Drawing from the Nasher Museum’s collection of contemporary art, The Cinematic Impulse explored the intricate relationships between cinema, visual art and culture. The artists represented in this installation use a variety of strategies to visually examine the effects of Hollywood, from photography and video art to film itself. Their approaches reveal and examine the power of cinema, its origins and histories, audio-visual relationships, film narratives whether implied or direct, editing processes and character studies. The exhibition was organized by Reneé Cagnina Haynes, exhibitions and publications manager.

CLOCKWISE: Eve Sussman, Grayson Rises from the film The Rape of the Sabine Women (still; detail), 2005. Chromogenic print, edition 10/10, 26 1⁄2 x 73 inches (67.3 x 185.4 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Museum purchase, 2006.11.3. Image courtesy Roebling Hall, New York, New York. © Eve Sussman and The Rufus Corporation. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York, New York. Duke students visit The Cinematic Impulse. Photo by J Caldwell. Isaac Julien, Encore (Paradise Omeros: Redux) from the suite Point of View: An Anthology of the Moving Image (still), 2003. Video (color, sound), 4:38 minute loop. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Museum purchase, 2005.5.7. © Isaac Julien.