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Taji Ra’oof Nahl (TR7) is a Philadelphia-based conceptual artist working in video, live scoring, and public performance through a methodology he calls Field Trips to Staged Productions. His projects translate historical research into cinematic events that combine moving image, sound, and dialogue. These presentations function as live research environments, inviting audiences into the construction of knowledge rather than its passive reception.
A 2024 Guggenheim Fellow in Fine Arts for his Calculating Banneker project Nahl repositions Benjamin Banneker as intellectual calibration point—linking cosmology, surveying, and African American knowledge production to contemporary civic life. His programs operate as cinematic environments rather than conventional screenings, integrating performance and dialogue as structural components of the work.
His work is included in Temple University’s Intellectual Heritage curriculum, where it is studied alongside Octavia Butler and Sun Ra within African American speculative and musical traditions.
In 2021, Nahl participated in Unknown Parallels at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia in conjunction with the Ulysses Jenkins retrospective, situating his interdisciplinary video practice within lineages of Black experimental media.
He is the founder of Ra’oof Atelier, Channel TR7, the Adam Vocabulary Club, and The Other Sounds of Philadelphia—platforms supporting interdisciplinary collaboration across academic, civic, and cultural contexts. He is currently completing Field Trips to Staged Productions: Ra’oof Invitationals, a book articulating this methodology and his coined concept of Artistic Journalism
Taji Ra'oof Nahl, b. 1961, American Artist, USA -
Contact me - shopraoof@gmail.com
Taji Ra’oof Nahl (TR7) is a Philadelphia-based conceptual artist whose practice integrates film, performance, sound, and archival inquiry into a method he describes as Field Trips to Staged Productions. His work investigates African American intellectual lineage, civic knowledge systems, and contemporary forms of authorship through moving image, live activation, and site-responsive presentation. His work is included in Temple University’s Intellectual Heritage curriculum, examining African American speculative and musical traditions alongside Octavia Butler and Sun Ra. Across screenings and public presentations, his projects invite audiences into shared inquiry—where historical research, speculative thought, and lived experience intersect.
A 2024 Guggenheim Fellow in Fine Arts, Nahl’s projects operate as living infrastructures—unfolding across screenings, installations, broadcasts, and public convenings that link historical research to present-day civic conditions. These works are frequently accompanied by conversation, treating dialogue as a central component of the work itself. He was invited by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, to participate in Unknown Parallels, situating his practice in dialogue with the work and legacy of Ulysses Jenkins. He is the founder of Ra’oof Atelier, Channel TR7, the Adam Vocabulary Club, and The Other Sounds of Philadelphia, platforms that support interdisciplinary collaboration and collective inquiry. His work has been presented in academic, civic, and cultural contexts, and continues to circulate as both artistic practice and pedagogical resource.