‘Swarm’ highlights 10 years of Terence Nance’s community-driven art making

Swarm.

To move somewhere in large numbers, a dense group of insects, or, a coalition of people creating in community.

In “Swarm,” Terence Nances’ first solo exhibit, now open at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), swarm signifies ancestral celebration, artistic expression, and community.

“I thought of it [the name] because he works in community and works often in collaboration with so many other people…thinks of themselves as a member of many collectives,” “Swarm” curator and BlackStar Projects’ chief executive and artistic officer Maori Karmael Holmes said to The Inquirer. “So I thought it would make sense to acknowledge that in the title, and he was right away down with that idea.”

Running through July 9 at ICA, the immersive 5-part exhibit offers audiences the chance to meander through the gallery space where 10 years of Terence Nance’s cinematic surrealism is exhibited. Known for works like HBO Max’s Random Acts of Flyness, 2014′s Swimming in Your Skin Again, and 2012′s An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Nance abandons linear visual convention and substitutes it for fantastic imagery that magnifies the Black experience.

Stepping inside “Swarm,” visitors are thrust into the familiarity of a living room scene where Nances’ latest, Swarm Part Zero, plays on dual screens that sit in front of a coffee table and a comfortably broken-in couch. A shrine dedicated to a family member sits in waiting along with an ancestral offering table.

Sequestered in an open circular room, Univitellin, the story of love and tragedy (and both an homage to and a take down of French New Wave romance conventions) unfolds while a spinning platform tinkers with your POV. Each exhibit is uniquely designed as if to create its own swarm of viewers who sit or stand in close proximity to experience the art.

Holmes, who has been director, producer, and curator-at-large for Penn’s Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, said working with Nance provided a refreshing opportunity to curate a space that would highlight film as the prominent medium. “As a curator,” she said, “I’m really interested in working with filmmakers thinking about their work off of the screen. How does it get reimagined for a gallery or museum space?”

Holmes was purposeful in picking an artist who she not only worked with in the past, but someone who continues to inspire the film community. Nance featured in both the group shows Holmes curated in the past. “And I had been thinking about, really dreaming about doing a bigger exhibition,” said Holmes. “When BlackStar receives applications for its film festival, labs, or seminars, people often say, ‘Terence Nance inspired me.’”

“Swarm” is Nance’s homage to his family as well as his chosen community and frequent collaborators. “I think I was asking myself which pieces I’ve made felt most alive for me in this moment.” he said. Utilizing film and sound, he weaves together narratives of lineage that center on love, change, people, and the communities we find ourselves in. Holmes, Nance said, was instrumental in choosing the pieces for the exhibition, but he “had a sense of which pieces felt most appropriate to expand into environments and just followed my own curiosity.”

“I’ve never seen [this] gallery look like this. So I feel really excited about people’s brains sort of being shocked in a really good way about what’s possible, and also [being] transported when they participate in the work.” Holmes said.

“Terence Nance: Swarm” is co-organized with BlackStar Projects. The show is open for the public, until July 9, at Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th Street. Phila. https://icaphila.org/exhibitions/terence-nance-swarm/