Possible Pleasures


Samantha Nye is an interdisciplinary artist whose work highlights aging queer bodies while reenacting moments of 1960s pop culture.

Artist Bio

Possible Pleasures is a video and installation project that envisions fantasy histories and subsequent futures of trans-inclusive lesbian spaces through the reenactment of 1960’s musical Scopitone films. To make this work, Nye will assemble a cast of women, ages 60-92, which will include performance artists, theater and film actors, former porn stars, and sometimes also my mother. Lead roles for two of the three upcoming videos will be performed by Annie Sprinkle and Penny Arcade. The soundtrack for one video will be recorded and performed by the musician Peaches. The title of this series playfully takes its name from Laura Mulvey’s 1973 pivotal feminist film theory essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.”

Scopitone films, considered precursors to contemporary music videos, were watched in 1960’s nightclubs on machines that were part jukebox, part television set. Nye imagines the audience tightly gathered around a small screen, and seeks ways to reinvent this history. As video installation works, Nye will create immersive installations that encourage physical connection and dance. Nye will fill the space with soft textures, heart-shaped hot tubs, and video sculptures that playfully nod to fetish furniture. Each installation will be inspired by aesthetic traditions of queer camp, budget Bat-Mitzvah parties, and the Times Square peep shows of the 1980s.


Award Year
2025
Status

In Progress

Samantha sits on a white chair in her studio and looks into the camera. She wears a purple 80s jumpsuit and vintage fuchsia heels. Her studio floor is covered with pieces of cardboard to protect the wood from oil paint. Behind her are 3 large paintings.

Samantha Nye

Philadelphia, PA

Samantha is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow in filmmaking. Her work is in the collections of The Arnhem Museum in the Netherlands and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in The US, and will be included in forthcoming exhibitions at The Museum of Art of São Paul, Brazil, and the Suwon Museum in North Korea. She is represented by Candice Madey Gallery in New York City, and her large-scale video installations and paintings have been featured in national and international galleries, including Het HEM, and Het Nieuwe Muntgebouw in the Netherlands; Post Territory Ujeongguk in Seoul, South Korea; Guts Gallery in London, UK; Ryan Lee Gallery in New York City; and Steven Zevitas Gallery in Boston, among others.

Her work has been featured in U.S. publications such as The New YorkerNew York Times, Art News, Vogue Brazil, and Dazed, while her international recognition includes De Volkskrant, Metropolis M, Trouw, and Het Parool. In 2021, her solo video exhibition My Heart’s In A Whirl at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was written about in The Boston Globe, BOMB Magazine, and The Brooklyn Rail.