Senga Nengudi: Topologies

Title: Senga Nengudi: Topologies

Authors: Kellie Jones,  Catherine Wood, Malik Gaines

Publisher: Hirmer

Publication Year: 2020

ISBN: 9783777433684

For almost fifty years, Senga Nengudi has shaped an œuvre that  inhabits a specific and unique place between sculpture, dance, and  performance. And that work has been widely recognized as groundbreaking.  Her iconic R.S.V.P. sculptures—performative objects made from  pantyhose and materials such as sand and stone—are now part of the  collections of American museums. Thanks to newly researched  material, this book brings to light  astonishing early works by an artist who has consistently attempted to  expand the definition of what sculpture can be. Among the bodies of work  presented in the book are the Water Compositions (1969–70),  interactive vinyl and water sculptures that Nengudi understood as an  organic rebuttal to the reign of minimalism, early fabric works that  Nengudi strung up in the back alleys of Harlem, and the suggestive R.S.V.P.  sculptures (1976–today), some of which were activated in choreographed  performances. Featuring newly commissioned essays by Kellie Jones,  Catherine Wood, and Malik Gaines, the book offers an unprecedented view  of Nengudi’s career and development.