Steve McQueen: Bass Volume is the catalog accompanying the immersive installation Bass (2024) by Steve McQueen, which was presented at Schaulager in 2025 and transformed the entire building with colored light and sound. While the texts in the first publication Steve McQueen: Bass (2024) were written before the commissioned work was completed, this second publication focuses on the finished piece. It brings together two new essays by renowned scholars, an interview with the artist, and a wealth of color installation photographs.

In its focus on light and sound, Bass can be understood as a film distilled to its essence – one that expands into the space and draws viewers in. Tina M. Campt describes this experience as a form of attentiveness – “listening to images” – that incorporates not only visual and auditory, but also affective dimensions. Her poetic text interprets the installation as a liminal space that evokes the traumatic history of the Middle Passage. Adrienne Brown expands on this interpretation by reading Bass as a challenge to conventional perceptual patterns, making visible the entanglement of modernity with racialized structures of power. Both essays emphasize the physical dimension of historical aftereffects. The volume is further enriched by an in-depth conversation between the artist and Solveig Nelson, exploring the origins of Bass in McQueen’s early engagements with film and music.

Irma Boom’s design offers an active interpretation of the expansive work. The book’s horizontally perforated pages – featuring spectacular views of Bass at Schaulager – can be separated, revealing shifting perspectives and color combinations. This design choice conveys the visual and spatial dynamism of the installation.