Assembly, Rashaad Newsome’s 2022 commission for the Park Avenue Armory Wade Thompson Drill Hall incorporates artificial intelligence, 3D animation, holography, sound, collage, vinyl and sculpture to create a “Black gestalten language.” In the vast Drill Hall, visitors encounter a room with video-mapped walls that pulsate with imagery of diasporic fractals surrounding a 30-foot-tall hologram sculpture.

The multimedia work features poets, musicians, vocalists, and dancers from around the globe, presenting unique movements that synthesize vogue with the traditional dances of their territories. Assembly makes the power embedded in Black creative expression visible and tells the story of how ballroom culture – created by disenfranchised black and Latinx queer youth – found its way to the global stage. The performance mirrors the ever-evolving nature of diasporic dance and draws parallels between the dance and the Black American experience.