Spaced Out Artist Residency

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So Tuesday 20 October 2020 was the first day of the Spaced Out Artist Residency and we explored the idea of using the digital world as a creative space and as a tool for creating space. With the travel restrictions imposed on us by the infamous Corona virus we have had to consider new ways of creating and interacting with our business and social associates. In the context of the visual artists-in-residence we can consider the dynamics of not having access to the public spaces, galleries, studios, markets or other social interactions that keep us productive. The 'new normal' requires us to imagine how we are going to shift our focus and channel our business and social activity to the digital space. Riding on #soar2020's theme- Art Creates Space/Space Creates Art- we explored the ways in which our creative work can continue to meet its market via the digital world and how the digital world can be used as a tool to be implemented in our new unusual creative spaces. By way of an insightful Zoom meeting entitled Digital & Space Webinar, hosted by Branding Akosua founder Ms Louisa April, our Artists-in-residence were treated to a enlightening tour of the creative avenues of the digital space. From eleven o'clock in the morning the residents spaced out into the different worlds on the internet that the host was very familiar with as she generously guided the artists at each of the various stations. The interactive session that was attended by Mwamba Chikwemba, Prince Moyo and beat maker Nandele unpacked the reality of African attitudes towards the concept of trading on a virtual platform and the need for the artists to not only look for business exchange via the internet but to take on the role of insuring their customers that it is safe space to buy art. Since they are creatively inclined, perhaps the artists can use the virtual space as a canvas to encourage online transactions as they are going to be necessary in the new normal.

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On Day 7 of the Spaced Out Artist Residency, fellow resident Nandele Maguni gave a refreshing presentation during the *Sound&Space* forum. Nandele hosted the forum from the confines of his quarantine accomodation in Lisbon where he was in transit to the Netherlands to promote his lockdown inspired EP Final Fantasy. Just last week Nandele interacted with his fellow artists-in-residence from his home in Maputo as they spoke about the wicked heatwave that had hit the region making their days exhausting even before noon. On this day he appeared in a jacket telling about how he was greeted by the winter of Europe. It was as if he had been taken through a portal to a whole other world. In a way this was indeed the case. In the first hour of a refreshing presentation Nandele transported Prince Moyo and Mwamba Chikwemba through their own portal into his world where he creates music out of the sounds that make up his surroundings. From the banging hammers that he would hear at a construction site in his neighbourhood in Maputo to the ululating women (which sounds much like home to his Zambian and Motswana peers) to the public announcements at the Lisbon airport repeatedly reminding travellers to keep their masks on at all times, Nandele takes his Zoom audience into the different environments that get captured by his creative radar and inspire his unique artistic expressions.

He introduces the techniques he uses to transform sound into space and explains the different terminology that may not be in the everyday language of visual artists. It would appear that the beatmaker used his craft to adjust the harsh temperatures of the day as the extreme heat and cold gave way to the experience.

After an hour of exploring sound the forum journeyed into the familiar area of visual art as he explained how visual art and music work inseparably. Again Nandele shared visual aspects of his work with the example of collaborative work he has done with other visual artists ( check this video he collaborated with the talented Ricardo Jorge https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a6aiMV8YyAA) and filmmakers (https://www.netflix.com/bw/title/81273165?trkid=13747225&s=a&t=wha&preventIntent=true).

Prince and Mwamba too shared about their own relationships with sound, which will feature in a later post.

Redemption | Netflix

Newly released from prison, a man returning to his girlfriend and their child subsequently learns about a dangerous debt taken by his late m

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Spaced Out Artist Residency is an online cultural exchange that engages artists from Southern Africa in a creative process that helps them develop their craft, sustain their productivity and build together creatively.