A new exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), Musical thought: new video art and sound strategies, explores the powerful resonances between recent video art and the popular music of some of today’s greatest artists. Rather than treating the soundtracks as secondary, the musical choices in the featured videos are critical to their meaning and impact. The artists of musical thought use the strategies of music-making—scores, improvisation, and performance as well as its styles, structures, and lyrics—to speak to the personal and shared aspects of American life. Evocative of emotion and rich in cultural references, their works use music to evoke memories, capture attention, provoke insight and invite engagement.
Connecting innovative forms, past and present, they emphasize that the history of the United States has always been complex, multi-vocal and set to music. The presentation to Smithsonian American Art Museum celebrates major new acquisitions from the museum’s media art collection and combines recently added video works by ADÁL, Raven Chacon, Mariam Ghani, Martine Gutierrez, Arthur Jafa, Erin Ellen Kelly, Christine Sun Kim, Liz Magic Laser, Simone Leigh and Cauleen Smith with immersive installations, photographs, sculptures and associated prints. A series of free public events, including talks and performances by selected artists, will accompany the exhibition.
musical thought is designed with layered experiences that are particularly accessible to deaf and hard of hearing audiences and available to all visitors. Features such as benches in black box galleries that drive enhanced vibrations and a light-up haptic dance floor designed in conversation with artist Martine Gutierrez encourage audiences to feel, see and participate in the experience. A complete accessibility guide for the exhibition will be available on the museum’s website.
musical thought will be on view at SAAM until January 29, 2024. The museum, exhibition, and all accompanying online and in-person programming are free.
To learn more, visit americanart.si.edu.
