NEXUS
The primary goal of FORM’s latest visual project, Nexus, is to explore the relationship between diverse modes of artistic expression, namely: dance, music, sculpture, painting and cinematography. The video was filmed at the Nasher Museum of Art’s latest exhibition, Solidary & Solitary: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection, which showcases groundbreaking abstract art by African American artists from the 1940s to present. Solidary & Solitary, as the name suggests, is concerned with how Black artists employ abstraction to express their individuality and artistic autonomy, while also signifying their belonging to a collectively rooted identity.
In response to the exhibition, Nexus illuminates on the inspiring dialogic interactions that arise when various artistic disciplines – performative and visual – influence and respond to one another. This visual production also attempts to reconcile these particular artistic modes with their universal concern for genuine expression. Such motives are reflected in the music (produced by Apartment X), whereby a general musical progression incorporates rhythmic and sound inflections of classical music, traditional African music and hip-hop. The latter two musical genres and their associated dance styles also engage in a harmonious ebb and flow with the exhibition’s artworks, due to shared socio-political roots in the Black diasporic experience. Furthermore, the inclusion of ballet and classic music, given their predominantly European roots, reflects on the reality and inevitability of transculturation, evident in the formal and conceptual approaches utilised by Black visual artists.
All in all, we hope that Nexus articulates a union between movement, space and the visual. FORM would also like this video to spark a conversation on the concept of creativity and the necessity of dialogue in realising it.
FORM Magazine would like to give special thanks to all the organisations and collaborators that made this production possible, including Hunter Stark, Defining Movement, Devils en Pointe (formerly Duke Ballet Company), Nakisai, Apartment X, DUU Freewater Productions, The Rival and Nasher MUSE.