Conductor, Choreographer, King of Arms: Questions for Rashaad Newsome on his Artistic Process
Transition, 2012, no. 109, pp. 84-96
Carolyn Trench interviews artist Rashaad Newsome, discussing his video-performance depiction of voguing, a dance style which entered the mainstream consciousness in the early 1990s, but has its roots in Harlem's black and Latino gay scene in the 1970s and has continued to evolve in the decades since. Newsome films the dancers freestyling, re-choreographs the routine by editing the footage, then has the dancer learn the new routine, which is filmed in one singular take. Newsome's work encompasses themes of performative identity and language, which, like voguing, can be learned and reconfigured endlessly.
ITEM 2012.065 – available for viewing in the Research Centre
Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited
Herald – Rashaad Newsome
Pursuivant
King of Arms
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
The Conductor
Untitled (New Way)
King of Arms