Talk Show, 2026

Context: Video Piece by Jordan Strafer for the 2026 Whitney Biennial

Role: Sound Designer and Co-Composer (with Jon Nellen)

Description:

The third and final film of the Loophole trilogy departs from the ‘realism’ of the first two films and leans into an even more stylized, abstracted sensibility.

The concept for TALK SHOW is loosely drawn from Powell and Pressberger’s 1946 film, A Matter of Life and Death, which centers around a court case that takes place in the afterlife. TALK SHOW pulls from historical and popular media material ranging from The Nuremberg Trials to The Oprah Winfrey Show.

At the brink of the 21st century, JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s plane crashes. The viewer joins them to the afterlife which takes the form of a trans-historical tribunal that appears to be an American TV talk show whose host resembles Oprah.

On the surface, the talk show seems like the ultimate representation of justice. It reveals itself to be a distilled experience of the depravity and absurdity of life. The episode that ensues breaks open the literal specter of gendered violence that is inescapable.