In the Cards

Robin Rice on Visual Art

by Robin Rice

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Published: Jul 25, 2007

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The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts now calls architect Frank Furness' polychrome temple to art its "Historic Landmark Building." Though the darkened Morris Gallery is perfect for Senga Nengudi's installation based on the sights and sounds of Jacquard weaving, Warp Trance was researched and made during a residency at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. The FWM is currently housed in temporary transitional quarters at 1222 Arch St.

The visitor's passage through PAFA, one of the best examples anywhere of high Victoriana, links neatly to 19th-century textiles and the history of women in the work force. Young women were exploited by the mills. They also benefited from new opportunities for independence.

Nevertheless, Nengudi's aim in Warp Trance, her first video-based work, does not seem to be social commentary but, rather, a meditation on the hypnotic, repetitive power of large machinery. Rhythmic patterns of light and color are reconfigured through the artist's dance and movement sensibility.

She visited several textile mills during her residency including Langhorne Carpet in Penndel, Pa., which gave her the Jacquard punch cards that are the most pervasive material element in Warp Trance. Piled on the floor and hung in overlapping, trailing curtains, the cards are a screen for the projection of Nengudi's video. In three related sections, images of rapidly moving mechanical parts and bright thread become rhythmic abstract elements, predictable yet ever-changing. Like a deeper layer of consciousness, the wall behind the screen is a secondary screen onto which the video is projected through the rectangular holes in the brown cardboard cards.

Perhaps the most striking and successful element is a sound sequence developed by composer Butch Morris from audio recordings made at the mills. Video and audio are looped.

I tend to think an "installation" fills or defines a space and surrounds the visitor. It functions and changes from multiple points of view. This one is concentrated on the punch-card screen and the wall behind. Added arrangements of punch cards and of wood from looms contribute to an ambience but do not have the memorable intensity of the video area.

(r_rice@citypaper.net)

Senga Nengudi: Warp Trance

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Morris Gallery
118 N. Broad St.
Through Aug. 26
215-972-7600

 

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