Double Feature

The Double Feature series juxtaposes two media works, revealing affinities and provoking unexpected associations between them while highlighting the individual perspective of each artist. This exhibition pairs Steve McQueen’s Drumroll and Peter Sarkisian’s Dusted, both recently acquired by SFMOMA. The artists share a fascination with the real and the mediated — specifically, the shift that occurs when video is used to record real actions. Drumroll features a triptych of spinning New York City views that McQueen created by rolling an open-ended barrel fitted with three video cameras along the city’s streets. Dusted uses a five-channel video projection to animate a white cube so that it appears to be a glass container entrapping two naked figures. The two works offer complementary inside-out and outside-in viewpoints, prompting us to ponder where to draw the line between reality and its mediated rendering.