A new performance collaboration by Sonia Louise Davis and Tamara Renée
Saturday, September 10
3–9 pm
Artists Sonia Louise Davis (b. 1988) and Tamara Renée (b. 1989), both born and raised in Harlem, New York, will invite a community of fellow artists to perform alongside them in a one-day intervention on the Whitney’s fifth-floor outdoor gallery. A loose framework developed by Davis and Renée will guide the participating artists and audience through a structured improvisation featuring live music, movement, and textiles.
For this project the artists are working at the intersection of poetics and politics, drawing on the multiplicity of African diasporic traditions, while anchoring music and language at the root of their collaboration. Their approach to this collective improvisation will manifest from a decidedly feminine perspective, with an attention toward listening and responsiveness, in an effort to reconcile the highly gendered and at times oppressive environment created by a masculine machismo, jam session mentality, via a collaborative non-hierarchical feminist organizational structure. Through a process of composition that includes writing, filmmaking, collage, and sound, Davis and Renée have created a multipart visual and sonic score that will shepherd the performers through various movements and motifs, uncovering the layers of research and dialogue that they have developed while working together. This score, which oscillates between visual art and music, and expands into the physical experience of the space, will provide prompts and touch points that the participating artists will use to navigate a six-hour collective improvisation.
Participating artists include Austin Williamson, Justin Mathews, Charlotte Dos Santos, Ivan Forde, Mimi Bai, Taja Cheek, María Grand, Frédérique Gnaman, and Melanie Charles.
Free with Museum admission. Please note: In the event of inclement weather, the performance will take place on September 17 or 18, from 11 am to 5 pm, in the Susan and John Hess Family Theater. Please check back on September 8 for more information.
http://whitney.org/Events/DavisReneeShakeTheStars
