If someone twerks in the Guggenheim, does that make it art?
If Solange Knowles is doing it, then it certainly does. And on Thursday afternoon, it was a move that signified a whole lot more.
“Inclusion and allowance is not enough,” Solange told the crowd, referring to her presence in the famous art museum, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. “We built this s - - t.”
It was a high point in the singer’s conceptualized performance of last year’s acclaimed album “A Seat at the Table.”
The album — a beautiful rumination of what it is to be a black woman in modern-day America — was one of the best of 2016, earning the top spot in end-of-year lists put together by Spin, Vibe and Pitchfork. While her sister covered similar themes on “Lemonade” through the lens of her relationship with husband Jay Z, Solange’s outward-looking approach and elegant brand of modern soul established her as a visionary artist in her own right.
Thursday’s special show, held as part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival, melded the songs superbly with dance and movement in a way that purposefully bent the parameters of live performance.
Crowd members — who included Janelle Monáe, Björk, Zoë Kravitz and other celebrities — were seated on the Guggenheim floor, required to check in phones and asked to dress in white. Anyone passing by the building beforehand would have thought there was a retro tennis match happening inside.
Almost all the songs were woven in with tightly choreographed movements, performed by the band and Solange’s backup squad of eight dancers — all of whom held their formations with the utmost discipline. (You never would have guessed that “two days ago, this show was a half-assed mess,” as Solange told the crowd at the end of the night.)
Another reason “A Seat at the Table” proved to be such a hit was Solange’s vocal ability, which was showcased with spine-tingling renditions of “Cranes in the Sky” and a blast of Syreeta’s “Black Maybe” (written by Stevie Wonder), where she reached the kind of ear-shattering high notes that Minnie Riperton used to be famous for.
But while those elements were striking, the show truly came to life in the moments when Solange allowed herself some room to go rogue. Watching her walk through the crowd and deliver verses from “F.U.B.U.” on a one-to-one basis underlined the intimacy of the event.
She even sang the line “All my n - - - as in the whole wide world/Made this song to make it all y’alls turn” directly to a security guard, who stood stoically, arms folded (but nodding his head in appreciation), before dropping the mike and twerking to uproarious applause.
“I wrote this album with your faces in mind,” Solange explained.
Playing this show in broad daylight, in a well-lit museum, she could finally see the faces she’d imagined — and just as importantly, those faces could also see her. Here, Solange demonstrated that she wasn’t just speaking on behalf of the African-American community: She was truly of it.