Juke
HD digital video – 2006
1. Illuminated cabinet, having a variety of music that can be selected by push button. juke1 [jook] verb, juked, juk‧ing, noun Football.
–verb (used with object)
2. to make a move intended to deceive (an opponent).
–noun
3. a fake or feint, usually intended to deceive.
There are thousands of unspoken rules of engagement in the never-ending fight of racism in the United States. Popular music is a dynamic battleground. Music has always been segregated. Juke is a musical installation that wrestles with serious issues in the most unfamiliar way. Can music be either black or white? Can a song be used as an instrument to provoke a conversation about race?
Juke explores segregation. Taking a note from Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, I direct a series of music-based performances. The spectator is invited to watch intimate narratives of ten Afro-Americans that goes beyond the actual music itself. Placed in front of stark white background, each performer is in contrast to their surroundings. In a minimal presentation, they all utilize song as a vehicle to wrestle and connect with identity.
Influenced by pop-culture, I assemble an anthology of powerful soliloquies. In Juke, music is the driving force for a social experiment, in which the underlying challenge is for viewer to get beyond seeing in black and white.
