Karl Nussbaum: GHOST DANCE FOR AMERICA, 1890
Exhibition Dates: June 25 – July 5, 2026
Artist Talk: Sunday, June 28, 2026 at 3 PM
Hudson Hall presents Ghost Dance for America, 1890, a large-scale immersive film installation by filmmaker and artist Karl Nussbaum. Presented in Hudson Hall’s historic performance hall, the work draws on nineteenth-century pre-cinema illusions and optical devices to explore the history of the enslavement of Africans, Indigenous dispossession, colonization, and spiritual resistance in the United States.
Inspired by the Zoetrope and the Daguerreotype Diorama, Nussbaum surrounds viewers with a 25-foot ring of suspended translucent scrim. The film rotates across the surface, enveloping visitors and their shadows inside the projected history itself.
The installation takes its title from the Ghost Dance, a spiritual movement that spread among Native American communities in the late nineteenth century in response to the U.S. government’s terrorism and brutal westward expansion.
Wovoka, a Northern Paiute spiritual leader, prophesied that the Ghost Dance would reunite the living with the spirits of their ancestors and restore peace, prosperity, and unity. Emerging from a period of profound violence and displacement, the movement carried a vision of resistance and restoration.
Nussbaum’s film and installation work has been exhibited internationally at venues and festivals including Sundance, Rotterdam, Oberhausen, the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum, Lincoln Center, Anthology Film Archives, and P.S. 122. A founding member of the influential 1980s East Village film collective Film Crash, Nussbaum’s practice explores liminal spaces — grief, memory, ghosts — and the intersection of science and spirituality. Inspired by the French Phantasmagoria and early film magic traditions, Nussbaum’s recent works utilize mirrors, pulleys, and suspended silk surfaces for projection.
“This installation is well suited for such a community-minded, cultural treasure like Hudson Hall,” says Nussbaum. “Built in 1855, Hudson Hall is situated within the historic timeline of this project and was built six years before the beginning of the American Civil War. In fact, Susan B. Anthony visited Hudson Hall to speak about abolishing slavery and later to rally support for women’s suffrage. So I am honored that Hudson Hall will be presenting Ghost Dance for America, 1890 on July 4, the 250th Anniversary of the un-United States of America.”
In conjunction with Upstate Art Weekend, Hudson Hall will present Persistence of Vision, an artist talk with Karl Nussbaum, on Sunday, June 28 at 3 PM. Taking place inside the installation itself, the conversation will explore its historical references, visual language, and the process behind its creation.
Exhibition Details:
Ghost Dance for America, 1890
Film installation by Karl Nussbaum
Dates: June 25 – July 5, 2026
Gallery Hours:
Wed–Sun: 12–5pm
Closed Mon, Tues, and holidays
Open Monday, June 28 from 12-5pm for Upstate Art Weekend
For more information visit hudsonhall.org or call (518) 822-1438.
Related Program:
Artist Talk: The Making of Ghost Dance for America, 1890
with filmmaker Karl Nussbaum
Sunday, June 28, 2026 at 3 PM
Presented over Upstate Art Weekend and taking place inside the work, this conversation offers an inside look at the making of the installation, the references and inspirations for it, projection technologies used, and the powerful message it conveys. Free with reservation. Reservations at hudsonhall.org.
For more information:
hudsonhall.org/event/ghost-dance-for-america-1890/