Gregory Nachmanovitch

Sara's is pleased to present Gregory Nachmanovitch, The Feeling of Being Safely Enclosed in a Shell, the artist's first one person exhibition in New York. The exhibition is centered around Nachmanovitch's substantial video work, Mannheim, 2023, on view in the main gallery. The film and its supporting work was conceived during his time at the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.

“Mannheim consists of a series of interwoven 3D animated vignettes. Based on a selection of historical texts, primarily manifestos, by Donald Rumsfeld, Arno Brekker, Cosima Wagner, Elliot Rodger, Yukio Mishima, Petrarch, and others, the film attempts to synthesize these voices through an impressionistic narrative.

The film was created parallel to a research project into the surprisingly abundant connections between high fantasy and extremist politics. What is it about fantasy as a genre that leads it to be so often co-opted by fascism? How do we untangle the complicated politics behind these stories?” - Gregory Nachmanovitch

Musician Kevin Eichenberger composed an original score for the film, consisting of a series of string quartets, improvisations, and midi experiments.

Excerpts from Mannheim’s screenplay were published with Do Not Research in 2021, along with selected concept renders.

Gregory Nachmanovitch (b. Charlottesville, Virginia) is a sculptor, game designer and new media artist. H’s work questions how masculinity, agency, gaming, and fantasy are intertwined with radical political movements and historical narratives. Manifesto, film, and literature are repossessed as a means of exploring the condition of the contemporary subject: terminally online, and perpetually saturated with media and games. Nachmanovitch is currently based in Berlin, and has previously been based in New York City and Glasgow where he studied fine art at the Pratt Institute and the Glasgow School of Art respectively.