Charles Gaines’ Manifestos 4: The Dred and Harriet Scott Decision Live at REDCAT

Art Faculty Emeritus Charles Gaines is a conceptual artist who employs formulas, structures, and grids to create paintings, photographs, drawings, videos, and other media. In Manifestos 4: The Dred and Harriet Scott Decision, Gaines works within a system that translates written text into musical notes, offering a work that is experienced both visually and sonically.

Using the historical text of the 1857 Dred Scott US Supreme Court case, which denied US citizenship to people of African ancestry, Gaines transcribed letters “A – H” from the texts into their equivalent musical notes. According to the program notes, the letter H represented B-flat, a code used in early Baroque tradition: “While the resulting composition sounds intentional and fluid, it is ultimately controlled by the predetermined notation system and the structure of language.”

The REDCAT performance also celebrates the release of the Manifestos 4 vinyl LP and will be followed by an album signing with Gaines.

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The 5-part performance builds upon the artist’s Manifestos series, in which he draws upon historical texts, uniting the rational structures of music with the irrationality of violence, racial tensions, and social injustice. To create the musical composition, Gaines uses a rule-based methodology, transcribing letters “A – H” from the texts into their equivalent musical notes (with the use of the letter “H” representing the code used in early Baroque tradition for B-flat). While the resulting composition sounds intentional and fluid, it is ultimately controlled by the predetermined notation system and the structure of language.

The REDCAT performance features live music, composed by Gaines, with arrangements by Gaines and John Eagle, who also serves as music director. CalArts Music faculty Mads Falcone (Music MFA 13) produces the event.

An internationally renowned artist, Gaines’ art can be viewed at numerous institutions, including LACMA in Los Angeles; MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Studio Museum in Harlem in New York; and the Tate Modern in London. Gaines was the 2019 recipient of the Edward MacDowell Medal.

In August 2020, philanthropist Eileen Harris Norton honored Gaines with a $5 million gift to create the Charles Gaines Faculty Chair and related programming at CalArts, including the Rosalind Harris Visiting Critic Program. Along with the support and commitment of others, Gaines developed the Charles Gaines Fellowship for MFA Students, which provides full support of tuition expenses for MFA Art students who self-identify as Black Americans of the African diaspora or domestic students who self-identify as Mexican or of Central American descent. Two fellowships will be awarded for qualifying students each academic year.