Untitled (Structures): Leslie Hewitt in Collaboration with Bradford Young is a meditation on the distance in time that separates people today from, while still connecting to, the Civil Rights era. The Menil Collection has commissioned this film installation in partnership with the Des Moines Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

The result of two years of research, Untitled (Structures) comprises images recorded on 35mm film at locations in Chicago and Memphis as well as various sites in Arkansas. The buildings and spaces chosen for the film — such as Clayborn Temple and the Universal Life Insurance Building in Memphis and the headquarters of Johnson Publishing in Chicago — are associated with the Great Migration and the Civil Rights movement but are often relatively nondescript. The images, assembled without a soundtrack or narrative, are projected side-by-side on two screens in the gallery on a 16-minute loop.

Curator Michelle White will lead a conversation with Leslie Hewitt and Bradford Young at 6 p.m. followed by an exhibition preview through 9 p.m.

Untitled (Structures): Leslie Hewitt in Collaboration with Bradford Young will be on view at the Menil through May 5.