Performance
Our Being is Being in Time
Our Being is Being in Time is a diachronic sonic and visual journey that explores memory, self-determination, and social change. Drawing from a repeated mantra featured within the John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog exhibition, “This is time. Our being is being in time,” this gathering, curated by Xavier Walker, prompts you to ask yourself: Who are we in the space between who we are and who we are becoming?
In dialogue with archival objects sourced from local and national Black archives, experience reflective prompts, herbal elixirs, and two curated, archive-based soundscape performances by Xavier Walker and MUSE(O)FIRE that invite the audience into active participation and collective presence.
John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog is on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art through February 1, 2026. The exhibition features Akomfrah’s multi-channel film, which brings together multiple perspectives of young activists during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Through a montage of archival footage, still photography, and newly filmed materials overlaid with an immersive sound design, Akomfrah’s work constructs a conversation between past and present, foregrounding questions of memory, time, and social change.
The BMA presentation of the film is accompanied by an illustrated timeline generated by the Museum in collaboration with community partners, exploring how civil rights activism in Baltimore and Maryland has sparked national change.
Location
Charm City Cultural Cultivation
3100 Greenmount Avenue, Suite A
Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets
Free. Registration required.
This event is for adults ages 18 and older.
Schedule
6 p.m. – Doors Open
6:20 p.m. – Situating the Space
Explore archival materials, engage in reflective prompts, and enjoy herbal refreshments.
6:45–7:15 p.m. – MUSE(O)FIRE
Afro-futurist soundscape featuring theremin and voice, with audience-responsive video projections highlighting Maryland-specific historical records.
7:30–8 p.m. – Xavier Walker
Polyrhythmic soundscape and film collage sourced from historical and contemporary Black cultural productions.
8:30 p.m. – Doors Close
About the Curator
Xavier “Seven” Walker (he/him) is an archivist, cultural organizer, DJ, and multimedia artist sitting in the pocket and building a bridge of rhythm, repetition, and remembrance. As a steward of Black, queer culture, he curates experiences around preserved history, both asking and answering the question of how Black people have and continue to create temporary otherworlds—sites of pleasure, politics, and communal cultivation. He is a 2025 Emerging Artist Fellow with the Black Arts District and was named Baltimore Beat’s Favorite Up-And-Coming DJ of 2025. He is the proud creator of [THE FUNCTION] and Black Culture Builders of Baltimore, Assistant Director of the Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts, and co-founder of Perfect Memory Radio.
About the Performer
MUSE(O)FIRE
Muse Dodd or MUSE(O)FIRE is a Baltimore-based filmmaker, sound artist, and creative technologist with deep ancestral roots in the River Parishes of southeastern Louisiana. Their work explores how Blackness exists in the near future, borrowing from personal and collective histories, both actual and imagined. Muse holds a B.A. in Film Production from Howard University and studied at the Film Academy in Prague. They have been a recipient of several fellowships and residencies, including the inaugural Corrina Mehiel Fellowship, a Leslie Lohman Museum Artist Fellowship, a Squeaky Wheel Artist Residency, and a Theater Mitú Hybrid Arts Lab Fellowship. Muse is a 2025 Rubys Artist Grant Awardee as well as a 2025 Our Art Room Agency Fellow. Their work has been screened at The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, Lincoln Center, The Shed, and The ARoS Museum, and they are currently directing the forthcoming documentary, Black in Both Directions. Through their work, Muse hopes to create space for Black people to be free, both in and out of frame.