A new documentary titled *Assembly*, co-directed by artist Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons, chronicles the creation of Newsome's ambitious multi-experiential work for the Wade Thompson Drill Hall at Manhattan's Park Avenue Armory. The project combines voguing—a dance form from the Black and Latino gay ballroom scene—with global dance traditions, an AI host named Being, video-mapped walls, a 40ft hologram, and evening performances featuring musicians and dancers. Newsome, a gay Black man, explicitly frames the work as a reclamation of a historically white, military space.
This documentary matters because it highlights how contemporary artists are transforming historically exclusionary institutional spaces into platforms for queer and BIPOC liberation. Newsome's use of voguing as a central language, alongside AI and participatory performance, exemplifies a growing trend of art that actively engages with social justice, community building, and decolonization. The film's premiere on PBS's *Independent Lens* also brings these critical conversations to a broad national audience.