Color Schemes 1989

Directed by Shu Lea Cheang

An upbeat, ironic look at America's multicultural society, Color Schemes uses the metaphor of "color wash" to tackle conceptions of racial assimilation. Challenging stereotypes, twelve writer/performers collaborate on four performance sequences—soak, wash, rinse and extract. Spinning through this tumble- jumble of America's washload, the performers scheme to claim racial images that remain color vivid. Color Schemes was also exhibited in its installation form (with a self-service washing machine) at the Whitney Museum in 1990.