Collaborations

The works on this page represent a selection of collaboratiive works made over the last 10 years with artist Justin Randolph Thompson and his brother, musician Jason Thompson. Together we bring our distinct and sometimes divergent aesthetics, techniques and inclinations in synchronized, contrasting and surprising ways to explore generational divisions, cultural separatism, cross-racial dialogs and the collision of collective versus anagraphically-attested identities. Reflecting upon spiritual ascension and the social hierarchies prescribed as the prerequisite for patriotism, the work juxtaposes elements of an American folk legacy and gestures of African-American resistance against the expansionist philosophy of Roman antiquity. Employing photography, video, sound-based sculpture, performance and installation, the work uproots notions of classification in regards to artistic practice and socio-political origins.

Archival. Urgent, Imaginative - Trailer

Archival, Urgent, Imaginative is a documentary dedicated to reflections from the Second National Conference: Justice in Geoscience held at AGU in Washington DC in August of 2022. The video features the co-conveners of the conference Raquel Bryant, Benjamin Keisling and Rachel Bernard sharing their impulses and aspirations. The themes Archival, Urgent and Imaginative frame the conference objectives and are the backdrop for this work which is dedicated to the memory of geophysicist Randolph Bromery who orchestrated the First National Conference on Minority Participation in Earth Science and Mineral Engineering in 1972. The documentary is designed to be of service to the conference objectives of extending participation in the geosciences, asking what has transpired in the 50 years since the first conference. The piece draws upon the work of the co-conveners employing this second conference as a call to arms to make the next 50 years look different. The documentary, filmed and edited by Bradly Dever Treadaway, is a part of Surveying Gravity, a Creative Capital funded project by Justin Randolph Thompson dedicated to the legacy of his maternal grandfather Randolph Bromery.
 
For more information on the Second National Conference: Justice in Geoscience: 
https://www.agu.org/Chapmans-SNC-Justice-in-Geoscience 

For more information on Surveying Gravity: 
https://creative-capital.org/projects/surveying-gravity/

Archival. Urgent, Imaginative - Full Length

Archival, Urgent, Imaginative is a documentary dedicated to reflections from the Second National Conference: Justice in Geoscience held at AGU in Washington DC in August of 2022. The video features the co-conveners of the conference Raquel Bryant, Benjamin Keisling and Rachel Bernard sharing their impulses and aspirations. The themes Archival, Urgent and Imaginative frame the conference objectives and are the backdrop for this work which is dedicated to the memory of geophysicist Randolph Bromery who orchestrated the First National Conference on Minority Participation in Earth Science and Mineral Engineering in 1972. The documentary is designed to be of service to the conference objectives of extending participation in the geosciences, asking what has transpired in the 50 years since the first conference. The piece draws upon the work of the co-conveners employing this second conference as a call to arms to make the next 50 years look different. The documentary, filmed and edited by Bradly Dever Treadaway, is a part of Surveying Gravity, a Creative Capital funded project by Justin Randolph Thompson dedicated to the legacy of his maternal grandfather Randolph Bromery.

Pay Thunder No Mind

Pay Thunder No Mind is a performance work and conversation that examines the economics of Jazz, its role as social music and the legacy of longtime Brooklyn resident Eubie Blake. The work engages the language of the Rent Party and an experimental film to generate a cross institutional and intergenerational critique of moldy fig sentiments in regards to popular music and economic stability. Ethnomusicologists, DJs, Jazz Legends and Jazz advocates come together around the heart of a displaced 1920’s Pipe Organ from Eubie’s birthplace, Baltimore, to engage in 12 rounds of meditative hip hop break beats with syncopated advocacy and few natural breaths. FiveMyles as a site for social engagement and the legendary photographs of Jamel Shabazz are the catalyst for this performance which is part of a series dedicated to a Jazz grant called Friskin’ the Whiskers for musicians founded in 2016 as an intergenerational and cross institutional effort to wake the sleeping giants of NYC’s jazz history. A collaboration between Justin Randolph Thompson, Bradly Dever Treadaway and Jason Thompson Featuring Leon Jones_Referee Alexander Vergas_Bell Ringer and DJ Additional Camera_Undine Groeger Additional Sound_Azumi Fukuoka Hosted by FiveMyles Gallery performed amongst the exhibition: Jamel Shabazz Standing on the Square Curated by Myrah Brown Green

Moldy Figs

Moldy Figs is an installation and performance created for Momenta Art in Brooklyn inverting social hierarchies through superficial elegance, folk contaminated sound work, gold leafing shoes as an anticipation of spiritual ascension, and scattered debris of a stagnant revolution. The work seeks to undermine classifications of folk cultural traditions as outdated, old fashioned or irrelevant by decontextualizing them through performance where the empowerment of the local community is fulfilled through their connection to methods of political subversion from Expansionist antiquity.

Dark Was The Night

In collaboration with David Page, Bradly Dever Treadaway, Jason Thompson, the Reginald Lewis Museums Resource Center, Baltimore Bicycle Works and American University's Art Department Dark was the Night involves a broad based collaboration with institutions, businesses, artists and musicians local to Baltimore in an interdisciplinary installation and performance. Through viewer activated kinetic sculpture, a century old church chandelier reclaimed from a site of recent gentrification is illuminated using a bicycle powered generator. The illumination of the chandelier is connected to spiritual notions of light and ascension and draws upon local history through archival imagery of Baltimore from the Reginald Lewis Museums Resource Center. A choir composed of members from local churches invigorates the sculpture through collective voices that draw together the community as a monument. If you are in the area and want to be involved reach out for more info.

Fit the Battle

Please visit http://fitthebattle.com/ for complete information. Fit the Battle is a performance and commemoration created for Peekskill, NY that honors singer, Civil Rights activist, actor and athlete Paul Robeson and his celebrated baritone voice. The piece uses monumental sculpture and a mass gathering of Baritone Saxophones to immortalize the fervor and spirit of this critical figure of American history and his global reaching vision of unity. The industrial past of Peekskill and the cultural diversity of its population echo the cry for solidarity of working people that Robeson voiced with eloquence and determination. This project seeks the power of community to become a temporary monument. The project is directed by Justin Randolph Thompson in collaboration with Bradly Dever Treadaway and Jason Thompson.The work is supported and coordinated by Salem Art Works. Distinguished Scholar Mark Anthony Neal delivered a keynote speech as a part of the performance.

Dem' Golden Slippers

Coming Soon…. Dem’ Golden Slippers is a performance and installation created for the Cuchifritos Gallery in collaboration with Stefanie Nelson, Jason Thompson and Bradly Dever Treadaway based on the street vendors and self-employed peddlers originally housed in the Essex Market. The piece explores the trade of shoe shining and hustling while setting up shop during given hours where visitors have the opportunity to get their shoes gold-leafed. The title and act are drawn from minstrel lyrics that speak of putting your best things away until judgment. The work investigates the status symbol of shoes in the urban context investing these with the shifted hierarchy of the shoe shiner as the provider of a tool for ascension and a recalibrated moral character. Performers include:
Tara Nicholas, Rich Alston, Alex Vargas, Jennifer Ann Thompson, Desir Gala and Craig McGorry, Sophia Turso, Olivia Azzolina, Saoirse Tynan, and their friend Jackie. Film Crew: Gaia Squarci, Dan De Carvalho, Meryl Feigenberg, Anne Sofie Norskov and Kalen Roach Special thanks to Cuchifritos, Lauren Testa, Jodi Waynberg, Stephanie Turso, Rosie Lanziero and Lisa Moody

Traveling Shoes

Traveling Shoes: a performative sound work employing a mobile two-chair shoeshine stand with a built in sound system, a jazz trio, a marching band and a shoe shiner engaged in gold leafing the public’s shoes as a metaphor for ascension. Drawing its’ title from an African American traditional folk song that speaks of the necessity for ‘traveling shoes’ when death comes to call, the performance investigates a shifted labor hierarchy, where the shoe shiner becomes provider of the means for redemption. The piece is in collaboration with Choreographer Stefanie Nelson, Filmmaker Bradly Dever Treadaway and Composer Jason Thompson with the participation of Frog and Toads Dixie Quartet and members of the Henry W. Grady High School's Jazz Ensemble.

Frog & Toad’s Dixie Quartet - The Drunk Pirates Waltz

From the CD release party at Crown & Goose in Knoxville, TN (January 2013) Jason R Thompson - Saxophone Chad Volkers - Guitar Jason Day - Piano Alonzo Lewis - Drums

Shot by Bradly Dever Treadaway and Wesley Ham

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