Nikita Gale Makes the Labor of Tina Turner’s Performances Visible

May 3, 2021

In her first solo show at the California African American Museum, Nikita Gale (M.F.A. New Genres, 2016) grapples with the idea of how technology impacts our perception of the real world.

LOS ANGELES — Tina Turner stands on a circular platform, face slick with sweat and triumph, eyes drinking in the crowd of screaming fans below her. The platform, separate from the main stage and the rest of the band, is attached to a metal crane that stretches out into a section of the massive stadium. From Turner’s vantage point, the audience looks like a sea of bobbing arms, greedy for her attention and presence. The performance clip appears briefly in Tina, the HBO Max documentary about the rock legend’s life and career. “When I’m on stage, and it’s like 20,000 people, then you know that it’s all worthwhile,” she said in an interview that plays during the clip, before coyly adding, “But there’s really a lot that goes on behind the scenes…” In PRIVATE DANCER, Nikita Gale’s first solo show at the California African American Museum (CAAM), the multidisciplinary artist considers the work occurring behind the scenes, homing in on the objects and technologies that structure our experience of live performances, and how those materials can blur, extend, or limit the parasocial relationships between audience and performer. – Allison Conner, Apr. 25, 2021

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Hyperallergic website.