Jason Moran
Sept 20, 2019–Jan 5, 2020
Collaborations
4
Collaboration has been central to Moran’s experiments, and among the many artists with whom he has collaborated include The Bandwagon (Tarus Mateen and Nasheet Waits), Stan Douglas, Lizzie Fitch, Theaster Gates, Joan Jonas, Glenn Ligon, Julie Mehretu, Ashland Mines (Total Freedom), Alicia Hall Moran, Adam Pendleton, Adrian Piper, Lorna Simpson, Ryan Trecartin, Kara Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems.
Lorna Simpson
Chess, 2013
Lorna Simpson, still from Chess, 2013. Three-channel video, black-and-white, sound; 10:19 min. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. © Lorna Simpson
In Lorna Simpson’s video installation Chess, Jason Moran riffs improvisationally on one of German composer Johannes Brahms’s fifty-one piano exercises—short, difficult compositions meant to hone finger technique. Using a hinged mirror, Simpson captures a five-way image of herself playing chess and Moran playing the piano. The video was derived from an earlier photographic work by Simpson titled LA ’57—NY ’09, in which she reenacts scenes from found vintage photos and mirrors the subjects in dress, pose, and expression. Made up of three video projections, Chess considers questions of gender—Simpson appears as both female and male chess players—and the passage of time. Moran can be seen in one projection, performing the score he improvised based on discussions with Simpson about opposition and mirroring.