Kahlil Joseph's BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions opens The Underground Cinema at 180 Studios

180 Studios' new film space launches with a month-long Kahlil Joseph residency.

180 Studios has opened a new space dedicated to film: The Underground Cinema, a newly adapted space where the medium of film is celebrated in all its many forms.

Located beneath 180 Studios, the venue positions cinema within the same architectural and sensory language that has defined the studio's exhibitions and audiovisual commissions. The programme will span feature films, artist comissions, music documentaries and collaborative moving-image projects.

The space launches with a month-long theatrical residency of Kahlil Joseph's BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, a feature-length work developed from his long-running video installation practice.

A distinctive cinematic experience that mirrors the sonic textures of an album or mixtape, the film weaves fiction and history in an immersive journey where the fictionalised figures of W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey join artists, musicians, Joseph's family, and even Twitter chats, in a vision for Black consciousness. ‍

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is Joseph's approach in its most realised form yet.

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"BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is a film conceived with the fluidity and creativity of an album," says Joseph. "This approach allowed me to think beyond traditional boundaries, embracing a process that seamlessly incorporates the contributions of other directors, artists, and collaborators. Poets, writers, editors, designers, musicians, scholars, and more have all left their mark on this project, enriching its texture and expanding its scope."

Joseph's work spans installation, music video and film, with credits including Kendrick Lamar, Sampha, Flying Lotus and Beyoncé's Lemonade. 180 Studios has collaborated with Joseph for a decade, with his work featured in The Infinite Mix (2016) and Reverb (2024), alongside a commission for his 2018 film Fly Paper.

This special theatrical residency at 180 Studios, conceived in collaboration with Rich Spirit, also includes the chance to see the BLKNWS video installation, originally commissioned by 180 Studios, alongside the feature film.

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is screening at The Underground Cinema from February 27 to March 27. Book tickets now.

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