Movie Night: “Black Magic”

BLACK MAGIC (2020) is a tripartite project by artist Rashaad Newsome. The project launches with the premiere of “Black Magic,” a multi-channel work, and live performance co-commissioned with Times Square Arts that combines improvisational performance with video and animation; a site-specific vinyl installation in the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art’s Living Room Gallery windows; and the debut of the full Black Magic film and a virtual event presented in partnership with EYEBEAM.

In 2021, the project proceeds with the debut of the full Black Magic performance film and a virtual event presented in partnership with EYEBEAM. In total, Black Magic demonstrates the Black LGBTQ+ community’s capacity to persevere in creating art, joy, connection, and resistance amid a global pandemic and racial violence.

Bringing together the visual, musical, and performative expressions of marginalized communities through boundary-defying cross-cultural aesthetics is at the heart of Newsome’s practice. Through this installation, Newsome hopes to encourage an interrogation of family dynamics and community constructions in a celebration of difference and togetherness.