Steve McQueen burns down cinema history with 30 minutes of pure art heat.
Steve McQueen’s first new artwork since his major commission Year 3 at Tate Britain in 2019, Sunshine State is a two-channel video projection shown on both sides of two screens placed one next to the other. Opening with footage of a burning sun, the work unfolds exploring images from the musical drama The Jazz Singer (1927), starring the famous singer Al Jolson. The film is known as the first "talkie" in the history of cinema that uses synchronised dialogue.
Direction
McQueen weaponizes archival footage like nobody else.
Editing
Burning sun to blackface—cuts that cleave.
Sound
Silence and Jolson's voice: violence in the gaps.
Director
Steve McQueen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Jazz Singer's 1927 release marked sound cinema's birth while cementing blackface as mainstream entertainment—McQueen refuses to let us separate the two.
Sunshine State premiered at documenta fifteen, where McQueen reportedly insisted on precise screen positioning so viewers must physically choose which side to witness first.
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