GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This film is based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball). Enlisting the talents of choreographers, costumers, and filmmakers, Yinka Shonibare reset Verdi's tale of intrigue in the court of Swedish King Gustav III (r. 1771-1792) as a beguiling meditation on power, colonialism, and the fusion of European and African cultures. The film follows an evening at court, where an ebullient king (played here by a woman) hosts a ball at which glamorous assassins lurk. After a striking sequence of dance (performed without music, as is the entire film), the king is shot in a fantastically stylized passage, and then comes back to life as the actors re-play events backwards to the very beginning. The dancers are costumed in European 18th century-style dresses made from colorful print fabrics that are associated with Africa, but actually have Dutch colonial origins. Shonibare weaves histories and identities, exploring power, excess, and the fabrication of authenticity. Un Ballo in Maschera was produced with Swedish Television and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Adapted from
- Anna Katherine Brodbeck, ed., TWO X TWO X TWENTY: Two Decades Supporting Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art), 2018.
- "A Masked Ball (Un ballo maschera) [sic]," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Bonnie Pitman (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 346.
- Charles Wylie, DMA unpublished material, 2008.
NOTES
Exhibition: Performance/Art (added to Exhibitions module in TMS)
DMA unpublished material = Charles Wylie, "Acquisition Proposal," May 7, 2008. In Collections Records object file (2008.26).
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 2008: Yinka Shonibare, b. 1962
2008: Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, purchased from James Cohen Gallery, New York
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is the copy of Invoice 4037 dated June 3, 2008 in the Collections Records object file.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- YouTube~Watch a clip of Un Ballo in Maschera.
- Bomb Magazine~Read an interview with Yinka Shonibare about Un Ballo in Maschera.
- Moderna Museet, Stockholm~Learn more about Yinka Shonibare and this work.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica~Learn more about the composer Giuseppe Verdi.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica~Learn more about King Gustav III of Sweden.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
apply to objects where number equals 2008.26
Category
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General Description
This film is based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball). Enlisting the talents of choreographers, costumers, and filmmakers, Yinka Shonibare reset Verdi's tale of intrigue in the court of Swedish King Gustav III (r. 1771-1792) as a beguiling meditation on power, colonialism, and the fusion of European and African cultures. The film follows an evening at court, where an ebullient king (played here by a woman) hosts a ball at which glamorous assassins lurk. After a striking sequence of dance (performed without music, as is the entire film), the king is shot in a fantastically stylized passage, and then comes back to life as the actors re-play events backwards to the very beginning. The dancers are costumed in European 18th century-style dresses made from colorful print fabrics that are associated with Africa, but actually have Dutch colonial origins. Shonibare weaves histories and identities, exploring power, excess, and the fabrication of authenticity. Un Ballo in Maschera was produced with Swedish Television and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Adapted from
- Anna Katherine Brodbeck, ed., TWO X TWO X TWENTY: Two Decades Supporting Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art), 2018.
- "A Masked Ball (Un ballo maschera) [sic]," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Bonnie Pitman (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 346.
- Charles Wylie, DMA unpublished material, 2008.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- YouTube~Watch a clip of Un Ballo in Maschera.
- Bomb Magazine~Read an interview with Yinka Shonibare about Un Ballo in Maschera.
- Moderna Museet, Stockholm~Learn more about Yinka Shonibare and this work.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica~Learn more about the composer Giuseppe Verdi.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica~Learn more about King Gustav III of Sweden.
Notes
Exhibition: Performance/Art (added to Exhibitions module in TMS)
DMA unpublished material = Charles Wylie, "Acquisition Proposal," May 7, 2008. In Collections Records object file (2008.26).
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 2008: Yinka Shonibare, b. 1962
2008: Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, purchased from James Cohen Gallery, New York
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is the copy of Invoice 4037 dated June 3, 2008 in the Collections Records object file.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
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2008.26
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