Hip hop quickly proliferated through large-scale block parties to encompass an entire culture that focuses around four pillars: MCing (or rapping); DJing; breaking (or breakdancing); and graffiti writing and visual art. From its inception, hip hop critiqued dominant structures and cultural narratives and offered new avenues for expressing diasporic experiences and creating alternative systems of power—which lead to a fifth pillar of social and political consciousness and knowledge-building.

Grounded in the origins of hip hop in the US yet with a focus on art and music, the exhibition “The Culture” features over 100 artworks mainly from the last twenty years, including paintings, photographs, sculptures, videos, and fashion, by internationally renowned contemporary artists such as Lauren Halsey, Julie Mehretu, Tschabalala Self, Arthur Jafa, Khalil Joseph, Virgil Abloh, and Gordon Parks.

It is structured around six themes: Pose, Brand, Adornment, Tribute, Ascension, and Language. “The Culture” illuminates hip hop’s unprecedented economic, social, and cultural resources that have made hip hop a global phenomenon and established it as the artistic canon of our time. The exhibition furthermore addresses contemporary issues and debates—from identity, racism, and appropriation to sexuality, feminism, and empowerment.

The Culture is co-orga­nized by the Balti­more Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum, and is presented in collab­o­ra­tion with SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANK­FURT