A decade of installation works from the filmmaker famed for An Oversimplification of Her Beauty and Random Acts of Flyness
This is the first publication on the genre-defying practice of American filmmaker Terence Nance (born 1982). Tracing his work in film, video, television, sound and performance from 2012 to 2022, the volume pays tribute to the community Nance cultivated in the heady days of early to mid 2000s Brooklyn. The role of community figures centrally in Nance's work, as evinced through his frequent collaborations with friends and family. Discarding the conventions of cinema, Nance opts for narrative forms that stretch the bounds of temporality and embrace Black spiritual and ancestral practices; he regards his work as part of an ongoing lineage of artists who labor to make visible these influences.
Swarm highlights the interdisciplinary nature of Nance's practice by focusing on his immersive environments-both old and new-many of which have been reconstructed from earlier films.
"Terence Nance: Swarm is the first solo museum presentation dedicated to Terence Nance's genre-defying and innovative practice. The exhibition highlights his experimentation in film, video, television, sound and performance from 2012 to 2022. The title is a tribute to the community Nance built around him in Brooklyn in the early to mid-2000s, with his work in this period uniquely reflecting these influences: from his collaborations with his mother, Vickie Washington, and brother, Nelson Mandela Nance, to the partnerships he has forged with friends and chosen kin. Born and raised in Dallas, living and working in Brooklyn for almost two decades, and now rooted in Baltimore, Nance's career has been shaped by the communities within which he has made work. Swarm brings together immersive environments which represent Nance's interdisciplinary approach to his practice, offering unexpected and alternative paths for creating work that layers video, sound, printed matter, and live performance in contemporary environments. He discards conventions of cinema opting for modes that experiment with temporality, spirituality, and lineage. Often rooted in Black spiritual and ancestral practices, his work is part of an ongoing lineage of artists who labor to make visible these influences. The pieces in the show reimagine some of his earlier films as multi-channel installations and include new commissions"--
