Senga Nengudi

Ulysses Jenkins composed "Dream City" from documentation of a twenty-four-hour performance he organized in collaboration with David Hammons, Maren Hassinger, and Senga Nengudi. A discordant, absurdist, and poetic montage, the video weaves together jazz and punk shows, recitations by Jenkins, and shots of the Los Angeles skyline and oil wells to comment on power and nation in the early years of Ronald Reagan's presidency.

Green explores the vibrant glow of summer through scenes of towering trees, vast manicured lawns, a mantis, and a snake, set to a text narrated by Hassinger's long-time collaborator, artist Senga Nengudi.

Voices, a performance piece written and directed by Hassinger, was performed by her friends and fellow artists-including Ulysses Jenkins, Senga Nengudi, and May Sun—who each took on the role of a specific societal force, such as survival, intolerance, or consumerism. In this iteration of the performance, Hassinger played "the conductor," directing the performers in their monologues as if they were an acapella choir. The performance reflects on the wavering place of nature amidst encroaching technologies that change our economic, moral, and political realities. The piece was presented on two occasions: first at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles in 1984, and later at California State University, Los Angeles, in 1985.

An impromptu choreography of housework, including rhythmic sweeping, dancing, moving around with plastic bags filled with clothing, and demonstrating a piece of art made of paper. - Lowery Stokes Sims and Archives of American Art finding aid.