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South Africa

Black Grain Meditation© Black Grain Meditation

Black Grain Meditation

Highly inspired by the works of Saidiyah Hartman titled “The Chorus Opens the Way”, Black Grain Meditation Duo believe that if you listen closely, you can hear the whole world in a bent note, manifesting as the disharmonious scat of a collective subconscious.

Using music as a site of play and study, they aim to engage with a multitude of improvisational techniques in collaboration with the Johannesburg-based community. 

More in depth for this residency, they are exploring notions around damage (ie. Observed damage, collective damages, historical damage, body damage, archive damage, trans generational damage, geo-political damage, environmental damage), and signifying or witnessing that damage sonically. They will question their relationship to damage and how they speak to damage, urbanisation and technologies of resistance in their practice. This will be in conversation with those who are experiencing, witnessing, or dealing with damage, injury, repair, restoration, composting and speculating on ways that could hold the damage rather than trying to smooth it out. 

Portals opened must be perceived to be seen or understood. Like in dreams, the elements present are manifestations of deeper themes. Bodies and spiritual beings - these things mean things. The finger points to a light, a box containing memory. A tree stands listening to the flood of stories from the city. The city is a forest, and the forest has ears - I am a forest, you are a forest - how do we collectively hear, here?
  Black Grain Meditation © Black Grain Meditation

Christopher McWayne (MAF) © Christopher McWayne (MAF)

Bio
 Christopher McWayne (MAF)

Chris McWayne is a multi-genre artist who works under the concept of Mental Alchemic Formations (MAF)- in which one creates from the energy, both positive and negative, that exists within and outside of one's self. Through the power of the mind, create growth from pain and gold from lead. This is a process of transformation of the self, derived from the principles of alchemy, Hermeticism, and Zen practice. This concept is the primary vehicle for artistic explorations and, as such, serves as the name of the artist. Each project becomes a new exploration into self-discovery and is laid as a new foundation for future structures. The central tenet of the practice is that nothing remains static, everything exists within flow and rhythm.

For over 15 years, MAF has developed a multidisciplinary practice spanning hip-hop, electronic music, sound design, composition, installation, sonic art, acting, curation, movement arts, and DJing. This journey has led to many valuable collaborations and the creation of projects that have taken on a life of their own. MAF played an integral role in the foundation of The Nouveau Sud Project, a physical theatre group, as well as the Orbit and AFTA party series.

The duo project Black Grain Meditation is a performance as research which debuted in 2022 as part of Universitat de Kunste’s annual Rundgang festival. Their collective practice as composers, vocalists, sonic poets, technologists and researchers explores issues surrounding the knowledge and agency within music and sound, and the extent to which engagement with sustainability influences the practice and performance of music and its varying cultural texts.

Gugulethu Duma (Dumama) © Gugulethu Duma (Dumama)

Bio
 Gugulethu Duma (Dumama)


Gugulethu Duma (aka Dumama) is a musician / composer / sonic poet / creative producer from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Her practice plays with the deconstruction and critique of archaic modes of representation in Southern African/African sonic and performance culture, while also composing music for herself and others. As a storyteller and lyricist she weaves together childhood songs, stories and personal memories with electronic hues and gestures, experimenting with the divide between traditional oral culture and futuristic, globally oriented poetics.

Her work has been presented at cultural institutions and festivals such as SAVVY Contemporary, Gropius Bau, Humboldt Forum, Boiler Room x Total Refreshment Center, Zeits Mocaa, Oyoun Kultur NeuDenken, Berlin Xjazz, Berghain Kantine, Chimurenga, KONJO and many other curated events around South Africa, Senegal, Berlin and USA.

The duo project Black Grain Meditation is a performance as research which debuted in 2022 as part of Universitat de Kunste’s annual Rundgang festival. Their collective practice as composers, vocalists, sonic poets, technologists and researchers explores issues surrounding the knowledge and agency within music and sound, and the extent to which engagement with sustainability influences the practice and performance of music and its varying cultural texts.

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