The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) presents Sunshine State, an artwork by Steve McQueen commissioned by IFFR. The work is presented in collaboration with Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen where it will be on view from 26th January until 12th February.
Sunshine State is the latest work by Oscar-winning filmmaker and Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen. It is the first exhibition to be presented in the main hall on the fifth floor in the depot since the depot opened in November 2021. The presentation, part of IFFR’s Art Directions program, is made possible by Stichting Droom en Daad.
Sunshine State
Sunshine State is McQueen’s first new installation since his Year 3 artwork at Tate Britain in 2019. Sunshine State is a multichannel video project consisting of two screens placed side by side. The work starts with a blazing sun unravelling, while alongside it, images appear and are analyzed from the musical drama The Jazz Singer (1927), starring famed singer Al Jolson. The film is known as the first “talkie” in film history that used synchronized dialogue.
Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic: “We are looking forward with anticipation to the presentation of Steve McQueen’s latest artwork Sunshine State, which we had commissioned for our 50th edition. McQueen is an uncompromising artist and filmmaker who shares our vision of all that cinema can be. The spectacular depot in Rotterdam is a fitting location for this monumental work that invites the audience for a moment of reflection.”
Boijmans director Ina Klaassen: “The large hall on the fifth floor in the depot is being inaugurated as an exhibition space in a very special and spectacular way with Steve McQueen’s installation. It is fantastic that with Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen we are part of this international Rotterdam collaboration of the IFFR, Stichting Droom en Daad and Steve McQueen.”
