturist Affair
2015-11-03 18:00 - 20:00 | Slought, 4017 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Slought is pleased to announce “Future Perfect,” a screening and workshop exploring future imaginaries from the New Right to the AfroFuturist Affair, on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 from 6-8pm. The event will feature the Philadelphia premiere of Daniel Tucker’s feature-length video essay Future Perfect: Time Capsules in Reagan Country (54 minutes, 2015), followed by a dialogue between the artist and author Rasheedah Phillips, creator of The AfroFuturist Affair, exploring the liberatory potential of language, and the relationship of writing to social justice and alternative conceptions of the future.
The conversation at Slought takes place just over ten years after Ronald Reagan’s death, and twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and his departure from the office of the President of the United States. It will begin with an exploration of a speech delivered by former President Ronald Reagan following the end of his Governorship in California on August 19th, 1976 at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. In this speech, Reagan talks of the difficulty he found in writing a letter for a time capsule to be sealed in Los Angeles and opened one hundred years in the future. The video essay Future Perfect: Time Capsules in Reagan Country revisits this historical moment, as well as Reagan’s future imaginaries – his science fiction imagination and rhetoric – through visits to Reagan-inspired monuments and time capsules throughout California.
The conversation at Slought will then move from the New Right imaginary of Reagan’s era, which sought to impose a conservative vision upon society, to the AfroFuturist imaginary of Black speculative fiction writers today, who seek to enable a more progressive vision for society. In their recent collection Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements (2015), editors Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha introduce the term visionary fiction to distinguish “science fiction that has relevance toward building new, freer worlds from the mainstream strain of science fiction, which most often reinforces dominant narratives of power.” The event will thus explore the power of language in envisioning better worlds, and the relationship between language, identity, imagination and power. The evening will conclude with a short writing workshop led by Rasheedah Phillips and The AfroFuturist Affair.

comma talk with Ras & Eighteen
2016-01-20 18:30 - 20:30 | The Physick House, 321 S 4th St, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, United States
Ras, Eighteen, maybe Alex too, will be on hand at this week’s Comma Talk:
Curated & hosted by Maryan Captan, comma talk is a discussion-based and audience interactive reading series featuring Philadelphia’s emerging writers and poets. With a goal of exploring and discussing creative process, themes, and techniques used in the featured writers’ work, Comma Talk is about connecting the writing to the writer.

THE LASER LIFE SPRING EDITION
2016-03-04 19:00 - 21:00 | LAVA zone, 4134 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, 19104, United States
**what is this is**
**queer sci-fi reading**
The LASER LIFE series of readings is designed to expose the quantumly quantative, psycho-spiritual, panoramic truth of the speculative, to make real the shaman’s holler, the mystic’s clamour, the soothsayer’s griot-speak– all that was falsely remembered as unreal. Laser Life is a tour beyond the stilted cis-hetero-white-male gaze of normative “science fiction” that plagues the shelves of your local bookstore and Goodreads “to read” lists. It is hoped that Laser Life does not serve as tokenistic or anomalous within the ranks of science fiction, but that the inclusion of our marginalized voices be viewed as not only empowering, necessary or revolutionary, but as intrinsic.
Laser Life is everything, and everything in its place: the nook of all that is possible for us to view: the whole of the universe.

Featuring:
Metropolarity
Joyce Hatton
Chaska
Asli Dukan
Flier by Oskar Castro

Soft Targets: Vulnerability and Violence in the New Post-Apocalypse
2016-03-12 11:00 - 17:00 | Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Central Location, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
Join Metropolarity, APIARY Magazine, and the Free Library of Philadelphia for an afternoon of writers’ workshops and readings. This year, Metropolarity and APIARY Magazine have joined forces to produce a sci-fi themed issue exploring the nature of vulnerability in our present realities of mass incarceration, mass surveillance, social media, and the potential for revolution. This event is part of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s local iteration of the national 7 Days of Genius Festival #thatsgenius
11:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. One-on-one writers’ coaching with Apiary Magazine. Bring your own writing, and you’ll receive feedback. First come first served. (Grand Lobby)
1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. SOFT TARGETS: Science Fiction as memoir in a reality of apocalypse. A workshop with the writers from Metropolarity about living under capitalism/militarism and using that as inspiration for writing (Room 108).
3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. Reading and Q & A with Metropolarity and friends (Montgomery Auditorium).
RSVP with these Free Tickets or on Facebook.

SPACE-TIME COLLAPSE TOUR W/AFROFUTURIST AFFAIR x BLACK QUANTUM FUTURISM COLLECTIVE
2016-04-01 10:00 - 2016-04-19 17:00
Readings, lectures, and panels on temporality, quantum futurism, speculation, displacement, future visioning
APRIL 1: TRANS/TEMPORALITY CONFERENCE @ THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
APRIL 2: JUSTICE + SPACE PANEL @ PENN DESIGN PHILA
APRIL 3: FREE BLACK WOMEN’S LIBRARY @ MOCADA MUSEUM NYC
APRIL 7: THEN AND NOW PANEL @ ARDEN THEATER PHILA
APRIL 17: RE-PRESENT-ING PANEL @ WOODEN SHOE BOOKS PHILA
APRIL 19: STOCKPOT LAUNCH @ STOCKTON UNIVERSITY NEW JERUSE

#diytimetravel at @universityoftoronto @penndesign @mocada_museum @ardentheatreco @thewoodenshoebooks @stocktonuniversity #afrofuturism #blackquantumfuturism #blackwomenwriters

Re-Present-Ing: Freedom, Fiction, & Science by Humans
2016-04-17 03:00 - 18:00 | Wooden Shoe Books & Records, 704 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19147, United States
Sirius JuJu
David Xu Borgonjon
Rasheedah Phillips
Laboria Cuboniks
Anthony Monteiro
PANEL/QnA
from the SOTHIS platform for the advancement of intelligent life-forms:
Present (noun) “this period of time, not the past or the future; now”
Re- (prefix) “used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion”
Present (verb) “to give, show, provide, or make known”
-Ing (suffix) “Art is not a be-ing, but a Being, the simple noun. It is not the verb, but its product.” -Leroi Jones
$5-20 no one turned away

STREET THEORY RETURNS: OPEN ACCESS SOCIAL CRITICISM OPEN MIC NIGHT
2016-05-01 16:00 - 19:00
COMMUNITY POTLUCK & OPEN ACCESS SOCIAL CRITICISM OPEN MIC NIGHT
DETAILS TBA
THE LAST ONE:
Metropolarity presents a night of community building and sharing. We seek social criticism from the community–performance art, blog rants, monologues, critical sci-fi, thesis excerpts, protest songs–whatever. As long as it explores and dissects the world we live in today. We want to find out what our community feels about social issues. We don’t want theories handed down to us from the ivory tower.
We want your real life STREET THEORY.
A MEDITATION:
“DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS LIKE BEFORE YOU UNDERSTOOD HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN ACADEMIA? DO YOU REMEMBER HOW TO SPEAK IN COMMON? DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU HEARD A NARRATIVE THAT DID NOT ALSO PROVE AN ARGUMENT? REMEMBER LIFE OUTSIDE THE IVORY TOWER. REMEMBER THE REST OF THE WORLD.“

THE RETURN OF FLY LIFE / QUEER HOUSE MUSIC HOUSE PARTY
2016-05-21 22:00 | THE LOCATION, 5026 OSAGE Ave, Philadelphia, PA, United States
We have the tea
We have the lemonade
We shall serve
(soon we will bring it to the *real* Paris and watch IT burn)
Sofistifunk meets Chrome City! FLY LIFE!
AURA! JOHN MORRISON! ALEX! DUIJI 13! ICON EBONY FIERCE! We here ya’ll!!
**this is an lgbtq function. no misogyny or homophobia tolerated, queer love and expression celebrated**

Trans Women of Color Collective's ASCENSION: a concert in the park celebrating Black trans & gender nonconforming artists
2016-06-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Thomas Paine Plaza, 1401 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, United States
PHILADELPHIA THIS FRIDAY
Ascension
A concert in the park, celebrating Black trans and gender nonconforming artists in conjunction with the 2016 Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.
This is an outdoor, free event. No RSVP required. Friday, June 10 6:00 pm-8:00 pm at Thomas Paine Plaza (1401 John F. Kennedy Boulevard).

Curated by Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi and co-hosted by Cyree Jarelle Johnson (ACG ’13), Ascension features Lucas Charlie Rose, Venus Selenite, Sidney Chase, Marco Munroe, Jordan Hope Miller, Nila Nokizaru, and Kavi Ade.
Click here for Facebook event page.
IF YOU GOT COIN BRING IT CAUSE THERE’S SOME REALLY HOT FIRE WRITERS GOING TO BE THERE WITH NEW RELEASES FOR YOUR LIBRARY / POETRY FICTION CRITICAL PROSE AND LIVE PERFORMANCE
http://www.twocc.us/

Deep Space Mind: Insanity for Survival at the Allied Media Conference 2016
2016-06-17 04:00 - 17:30 | Detroit
DETROIT / ALLIED MEDIA CONFERENCE 2016
Space has often been used as a metaphor for uncharted, yet-to-be colonized territory. Similarly the mindspaces of marginalized persons are at risk of being infiltrated, surveilled, and used by colonizing forces. In this workshop we will use a DIY sci-fi lens for marginalized persons to explore and reclaim their own insane mindspaces while developing strategies for psychological survival in our age of warfare.
Presented by Ras Mashramani.
Friday June 17, 2016 4:00pm – 5:30pm
State Hall: Room 113
Hands-on Session

Track RAD Care Beyond Social Justice
Hashtag #DeepSpaceMind

Community Futures Lab Opening Reception
2016-06-18 17:00 - 19:00 | Community Futures Lab, 2204 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19121, United States
Black Quantum Futurism/ The AfroFuturist Affair celebrate the opening of our new space COMMUNITY FUTURES LAB!
Over the next year, Black Quantum Futurism will be building and enacting a quantum time capsule, exploring oral histories/futures, preservation, displacement, and alternative temporalities within the North Philadelphia community known as Sharswood/Blumberg. “Community Futurisms” will document the redevelopment of Sharswood/Blumberg, through a multidisciplinary community art project that explores the intersections of futurism, literature, visual remixing, sound, and activism as art.
Join us on June 18, 2016 as we open the COMMUNITY FUTURES LAB, which will function as a resource library, community studio and gallery, workshop space, story recording booth, thinktank, experimental space and more.
ALL AGES
Light refreshments
Soundscapes + Projections by BQF
konja sound by Sirius JuJu
reading by Moor Mother
fly life sounds by Alexoteric
When: June 18, 2016
Time: 5-7pm
Where: CFL, 2204 Ridge Ave, Phila PA 19121
Ages: All
If you can’t make it out to the reception, please contact us at communityfutureslab@gmail.com to find out other ways to support or get involved and be sure to follow us on Facebook for updates!! We are also seeking to gather stories from current and former residents of Sharswood and surrounding community, so please spread the word!
Community Futurisms supported in part by A Blade of Grass
http://www.abladeofgrass.org/fellow/black-quantum-futurism/

ROCKERS!
2016-06-26 20:00 | TBA
+ IT ALL STARTED JUST LIKE THIS
AT SQUARE ONE + BECAUSE YOU HAD TO
++++++ ROCKERS / + JUNE 26 / + SUNDAY
MIGHTY PARADOCS (return of faye)
+
EX BY V
+
INTERMINABLE
+
SPECIAL GUEST TBA
+
HOSTED BY ST. SKRIBBLY LACROIX
+
DJ/SOUNDS BY MOOR MOTHER + ESTIA
MORE INFO TBA
@ROCKERS ON FB FOR QUESTIONS

Kimya Dawson // Moor Mother // METROPOLARITY // Daphne
2016-07-03 20:00 - 23:00 | 319 Performance Space, 319 N. 11th Street, 3rd Fl, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
“Hey everyone look at the SWEET lineup!!!!!!!!”
//Kimya Dawson//
Award-winning American singer–songwriter Kimya Dawson has seven solo albums to her name, as well as a number of releases with her other projects, including The Moldy Peaches, The Bundles, The Uncluded and Antsy Pants. Dawson has also collaborated with a long list of artists including The Mountain Goats, Aesop Rock, Ben Kweller and Regina Spektor. She is also widely known for her contributions to the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack for the film Juno (2007). Her songs are a blend of lo-fi pop and scrappy anti-folk, with Rolling Stone magazine describing her as ‘straddl[ing] the line between precious and profound’.
https://www.facebook.com/officialkimyadawson/
//Moor Mother//
MMGZ music is a history lesson, a future lesson, and a comment on the present all at once. And really it is more than a lesson, its a soundscape to these different time dimensions, so that you are hearing and experiencing not only music, but you get the voices of the ancestors, the whispers of our descendants, and the field sounds of the future and past landscapes. She presents an immersive experience in her music that unfolds or unearths some of the hidden dimensions that are embedded in sounds.
http://mmgzmmgz.tumblr.com/
https://moormothergoddess.bandcamp.com/
//METROPOLARITY//
METROPOLARITY WAS BORN IN THE PIXELATED SUMMER OF 2012, DESPERATE FOR A SPACE WHERE TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNITY COULD INTERSECT. WE ARE DIY POSTCOLONIAL SCI-FI – A COLLECTIVE OF SPECULATIVE FICTION WRITERS EDUCATORS ARTISTS DREAMERS NETWORKERS AND DOERS BORN N RAISED N BASED IN PHILADELPHIA. WE ARE A TRANSTEMPORALSPATIAL NEIGHBORHOOD WE ARE CITY WE ARE LOW INCOME WORKING CLASS WORKING ALWAYS WORKING SURVIVORS MOTHERS PROFESSIONALS NON-ACADEMICS HASHTAG QUEER HASHTAG NONBINARY HASHTAG QTPOC WALKING WAKING PORTALS OF THE AFRICAN CARIBBEAN MESTIZA EUROPEAN DIASPORAS. WE WIELD “SCIENCE FICTION” VOICE AND WORD TO MANIFEST WORLD-PARADIGMS NECESSARY FOR OUR SURVIVAL. WE ARE ETERNAL SERPENT WE ARE CROSSSROADS / DESTROYERS RESURRECTORS. WALK WITH US.
http://metropolarity.net/
//Daphne//
+maybe more to come!!!
Door at 7:30 // Performances at 8, $15 cover
ALL AGES
21+ beer for donations
319 Performance Space (aka AUX @Vox Populi)
319 N. 11th St. 3rd floor
Philadelphia PA
**accessible by 3 steps to elevator-help will be provided for those who need it!**
**AIR CONDITIONED**
Artwork by Inés Estrada of www.gatosaurio.com! Support independent artists!

Apiary x METROPOLARITY Soft Targets Launch Party
2016-07-09 19:00 | Painted Bride ArtsCenter, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, United States
all danger all softness no geolocation
1 nite revelry spells and sanctuary
texts songs dances
against the gathering data storm

this portal exists when we begin
this portal ends at midnight

APIARY MAGAZINE x METROPOLARITY
:
SOFT TARGETS
issue 8 of APIARY in collabo with sci-fi collective METROPOLARITY.
read philadelphia’s visions of vulnerability, violence and ecstasy;
survival strategies in our contested city;
the monstrous and tender contending inside us

7 PM: PARTING OF TIME AND SPACE // AIRPLANE MODE

enter.
drinks (government ID checked at door)
new names (memorywipe your government ID)
anti-surveillance face & body art

8-10 PM INCANTATIONS FOR INVISIBILITY

readings by 25+ storyspinners and poets
frequency lifting by the URBAN SHAMANS word/sounds/power:afrobeat funk jazz

10-MIDNIGHT DANCE PARTY
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ FEATURING ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
⚡ Anti-facial recognition face painting and body art by Kitakiya Davis
♪ Live musical performance by Philly’s URBAN SHAMANS: afrobeat funk jazz grooves, WORDS, SOUNDS, and POWER!
♪ DJ wizardry by Alex Smith (of METROPOLARITY)

MIDNIGHT-??? AFTERPARTY @ SILK CITY

may the ephemeral gather strength and carry us through the night

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: $7-10 SUGGESTED DONATION

⊙ Casita De Las Olas ⊙
2016-08-13 18:00 - 22:00 | The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
A VERY FINE EVENT FROM OUR NEIGHBOR, GENESIS MARTINEZ-CRESPO Y MARCELLINE MANDEG
IN WHAT WAYS HAS NOSTALGIA HINDERED OUR PERSONAL GROWTH? HOW DOES ONE BUILD A HOME OUT OF CONSTANT THEMES OF WHO THEY USED TO BE? WHAT IF THERE ISN’T MUCH TO BE NOSTALGIC ABOUT? BECAUSE AT NO TIME IN THE RECENT PAST YOU, YOUR PARENTS OR YOUR PARENT’S PARENTS WEREN’T IN A STATE OF DISPLACEMENT. IF YOU COULD ONLY PIN-POINT WHEN AND WHERE ITS EVEN POSSIBLE TO BREAK THE CYCLE.
⊙ Casita De Las Olas ⊙
1) DRAWING BASED INSTALLATION AT 40TH STREET AIR GALLERY.
+
2) AN ACCOMPANYING COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCE WITH MARCELLINE MANDENG (http://mandengarchives.tk/) AT THE ROTUNDA AT 8PM
GALLERY DATES ⊙ ALSO OPEN TO APPOINTMENTS (GENCRESPO@GMAIL.COM)
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 17TH 6-9PM
FRIDAY AUGUST 26TH 4-7PM
FIRST FRIDAY SEPT 2ND 6PM-9PM
SATURDAY SEPT 10TH 2PM-5PM
CLOSING SEPT 16TH -HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH KICKOFF FEAST
ACCESSIBILITY INFO: THE ROTUNDA IS WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE ALONG WITH AN ADA COMPLIANT RESTROOM. 40TH STREET HAS 5 STAIRS TO THE ENTRANCE AND 2 SMALL STEPS TO THE GALLERY, HAS A COMMON HOUSEHOLD-LIKE RESTROOM. BOTH VENUES HAVE SEATING.
SEPTA: CLOSEST TO 40TH ST MARKET-FRANKFORD LINE STOP. 40 BUS, 30 BUS AND A FEW BLOCKS FROM THE 40TH ST PORTAL.
