Carl Hancock Rux

Carl Hancock Rux is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, journalist, curator, and conceptual installation artist working in text, dance, ritualized performance, audio, video, and photography. Described in “The New York Times” as “a breathlessly inventive multimedia artist” focused on “art, race, memory, and power,” Rux is the author of several books including the “Village Voice” Literary Prize-winning collection of poetry, “Pagan Operetta,” the novel, “Asphalt,” the Obie Award-winning play, “Talk,” and five albums. He appears as a frequent collaborating artist, most notably on Gerald Clayton's album “Life Forum” (Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album) and as co-author of the staged incarnation of “Steel Hammer” by Julia Wolfe, the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-nominated work, created with Anne Bogart. Rux is the author/performer of the Lincoln Center commissioned experimental short poetic film “The Baptism,” a tribute to civil rights activists John Lewis and C. T. Vivian, directed by Carrie Mae Weems (an official selection in the 2022 Segal Center Film Festival on Theater and Performance).