"Set Pieces" presents a selection of scenes from multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome's films, ICON, KNOT, and LSS Kassandra Ebony, all of which examines language, power, and representation, employing architecture as a starting point. All three films feature a kaleidoscopic portrait of vogue performers within a digitally rendered environment that evokes Baroque architecture and video game aesthetics. They are a loving portrait of devotion to the community that inspires Newsome and his work. 

Rashaad Newsome’s work blends several practices — including collage, sculpture, film, photography, music, computer programming, software engineering, community organizing, and performance — to create an altogether new field. Using the diasporic traditions of improvisation, he pulls from the world of advertising, the internet, art history, Black and queer culture to produce counter-hegemonic work that walks the tightrope between social practice, abstraction, and intersectionality. Some of his many honors and awards for his work include a 2021 Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence artist residency, Eyebeam Rapid Response Fellowship, and LACMA Art + Technology Lab Grant.