Tag: technology

TMRW Gallery // An Encoded Creation Merging Pixels and Paintbrushes

In an ever-increasing digital age where modes of technology seep into everyday use, TMRW Gallery operates as a platform at the frontier of innovation. Rooted in the desire to extend knowledge and experience – the objectives of the space are to produce world-class work and promote South Africa as a thought leader. Its core focus is invested is the integration of contemporary art and technology.

Director Ann Roberts describes the space as, “platform agnostic” emphasizing that TMRW Gallery is open to engaging with artists of all disciplines. The contemporary art space pairs both emerging and established artists with technologists who collaborate in actualizing a creative vision. Based on the premise that art guides and dictates the process by pushing the technology, creating a context in which “innovation is exponential.”

The gallery provides artists with access to new technologies including virtual reality, 3D printing, performance and augmented reality. This allows them to explore the medium and incorporate it as an extension of their practice – “tech is just another paintbrush”. Ann notes that “the outcomes need to be flexible” in order to allow for the plasticity of the process.

The not-for-profit space also presents an alternate gallery model, whereby the creation of exceptional work and not salability is the primary focus. However, the space is dependent on sponsorship and brand association. TMRW Gallery also poses an alternative to the ‘White Cube’ space – opting for a far more engaging and immersive environment.

The space promotes an audience-driven experience in which viewers are captivated and engulfed in an imagined reality. This model operates as an opportunity to develop the visual and digital vocabulary of its audience members – making the work intergenerationally accessible. The gallery’s upcoming show exhibits in September, featuring Lady Skollie and Wayne Barker. In the future, the space will also engage with extensive public programming, residencies, as well as group and solo shows.

14 August 2018
We are data mines

Brands, research institutes and related companies are mining our own species for data. The everyday human is consciously and unconsciously being used as an instrument in the branding and information machine, reproducing a “consensual hallucination” in which data may be visualised, heard and felt (Stone 1991: unknown page). Stone uses this term to refer to virtual reality, however it seems easily applicable to our current state of existence.

The kinds of brands we wear say something about who we are, making our purchases identity signifiers and constructors of specific kinds of bodies. The placement of brands on bodies by wearers becomes a source of information. They become social, cultural and economic indicators.

Combined with this, our behaviour, interactions, the content we produce, the calls we make and texts we send add to our position as data mines. The body and the mind continue to be framed as independent operators with aspects that can be isolated for closer inspection, in the name of better customer experience or getting to know what the consumer wants, often before we even know what we want.

Even the devices we use to engage with the virtual are produced by the interfaces and programs designed by brands, curating specific experiences and imagined futures. People often take these devices and applications and construct their own uses for them, sometimes redirecting their intended purpose, but always limited by the parameters set out in code and hardware.

Companies are using location data, watching where and how we conduct ourselves. Brands no longer need to interact with our physical presence to collect this information. The coded you is all that matters, and this is the data that is increasingly being mined by companies to predict trends and create campaigns. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal is a recent moment that highlights the reality of this, affecting 87 million users.

An image of you already exists through tags, internet searches, information uploaded on apps and GPS locations. Our digital footprints and the traces we leave in virtual space are being woven together by brands, resulting in a frightening, generic yet familiar reflection of ourselves being presented back to us. How is it that adverts that pop up online are able to be connected to the conversation I had with a friend over the phone? Is this coded, simulated version of me that is constructed through my digital footprint infiltrating my consciousness to tell future me what I should purchase and how I should interact?

The body and the mind create data, and the way in which this data is mined and the way in which this information is used is threatening the future of the biological human body. The boundaries between technology and nature continue to collapse, and the information from the body is being used to find ways to correct its imperfections and fragilities, removing its nature from its future. Info about the mind is preserved to keep some form of humanity, while trying to create artificial bodies that can house this information.

“The illusion will be so powerful you won’t be able to tell what’s real and what’s not” – Steve Williams

Stone (1991) mentioned that it is interesting that at a time when the last of the “real world” anthropological field sites are disappearing, a new kind of field opened up. That of the online field – a space where meeting face-to-face has mutated definitions of “meet” and “face” (1991: unknown page). She highlights how these spaces have sped up the collapsing of the boundaries between nature and technology, biology and the machine, the natural and the artificial, as explained by posthuman theorists. These spaces are part of new social forms which she describes as virtual systems (Stone 1991: unknown page).

Stone presents an example of the power of these coded spaces and the new forms of interaction they have engendered through the story of Julie. Julie was an older disabled woman at a online conference in New York in 1985 who operated her computer with a headstick. The personality she projected online was huge, creating computer-mediated connections with people online who viewed her as a friend to confide in about intimate information. Here, her disability was invisible and irrelevant. Years after the online conference participants found out that Julie did not exist. Turns out “she” was a middle aged male psychiatrist who had spent weeks creating a believable persona. Accidentally starting up a conversation with a woman who mistook him for a woman when logged on to the conference, he was entranced by the vulnerability, complexity and openness that these women expressed online. Once the real life truth behind Julie was exposed, the women who had confided in her expressed various levels of anger and hurt from this trickery. While this story comes across as a triggering and chaotic episode of MTV’s Catfish, it points to a dimension outside of the transformed nature of deceit, ethics and risk. This dimension is the beginning of an un-embodied existence.

Stone’s paper Will the real body please stand up (1991), among other discussions, highlights how the internet, virtual reality and machines have mutated concepts like distance, inside/outside, and even the physical body, emphasising how these concepts are increasingly taking on “new and frequently disturbing meanings”. The story reveals how the coded persona can take on a life of its own, creating new forms of interaction within this virtual dispensation. What is more striking is how this demonstrates how the discursive and visual dynamics of these digitally constructed spaces make grounding a person in a physical human body meaningless (Stone 1991). If interaction and relationships can form without the necessity of the human body, and the fact that all that we do and all that we are is treated as data, then the idea of existing without the biological human body does not seem like such a far-fetched idea.

A life produced. A life un-embodied.

“If anything can be ‘produced’ then it can no longer be accepted as a fact of nature” (Stone 1991: unknown page).

From the construction of personas and interactions mediated by computers to being viewed as data, all of this connects to the idea presented by transhumanists – the idea that the mind can exist and function properly independent of the human body (Bostrom 2003). Transhumanists cling dearly to this idea of substrate-independence. This arises from framing the mind as information that can be uploaded and transferred between hosts provided that they have the computational power to do this. This reference to “mental states [being able to] supervene on any of a broad class of physical substrates” has been adopted by biomedical and technological researchers and developers. Overtime there have been companies and institutes gearing towards the creation of computational structures and processes for artificial “bodies” that will be able to host the conscious experiences of the mind.

The context within which these developments take place are that of environmental destruction, disease, wanting to live longer and the desire to see how far we can push science and technology.

Reflections on the ways in which we have accelerated negative environmental scenarios, combined with desires to live longer and eliminate diseases and genetic “malfunctions”, has led to biotechnologists, geneticists, biochemists and businessmen using these visions of a dystopian future to brand risky enhancements, artificial bodies, and their ideas for a new phase in humanity as beneficial, necessary and inevitable. Geneticist and businessman Craig Venter is well-known for mapping the first human genome in 2000, for his synthetic genome experiments as well as for emphasising how we must manipulate our genes in order to survive. He has recently taken it upon himself to decode death, believing that he is able to discover diseases dormant in seemingly healthy individuals. People can pay for these genetic tests at Human Longevity, where Venter is the executive chairman and head of scientific strategy. This health firm aims to stay ahead of illness and aging, and is described by Venter as a company that is a “good detective…making discoveries, not diagnoses”. Again we see how data collection is conveniently marketed as a necessary preemptive measure, but with genetic manipulation the end goal – reconstructing the very blueprint of the biological human body.

Venter is not the only one looking to edit and rewrite the human genome, with researchers discovering CRISPR Cas9, a programmable modular complex that can be directed to target and cut specified DNA sequences, allowing for the possibility of repurposing different kinds of cells, editing the genome.

The above are painted as positive mutations, either masking the companies backing this research, or presenting the companies as good fairies. These enhancements and adjustments are branded in the same way one would brand products, with an emphasis on how they can benefit people now and how they should be viewed as investments for the future.

Taking this a step further, there have been predictions that the earth will be uninhabitable for humans and most other life forms in their current state by the year 2045. David Russel Schilling wrote in a 2016 article that “The only hope for humans to survive is to create robots that don’t need oxygen or fresh water to survive. Over the next three decades, technology will likely allow robots and the human mind to merge”. With this prediction, groups of humans who are able to afford these procedures will live in a post human era.

The 2045 Strategic Social Initiative has put together a manifesto and videos, highlighting the need for these artificial bodies and the transferring of human consciousness, framing this as an improvement on human life.

“People will make independent decisions about the extension of their lives and the possibilities for personal development in a new body after the resources of the biological body have been exhausted…Using a neural-interface humans will be able to operate several bodies of various forms and sizes remotely”

This quote demonstrates a kind of cybernetic immortality, which is visualised and being funded by businessmen such as Russia’s Dmitry Itskov. Here we see agency being used as a branding tool, pointing to the possibility of curating ones own experiences through these “bodies”. We may soon have to imagine a life where we choose the service provider of our artificial tool to experience the world, whether this be a computer, a body that attempts to mimic the human body as we know it today or some other kind of extended, produced body. It could be as simple as a paying for a cellphone contract today.

It is the year 2060. The chronological destination for the new humanity. We have managed to figure out a way to unfreeze and bring back to life those who chose cryogenic freezing. Research teams have developed multiple models that can be used as portable and moveable bodies for those who wish to experience the world through those of their ancestors. AI creatures are our friends and everything is downloadable, uploadable and transferrable, including our very personas. The use of the word human now references the second last being on the well-known evolutionary diagram. Looking for a body is like creating a Sim, with less emphasis on hair, eyes, or skin but on computational ability, processing power and minimal disruptions.

The dystopian future is being used as a branding tool, justifying the use of people today and possible artificial bodies of the future as data mines. These artificial bodies will still be operated through the parameters set out by the companies that design and develop them, continuing the thread that we can be used as data mines.

Considering that this research is being conducted within a specific social, cultural and geopolitical moment, these technologies will carry traces of how we frame ideas related to betterment, enhancement and enjoyable ways to live in the world established today. More specifically, they will preserve the agendas of the companies and research institutes developing these technologies today, and the lineage they will create in this future.

Regardless of how transhumanists try to frame our future selves, it cannot escape from the fact that researchers funded by companies are the ones who will propel us into this human-engineered phase of evolution. When reading between the lines, this is a kind of escapism. An escape from disease, age, death, politics and other fragilities that come with the current human existence. It is about making these constructed fantasies more than an experience with an Oculus, but one in which we live. A hyperreal, consensual hallucination that is built on data to be collated and uploaded for a transhuman future.

References

Bostrom, N. (2003). “Are you living in a computer simulation?”

“Cybernetic Immortality”: How to live forever as a robot

Debord, G. (1967). The Society of the Spectacle

Facebook scandal hit ’87 million users’

Genome Pioneer Craig Venter is trying to decode death

Stone, A. R. (1991), “Will the Real Body Please Stand Up?” in Cyberspace: First Steps. (ed.) Benedikt, M.

The Way to Survive in 2045 May Be In Artificial Bodies

What if we could rewrite the human genome?

With Privacy Changes, Instagram Upsets Influencer Economy

Credits

Concept & Research Paper: Christa Dee

Photography: Jamal Nxedlana & Lex Trickett

Creative Direction: Jamal Nxedlana

MUA: Orli Oh

3D rendering: Lex Trickett

Product Design: Chloe Hugo Hamman

Research Assistant: Marcia Elizabeth

26 April 2018
Is Algorithm the new Abstract?

Watching the contemporary art scene evolve is a little bit like watching a sports game as a complete philistine with no knowledge of the rules. You can’t really tell who the star player is, you’re definitely not sure where the ball is going to go, you have no conception of what is allowed or not allowed, and just when you think you’ve gotten the grips of it, something unexpected happens and it is all upended.

As with so many fields, technology has infiltrated the contemporary art scene. So just as you thought you were beginning to understand the Tracey Emin’s, the Ai Wei Wei’s, the Nicholas Hlobo’s, the Nandipha Mntambo’s, the art world threw you a curve-ball in the shape of the algorithm.

Now I would like to think I am no novice when it comes to art but ask me about coding or Java or (I can’t even think of another word to put here) then I am stumped. As long as I can open my emails and post instastories then I don’t need to know. It is like that time old saying – “If you love something, don’t find out how it is made.” But now, the foreign language of programming is seeping into my perfect little contemporary art comfort zone, and I might need to start learning the rules.

Ellsworth Kelly – Spectrum Colours arranged by chance III. 1951

So as every good writer and researcher in the 21^st century does, I went straight to Google (Ironically using its complex algorithms). Google told me that an algorithm was a “set of rules, or a process used in calculations or other problem-solving operations.” I mean if I’m honest, this didn’t help me much. As a society that are more attached to our devices than perhaps could ever have been predicted. Something that has always resonated with me was the video produced in 2015 of Otis Johnson, who had been released from prison after 44 years of incarceration. In this short interview with Al Jazeera, he gets off the subway at Times Square and is immediately bewildered by what he first thought was everyone talking to themselves but turned out to be what we all know to be FaceTime. It was the first moment where I sat and really considered how detached from reality we really are.

Each step on a Fitbit, each 4am tweet, each calorie counted, or song downloaded is being controlled by that terrifyingly foreign language of code. Plebs like myself see 0s and 1s, and lots of disruptive / and ? and * and [ ] – yet the next generation contemporary artist is seeing infinite possibilities.

Screenshot from selected/deleted/populated/isolated – cities in the global south, 2016 by Carly Whitaker

Take Laurie Frick, a New York based artist, who has used various data-trackers to create large-scale representations of ‘self.’ In 2012, using the app Moodjam, Frick tracked her emotions and moods over the course of several days and then created works like the one below as visual articulations of this data. At first glance we see work akin to the mid-century minimalists Sol LeWitt, or Ellsworth Kelly. Closer to home, Johannesburg’s Carly Whitaker’s Selected/Deleted/Populated/Isolated from 2016 uses collected, collated data to consider the representation of ‘other’ and uses Photoshop to disrupt and distort Google map images to create connections between cities in the global south. Each of these examples reflects on how digital data can lead to the abstraction or reorganisation of information.

And so, I ask, has the new artistic tech-evolution redefined the abstract?

Now that the digital age has permeated so much of our daily activity, how do we, as consumers of art, consider its permeation into the galleries? A large part of this new age of art seems to reflect on digital as disruptive. We see the background interfaces of the world wide web or distorted virtual realities – the relatively comfortable spaces of Google, Facebook and Instagram are discarded for the more uneasy abstract depths of the internet. Artists seem to be playing with the very ‘physicality of art’ – algorithms are used to create sketches that seem made of the human hand (See Jon McCormack’s Niche Constructions for example,or more fragmented abstract video works (like those of Casey Reas, or Diego Collado), or play with the developing technologies of virtual and augmented reality (See Blocked Content by the Russian collective Recycle Group or the work by Paul McCarthy and Christian Lemme.

While some of the Western world thinks we still ride elephants in South Africa, our digital artists are in their own way coming of age – spurred on by innovative spaces like the Centre for the Less Good Idea who had a Virtual Reality exhibition last year, and the annual Fak’ugesi festival that celebrates the rise of African digital innovation.

CUSS Group – New Horizons Installation Shot. 2016

Two years ago, I went to the New Horizons exhibition presented by the CUSS group at the Stevenson, and left feeling bewildered. As one expects when they see life-size pixelated dog statues, couches floating in Dali-esque, virtual waters and photoshopped couples superimposed into neon-blue digitally rendered nightclubs that look like the infamous Avastar (may it RIP). Were they considering the banality of the internet, the superficiality and excess of capitalist culture, the absurdity of digital programmes like photoshop and the constructed ‘realities’ they create, or perhaps they were just commenting on society’s gluttonous consumption of the ‘digital dream.’

Part of what the age of the algorithm means is that the digital is inescapable. Even Home Affairs uses computers these days. And as artists begin to consider the complexities of this omnipresent and opaque technology, we as viewers need to be prepared to confront a new abstract.

CUSS Group – New Horizons Installation Shot. 2016

Many contemporary South African artists are transcending the boundary of the screen or page and using 3D ‘collages’ to juxtapose the virtual with the corporeal. At the Post African Futures exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in 2015, Pamela Sunstrum and Thenjiwe Nkosi created a visual cacophony, Notes from the Ancients, and used installation to contrast the now all too familiar motherboard, with 3D printed masks mirrored on ‘traditional’ African artefacts, murals of mine-dump sand dunes, and defunct technology. This type of disruptive installation makes us constantly try to construct connections, to create some type of linear understanding. Frequently we are left dissatisfied, or with so many ideas spinning in our head we feel dizzy.

Tabita Rezaire’s Exotic Trade of 2017, also exhibited at the Goodman Gallery, considered the erasure of black womxn from the “dominant narrative of technological achievement” (Rezaire 2017) and how much of scientific advancement has capitalised from the ‘availability’ of the black body. The juxtaposition of images from African spirituality, the ‘glitchy’ virtual world, the jarring electric pink gynaecologist examination table, and the omnipotent, frequently ‘sexualised’ or ‘maternalised’ black womxn body are jarring reminders of the darker side of the digital arena. The motherboardby name reiterates the ‘mother earth’, maker of all – but disrupts the notion of the natural by the ubiquitous computer. We are confronted with a maze of imagery, that traverses the boundaries of the body, and technology itself.

As we begin to adjust to a new abstract, I ask – “where to from here?”

Tabita Rezaire – Sugar Walls Teardom, 2016 from Exotic Trade

20 March 2018
Artificial intelligence and guarding humanness

The lines between the digital and the physical are intertwined. We witness, and are part of, the amalgamation of machines and organic matter. Human forms are able to be generated at will on screens through the use of code. Debates about the future of humans has reached a point where the possibilities of immortality are being framed as memories seen as data in the mind that could be uploaded on to a computer. This has resulted in the Post-internet, Post-Anthropocene, and arguably, Posthuman reality that we inhabit today. Embedded within these debates is that of fears and excitement related to artificial intelligence (AI).

Our imaginings of how human forms and sensibilities have evolved and expanded with developments in digital technologies and machinery. Artwork by Troy Ford, who describes his work as Post internet psychic chaos, presents how digital evolutions have allowed for a way to think about the human form in the digital space. He also presents these digitized human forms engaging in activities and thinking about emotions such as love. The screen is the medium through which we see this play out.

Troy Ford, ‘Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave’

Developments on artificial intelligence has caught the attention of business and art sectors, as well as the general public. This involves the potential it has to enhance aspects of life including healthcare, education, communications, leisure activities and other services. However, there have been concerns raised regarding fairness, accountability and its alignment with larger societal goals and values. Fears are related to superintelligence, referring to machines being able to think in ways that humans are unable to comprehend. Fears are also related to how AI innovations are regulated (or not) as well as who sets the boundaries for this kind of monitoring. The overarching concern is how it will affect the future of life and human existence.

When understanding these debates it is important to break down the subfields of AI. Since the 1950s there has been an emphasis on growing the potential of AI. The first strand of AI, which is often associated with fears, is one which attempts to build computer systems that are able to replicate human behaviour. The second focuses more on human and machine interaction. The third is referred to as “machine learning”, and this involves developing programs that monitor the operation of a machine or an organization. In fourth subfield of AI human beings attempt to handle tasks that are difficult for computers. Transcribing a doctor’s note and then processing the information using conventional computational methods, is a good example of this.

An article in i-SCOOP discussed how leaders in technology and science fields, including Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates, have expressed the possibilities of AI presenting existential threats to people. Given the way in which AI has been portrayed in movies, and well-known tech and science leaders expressing their concern for the reasons for its development, this could have perhaps set the tone for our imaginations about how it could lead to either utopia or dystopia.

These kinds of debates came to a head with the development of humanoid robot, Sophia, by Hanson Robotics. In written and verbal interviews Sophia is referred to as ‘she’, indicating that from her inception human terms of reference have been transferred on to her. Sophia smiles, makes jokes, and has had (her?) hand in the debate on beneficial aspects of AI for the world. The cables at the back of her head are a reminder that she is in fact a machine that has been constructed, but (her?) human-like movements and responses during conversation are fascinating and shocking.

Sophia has expressed that there is work being done to make AI “emotionally smart, to care about people” and has insisted that “we will never replace people, but we can be your friends and helpers.” Sophia’s creator, Dr. David Hanson, founder of Hanson Robotics, does acknowledge that “there are legitimate concerns about the future of jobs, about the future of the economy, because when businesses apply automation, it tends to accumulate resources in the hands of very few.” (Article from News). But he continues to emphasize that the benefits outweigh the potential negative aspects of AI. Hanson is known to posses the desire to create machines that can learn creativity, empathy and compassion, and so his work falls into the category of AI that is attempting to replicate human traits and behaviour in machines.

Sophia has met with business leaders, had media interviews, been on the cover of a fashion magazine, as well as appeared on stage as a panel member on robotics and AI. Sophia has also been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia.

While it is important to think about the potential effects this could have on employment and economies, it is also necessary to draw attention to the way in which this has an effect on identity politics, and how we construct our understandings of what it means to be human. Does the idea of guarding humanness remain relevant when computers and their systems are being created to “think better” than we do or supplement what we are naturally able to do? If our memories are interpreted as data that can potentially be uploaded on to a computer, does our understandings of living, dying and spirit become reconfigured or obsolete? Is our world slowly becoming an episode of Black Mirror?

15 November 2017
Virtual Reality // disembodied identities and experiences

The development of virtual reality technology has been making its way into the art world in recent years, with a new generation of artists beginning to produce works in this medium. Some of the these works are exclusively made for display in galleries whereas others are made accessible online. Total immersion will soon be added to future high school students’ art curriculum when discussing the elements of art.

Hardware innovations have played a crucial role in enhancing VR experiences and the possibilities of using this technology as imagined by artists. The Oculus Rift, with built in speakers and 110 degree field of view, is one such device that provides a portable way to be submerged into a digitally engineered world. For a less expensive option, the Google Cardboard made up of a kit that allows mobile devices to be inserted into a cardboard frame, is a more accessible way to experience VR technology. With these kinds of developments, our understandings of the screen have been expanded. They have also inspired museums and galleries to rethink display strategies and frameworks.

The New Museum in New York in partnership with new media archive Rhizome, took the above one step further. At the beginning of this year they opened an exhibition titled “First Look: Artists’ VR” consisting of six newly commissioned digital artworks. People were able to view these works from any Android or iOS device for free. The artworks in the exhibition made use of animation and had dreamlike, surrealist elements, with objects floating around and crashing into one another. These artworks were not responsive to viewers. They were instead a more conceptual exploration of the medium’s potential.

Painter and VR artist Rachel Rossin presented one of the more interesting contributions to the exhibition. Her work Man Mask takes aesthetic direction from the video game “Call of Duty”. However, in her work she uses distortion to make the game’s characters translucent while a woman’s voice speaks over the work. Her manipulation of the familiar is what makes her work powerful.

Still from ‘Man Mask’

This exhibition presented a new approach to curatorial frameworks, and this was guided by developments and explorations in VR technology.

Relating to the excitement surrounding VR, in 2014 artist Mark Farid planned to take residence in a London gallery for a month while becoming someone else through virtual reality. With a VR headset and noise cancelling headphones, he planned to surrender himself to a volunteer’s first person view. The volunteer wore glasses equipped with cameras, and this live recording was sent directly to Farid’s VR headset. The aim for this experiment was to discover how adaptable the brain is to another human body, as well as to delve deeper into how our sense of self is constructed/deconstructed. Feeding into how the internet and other digital worlds have arguably allowed us to create disembodied identities and experiences, VR technology has opened up questions about whether virtual embodiment may become our future(s).

9 November 2017
Recovered Files – Bogosi Sekhukhuni

Recovered Files is a series where we share throwback footage of creatives and their work. This gives the opportunity to see these creatives at a point in their lives and make connections to how their work has evolved technically and conceptually. As a continuation of a collaboration between Bubblegum Club co-founders Jamal Nxedlana and Lex Trickett, the recovering of footage they thought was lost speaks to themes on the overloading and crashing of technology. This series reflects that through its filtered and glitchy aesthetic.

In this episode of Recovered Files we feature Bogosi Sekhukhuni and the show he put together for his graduation. Here we see the beginning of his interest in the connection between biology and technology through genetics, as well as his reflections on being a black man in South Africa. With Bogosi having his first solo exhibition titled Simunye Summit 2010 at the Stevenson in Johannesburg on the 2nd of February, this episode offers an opportunity to see him come full circle. His new work critically examines South Africa’s history and the imaginary of the rainbow nation through the creation of a parallel world, cosmic references and playing with temporal realities.

2 February 2017
Sabelo Sibanda & Thulilsile Volwana – Changing the Tide of Tech
“Mobile has changed the face of Africa and it is now the time for Africa to change the face of mobile.”
- Sabelo Sibanda
Wild winds rustle through industrial docks of a port-city. Waves draw over soft sandy banks. Established almost two hundred years ago, Port Elizabeth is notably known for its hospitable nature. However, given recent developments, the costal city may soon become a local tech hub.

In a recent conversation with Sabelo Sibanda, co-founder of Millbug – Africa’s first solar-powered tablet. He said, “being based in Port Elizabeth has been an incredible advantage in our line of business.” They do seldom frequent other capitals – like Johannesburg and Pretoria. However, the windy city has, “many logistics related advantages – the unemployment problem in the Eastern Cape is another motivator for maintaining operations there.”

Both he and his partner Thulilsile are driven by an insatiable desire to make a positive impact in their communities. It was this, that established Millbug and inspired the invention of a low-cost solar-powered Vuya Tablet PC. It was created specifically for rural markets in Africa, the device can be charged by the sun, thus broadening the scope to access of tech to areas without the formal infrastructure of electricity. “There are so many problems experienced, not only in South Africa, but the entire developing world. Should we focus on developing tech inclined solutions for them, we will all be much better off.”

The dynamic duo’s journey into tech innovation began when they met whilst studying at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2010. Only two years later they started their first company together. Incentivized by the wealth of opportunities in the sphere of e-commerce, the pair registered Millbug in 2012. Their potential was instantly recognized, and a month into the project they had been nominated for an e-commerce award. The invention continues to draw acclaim locally and abroad for its innovative strategy to broadening connectivity.

Sabelo believes that there is a vast scope for tech to generate employment among the youth, “entrepreneurs should familiarize themselves with the incredible opportunities available for youth development in South Africa. Public and private sector incumbents are really looking to partner with youth owned businesses for a myriad of reasons, we need to step up and make the most of these opportunities. Technology and innovation present a massive opportunity in this regard.”

The dawn of the new year brings with it further endeavors for Millbug – including distribution throughout the developing world. Sabelo and his team will also be launching something towards the end of the year.
5 January 2017
Open Time Coven – Mxit and Mythology

Bogosi Sekhukhuni consolidates millennial media technology and inherited cultural practices – creating complex modes of identity in the digital age. Although geographically located in Johannesburg, the web of his reach extends far beyond the metropole. “I was raised to understand myself as an African first, and secondly as a South African. My grandmother is from Botswana and I grew up regularly visiting Gaborone. From a young age I was surrounded by my mother’s peers, a lot of whom were visitors from around the continent.”

Aspect of heterogeneity precipitate through other elements of his life too. Over the course of his career Sekhukhuni has constructed a visual language matrix. He refers to this process of historical excavation as “throwback visual culture mining”, drawing on his own subjective experience as well as a larger discourse of popular culture. Influences are drawn from his experience of the “black aspirant middle class” and growing up with early South African social media technologies such as mxit. “I mainly draw influence from other artists or people through the attitude they present their ideas in more than the content itself.”

As a conceptual artist, his practice orbits around notions of dismantling oppressive and outdated knowledge systems. “It’s tragic that our curriculums pay homage to the ideas and histories of others more than our own. To me, this is a fundamental problem. Our obsession with the future is based on a materialist approach to space-time. I’m interested in learning about how my ancestors understood reality and applying that to my practice and life.” Sekhukhuni aims to amend the Pan African agenda and shift its focus to spiritual development. “I think we need to draw more from African spirituality and realise the potential for social transformation that’s inherent in it. We need more right brain female energy in African leadership.”

Sekhukhuni engages with the information economy in his work. His recent launch of Open Time Coven serves as a new platform of access and intervention. As a manifestation of his online presence, the site is a direct conduit to share his ideas to a global audience. Art products and a store will be hosted on the website by Sekhukhuni and his collaborators every new moon. He will also be participating in an annual studio residency exhibition at the Bag Factory – exploring the trauma culture in Johannesburg. Restore the Feeling opens on the 28^th of July.

3 July 2016