At the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, the exhibition “Understudies” beckons art lovers into an immersive journey where conventional understandings are both deconstructed and reimagined.
Zambian-born artist Nolan Oswald Dennis, now based in Johannesburg, offers a captivating entry point into this discourse.
The moment visitors step inside, they encounter a striking vertical steel installation alongside an expansive graphite wall drawing and snippets of Dennis’s studio notes—early research sketches that have evolved into his current artistic explorations.
This setting encapsulates what Dennis calls a nuanced dissemination of liberating strategies expressed through intricate, non-linear forms.
Challenging Conventional Narratives
Interestingly, what seems to be the start of the exhibition—the reading room—actually serves as its end.
This intriguing twist symbolizes Dennis’s intention to upend traditional narratives, compelling us to reconsider ideas surrounding astronomy, land rights, geological formations, and cartography.
Collaboration plays a significant role in “Understudies.” Dennis includes museum staff in the creation of particular works, one of which is “Xenolith (Letsema), 2024.” This impressive column of compacted earth stands in harmonious contrast to the historic grain silo columns that frame the museum.
Drawing inspiration from the Setswana concept of Letsema, which embodies the value of voluntary cooperative labor, this piece underscores the beauty that arises from collective effort.
It raises provocative questions about the new perspectives that can emerge from collaboration, while also prompting reflections on the relationship between the temporal nature of labor and geological timelines.
Exploration of Time and Space
Time and space reoccur as foundational themes in Dennis’s artistic practice, resonating powerfully with his concurrent exhibition “overturns” at the Swiss Institute in New York.
A highlight of “Understudies” is “Superposition, 2024,” an installation rooted in quantum mechanics that suggests the simultaneous existence of multiple states.
Visitors find themselves engulfed in a sonic landscape, thanks to an infrasonic sound system featuring a sub-bass speaker, LED lights, and sensors.
This techno-poetic experience invites deep meditation on land, geological time, and the interconnectedness of our world.
By incorporating seismic data collected during the 2020 COVID lockdown, Dennis presents sounds—vibrations stemming from volcanic eruptions, bomb detonations, and earthquakes—that exist beyond human perception.
This innovative approach challenges our understanding of Earth’s subtle signals and questions the authority ascribed to concrete data.
Dennis delights in connecting viewers physically and emotionally to art.
His exhibitions draw on the concept of gravitational feel, as articulated by Fred Moten and Wu Tsang, prompting an instinctive connection between the viewer’s body and abstract notions of time and space.
The installations, including the immersive 12-minute film “Izintaba (Hottentots-Holland), 2024,” engulf the audience with digital portrayals of landscapes, enhancing their awareness of their surroundings.
Radical Love and Care
One of Dennis’s standout pieces, “Biko.Fanon” (2018), utilizes receipt printers to illustrate a fictional dialogue between two influential Black thinkers, Steve Bantu Biko and Frantz Fanon.
Their conversation encapsulates the transformative power of love as a radical force for Black liberation.
In another artwork, Dennis visualizes a discourse between Biko and Nomzamo Winnie Mandela, emphasizing how radical love is crucial for decolonization and envisioning a solidarity founded on care and mutual respect.
The theme of care continues with “Soft Rock (leNqaba yo Mkhosi),” a versatile sculpture that provides seating while featuring a photograph of a rock discovered by fellow artist Vusumzi Nkomo.
This interplay between soft and hard materials symbolizes the dualities within struggle—highlighting both the dispossession and resilience of Black South Africans.
Additionally, the rock’s history serves as a homage to the women whose stories often remain untold, resonating with the isiZulu saying that emphasizes endurance.
Through “Understudies,” Dennis exemplifies his dedication to challenging dominant narratives regarding knowledge and existence.
His art incites contemplation about fresh possibilities for worldmaking, echoing Audre Lorde’s assertion that conventional methods cannot dismantle oppressive structures.
Rather than delivering conclusive answers about authority within knowledge systems, Dennis invites us into a space of imaginative exploration toward liberation.
As I ponder the depth and meaning woven into Dennis’s intricate creations, I find myself grappling with an important question: does the elegance of his work risk rendering the injustices it addresses too abstract? Could the polished aesthetics dilute the urgency of the issues at hand, or do they inspire genuine hope for change? Perhaps Dennis, while envisioning a future of liberation, offers us tangible pathways for reimagining hope and possibility amidst the complexities of our world, lighting a hopeful path toward a brighter tomorrow.