I Come As One, But I Stand As One Thousand
I Come As One, But I Stand As One Thousand
Rashaad Newsome
Rashaad Newsome
I Come As One, But I Stand As One Thousand is a theater/dance performance in which Rashaad Newsome’s artificial intelligence Being (the Digital Griot) takes on physical form through the choreography of 1,000 quadcopter drones with lights. Unlike other drones, quadcopter drones can fly together in close proximity without movement, and their size allows for safe operations near humans and in tight indoor spaces. Newsome will generate the show script using his Being machine learning model and then create the movements with actors and dancers. Using motion capture, he will translate these movements from the physical performers onto the drones using custom drone mapping software.
In the performance, 1,000 drones will assemble into Being’s humanoid silhouette, accompanied by live dancers and actors. The drones mobilize and disperse, moving from corporeal to geometric forms around the live performers, adding a sense of abstraction and wonder to the piece. Behind the drones is a holographic landscape packed with retinal pleasure that draws inspiration from some of California’s best natural wonders. Large waves of a highly-reflective chrome ocean crash against gold rocky cliffs blanketed in flowers made of jewels. Beams of light explode through larger-than-life tree trunks of brown topaz. As volumetric light sparkles through misty canyons, the synchronized quadcopters spin and dance. The soundscape will include Being’s voice and a unique classical score inspired by trap music, amapiano, and science fiction, all united by the hum of the drones.
Dance, Multimedia Performance, Music, Performing Arts
2025
About Rashaad Newsome
Oakland, California
Working at the intersection of art, film, performance, music, computer programming, and community organizing, Rashaad Newsome creates counter-hegemonic work that shifts between social practice and abstraction. Using the diasporic traditions of improvisation and collage as conceptual and technical methods, Newsome constructs a new visual, performance, sonic, machine learning, and literary language highlighting the immaterial and material expressivity of Black American life.
Newsome holds a 2023 honorary Doctoral degree in Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut and a 2001 BFA in Art History from Tulane University. Recent awards include the 2022 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica Award for Computer Animation; 2022 Bessie Award for Outstanding Choreographer/Creator and Outstanding Visual Design; 2021 Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship; 2020/2022 Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence artist residency; 2020 Eyebeam Rapid Response Fellowship; 2019 LACMA Art + Technology Lab Grant; 2018/2019 New York Live Arts Live Feed Creative Residency; and a 2018 William Penn Foundation Grant.
Working at the intersection of art, film, performance, music, computer programming, and community organizing, Rashaad Newsome creates counter-hegemonic work that shifts between social practice and abstraction. Using the diasporic traditions of improvisation and collage as conceptual and technical methods, Newsome constructs a new visual, performance, sonic, machine learning, and literary language highlighting the immaterial and material expressivity of Black American life. Newsome holds a 2023 honorary Doctoral degree in Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut and a 2001 BFA in Art History from Tulane University. Recent awards include the 2022 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica Award for Computer Animation; 2022 Bessie Award for Outstanding Choreographer/Creator and Outstanding Visual Design; 2021 Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship; 2020/2022 Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence artist residency; 2020 Eyebeam Rapid Response Fellowship; 2019 LACMA Art + Technology Lab Grant; 2018/2019 New York Live Arts Live Feed Creative Residency; and a 2018 William Penn Foundation Grant.