Nolan Oswald Dennis (Zambia/South Africa) explores what they call ‘a black consciousness of space’: the material and metaphysical conditions of decolonisation. Their work questions the politics of space and time through a system-specific, rather than site-specific approach. They are concerned with the hidden structures that condition our social and political imagination, which transverse multiple realms (technical, spiritual, economic, psychological, etc), and works to produce counter-diagrams of these, sometimes opposed, sometimes complimentary systems.

During their residency Nolan will engage the possibilities of remediating the contentious colonial heritage of technical and science museums. Seeking to answer whether a non-imperial and decolonial approach to these types of technical museum collections unearth other dispositions, lines of possibility, and potential histories.

Nolan Oswald Dennis holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and a Masters of Science in Art, Culture and Technology for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They are a founding member of tech healing agency NTU; as well as the Indexing Literacy Project a collaborative research project collecting new theory for our indexical present; and the Black Earth Study Club, a network for planetary solidarity

Nolan was born Lusaka, Zambia, and is currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Supported by

Delfina Foundation’s Network of African Patrons


Thematic programme

Collecting as Practice:
Season 4


RESIDENCY SEASON

Autumn 2021


Artist’s website

Link


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Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.