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Artist

Lindiwe Matshikiza

Switzerland Lindiwe Matshikiza. Image by Noah Cohen

This project will be hosted at OOR Records, under the programme of the OOR Saloon.
The OOR Saloon events are interested in the politics of sound and the emancipatory potential of sonic space and are at the interface of experimental music cultures, intersectional feminist practices, audio art, performance and experimental DJ cultures.

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Interdisciplinary performance artist, Lindiwe Matshikiza will join South African born, Zurich based artist Tracy September for a research residency at OOR Records in Zurich from 16 July to 2 August 2019. The two artists are experimenting with a form of live vocal and text-based portraiture. Using vocal archives as a way to examine complex identities, the material they have been studying is a history transmitted and inherited through sound and memory. They aim to develop a working methodology that can provide a shape for performances and interactions among diverse groups of people in all kinds of spaces.

About the residency, Lindiwe says: “As artists, we have a shared interest in the nature of the human voice as a tool or method of expression. We are fascinated by the ability of a person’s voice to be a living archive, a sonic imprint of experiences, a holder of memory… and the notion of multiple identities being held within one voice.
Conversely, what does it mean to have lost one’s voice? And by extension: What do we permit or deny ourselves to voice? How does a nation state grant or deny permission, to take up space, for example? These explorations are a way into these questions as they allow us to start with our own voices and then find a way to explore them with a group.”

The two artists have worked together remotely for many years. Through the artistic community Tracy has come to be a part of – largely transnational people living and working in Switzerland, originating from other parts of the world – and through the artistic connections Lindiwe has made with Switzerland-based artists (such as Michiko Hanawa, Gilles Fürtwangler and Christian Pahud) that have passed through Johannesburg – all on Pro Helvetia residencies – the idea to set this next phase of collaboration in Switzerland has come about organically. During their residency they intend to develop their work using the frameworks of the ololyga and various group listening exercises such as those facilitated by Pauline Oliveros.