Shade Compositions (SFMOMA)
2012 · 9m · USA
Directed by Rashaad Newsome
Genres: documentary, experimental
Tones: provocative, surreal, theatrical
A single-channel performance video with sound, created for SFMOMA, in which Newsome composes a live performative work that draws on ball culture vogueing as a structural and choreographic language.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Newsome's SFMOMA commission sits at the intersection of institutional fine art and queer performance culture; the Whitney Biennial context and MoMA PS1 Greater New York exhibition place this work within the lineage of video art rather than mere documentation.
Newsome again, this time vogueing as museum-commissioned composition. The structural argument is correct; the 8-minute preview is enough to feel the rigor.
Newsome composing a single-channel performance work for SFMOMA that treats vogueing as compositional syntax. The page is locked so I'm reading off the framing, but the formal claim — vernacular Black queer performance as museum-grade composition — is exactly the kind of move that holds up.
Festivals
- SFMOMA 2012
- Whitney Biennial 2010