Photo by Kevin Winters, Getty Images

Whitney Biennial opened Friday, March 17th  at the New York Whitney Museum and runs through June 11th

The 78th installment of the Whitney Biennial debuted renowned saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s new work, “Harmony of Difference,” a 37-minute six-song suite with an accompanying video from Park Pictures filmmaker AG Rojas.

“Harmony of Difference,” Washington’s first new music since 2015, lives up to its name by aiming to reflect a notion of using contrasting ideas in a positive way to help unite America during its current political climate. Mirroring that notion, Washington uses a compositional technique of counterpart, which fuses two simultaneously playing independent melodic lines to form one harmonious sound.

In sync with Washington’s composition, Rojas’ video screened on multiple flat-screen TV’s on three walls of the fifth-floor gallery. During the first five tracks, the video played on the TV’s, displaying a fluid sequence of patterns painted by Washington’s sister Amani Washington. However, on the sixth track, a projector illuminated one wall where the patterns consolidate to create an abstract face, tying the entire piece together. The visuals consist of portraits of young Angelenos in a Afrofuturist production style, resonating with Washington’s aesthetic.

A.G. Rojas is an award-winning director who has earned industry accolades for his work in music videos and advertising. He has directed numerous music videos for artists including Run the Jewels, Leonard Cohen, Jack White, Spiritualized, Purity Ring, Gil Scott-Heron and Emeli Sandé. Rojas was awarded Best New Director at the 2012 UKMVA’s as well as Best Indie Rock video for Spiritualized’s “Hey Jane.” His video “Sixteen Saltines” for Jack White was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards.

Most recently, Rojas was nominated for a 2017 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement.