PuSh International Performing Arts Festival presents world-renowned installation artist collaborating with local DJ for free dance party
The artist’s installation here features three, looping video portraits of herself incarnating the spirit of Nehanda, with music from nora chipaumire’s new opera
The installation afternow features the shitsoundsystem, a huge speaker setup custom-made for sonic maximalism. Photo by Mirka Pflüger
Loud, proud and militant, afternow, the latest multimedia installation from Zimbabwe-American dance powerhouse nora chipaumire, makes its Canadian premiere at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.
Presented with The Black Arts Centre, the free multimedia installation and dub night dance parties at The Roundhouse Exhibition Hall feature the shitsoundsystem, a huge speaker setup custom-made for sonic maximalism. This mountainous speaker installation celebrates the legacy of sound systems in Jamaican culture. It was designed by chipaumire in collaboration with ari marcopoulos and kara walker, and constructed by matt jackson studio.
Two dub night performances will take place during PuSh, on Saturday January 28 and Wednesday February 1. Participants are invited to interact with and respond to the installation, facilitating the kind of collective experience that is essential to chipaumire’s practice. Both nights will feature a collaboration with Vancouver based dj and sound artist, dj luz mob. Coming up in San Francisco's Mission, New York's Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, and rural Colorado, DJ Luz, who now resides in Vancouver, has tastes that run the gamut, spinning worldwide influences abound in each mix.
The multimedia installation is a work you can enter at will; it loses none of its power and meaning from being open to a multitude of entry points.
The music featured comes from the artist’s new opera, Nehanda, a work named for an African lion spirit venerated by the people of Zimbabwe and central Mozambique. Nehanda inhabits mortal women, notably Charwe Nyakasikana, a revolutionary behind the uprising against British colonists in the late 19th century.
The artist’s installation here features three, looping video portraits of herself incarnating the spirit of Nehanda.
nora chipaumire is the winner of four Bessie Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and many other honours for her work. She is engaged in a longterm research project entitled nhaka, an investigation of black bodies and imaginations.
Visit Roundhouse Exhibition Hall January 28, 29, and 31, and February 1 to 5 from 12 pm to 7:30 pm to experience the installation. Dub nights run from 9 to 11:30 pm January 28 and February 1.
Check out the video below and find tickets and more information here.
Post sponsored by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.