untitled thirty-seven / Intercepted messages (sǒ bàtú)

sǒ translates as to bathe, to cleanse… sǒ bàtú would be  ‘to bathe one’s ears’, to  or ‘ear bath,’ in Kɛnyaŋ
(Kenyang), a language widely spoken in the cross-river basin of Manyu, in
the Cameroons. It’s metaphorically a sonic bath.Like a ritual, or an impulse that precedes an experience. The installation spatialises sounds,
hardened 100% cotton thread/plant fibre structures, glowing set of modelled and
animated “eye balls” in discontinued jail cells, torture chambers and re-purposed
prisons. The first set up,  was in a cluster of historical prison cells under the
colonial-era Batavia House in Fatahillah square, Central Jakarta, in the context of the Jakarta Biennial (JIWA).
A multi channel composition from field recordings mainly from
(water, fire, wind, earth) is configured to use the existing architecture to
accentuate the low frequency elements from the sub-woofers, creating a molten
state between acousmatic  sounds and a system of irregular monstrous
heartbeats.The collage also includes vocal excerpts/ideas from certain figures in
black liberation struggles with an emphasis on figures from the Bright of Bonny

study, polymerised 100 percent cotton threads structure

Intercepted Messages/ : a collection of notes that take the form of poems,
/letters/sonic sketches from and around prisons, and political detainees, read,
sketched by selected voices around the world (from an imagined or real,
emergency or urgent position, in recognised or non-recognised languages) . Some
messages could evoke a possible future, or a cosmology of a possible
future. The video documentation of readings/ performance featuring the artist
and other performers reading selected notes or letters, are projected on a
water-soluble paper screen that dissolves over the course of the projection, with
the video image subsequently fading into the backdrop of the dark sky.

video documentation…

Live recording of so bàtú surround mix #1 by Mbieven-Efforbi Em’kal Eyongakpa, @ Mbi-Eshobi surround lounge  @studio Efforbi @ 13 seats.
,recorded november 2017 i, Supported by ɛfúkúyú,