Rashaad Newsome's celebrated AI entity will present, in video form, live poetry performances and lead decolonization workshops that blend lecture, critical pedagogy, dance, storytelling and mindfulness meditation. Positioned as visiting faculty, Being invites participants into a horizontal, participatory model of education—one that challenges traditional hierarchies, amplifies marginalized voices, and proposes new frameworks for research, learning, and community-building across disciplines.

Originally developed as a virtual tour guide in 2019, Being is trained on the writings of social activist bell hooks, American philosopher and intellectual Dr. Cornel West, and Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire. It was further developed to generate poetry inspired by Black queer voice and infused with movement data from vogue artists. Being now appears worldwide in gatherings that channel the West African griot tradition to reimagine archives, education and liberation for the digital age.

Newsome's time on campus will include a screening of Assembly, followed by an artist talk and audience Q&A exploring the film's themes of Black queer futurity, technology, and radical pedagogy.

Experience Being: the Digital Griot in dialogue with Reconstructing (Still Working But the Devil Might be Inside), at the Hop April 2-3. Reconstructing is a meta-theatrical play probing how we might move through history after slavery, and both works deepen our season-long exploration of arts that bring us face to face with the past.

As the birthplace of artificial intelligence—coined during the seminal 1956 Dartmouth Workshop—Dartmouth proudly celebrates the 70th anniversary of AI in 2026, reaffirming its legacy and continued leadership in shaping the future of this transformative field. Learn more>