Unique to the Philadelphia presentation of “Senga Nengudi: Topologies” is the artist’s first video installation. “Warp Trance” was born out of Nengudi’s time as an artist-in-residence at Philly's Fabric Workshop and Museum in 2007. While in Pennsylvania she became interested in the production of textiles and visited several industrial weaving mills from which she sourced the artwork’s audio and video footage that appears projected onto board-like punch cards used to produce patterns for the Jacquard looms at the mills. The resulting sequence is rhythmic and looping, inviting visitors to move their own bodies in trance-like revolutions. As the final gallery in the exhibition, “Warp Trance” serves as both a continuation and extension of Nengudi’s explorations into dance and movement.
Installation view of "Warp Trance," 2007, by Senga Nengudi; sound composition by Lawrence “Butch” Morris (Courtesy of the artist; installation materials courtesy of Langhorne Carpet Company, Pennsylvania)
