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ssame
SSAME?
18.08.2024
Movingpoets Novilla
Doors open 19:00
The phrases "I think they all look the same" and "same-same but different" reflect contrasting perspectives on identifying foreign objects or people. The former often carries a tone of racial discrimination when used to describe people from different ethnicities. In contrast, "same-same but different" is typically used among diasporic communities to express solidarity and unity, with examples such as Indonesians and Thais acknowledging their shared Southeast Asian heritage. Despite this sense of unity, significant differences exist even within the same diasporic group, such as varying privileges and reasons for migration, which are rarely discussed in depth. Ariel from Soydivision aims to explore these conversations through the medium of sound and radio, leveraging radio's cathartic abilities to foster empathy among marginalized communities. In this case, he expands the conversation within Berlin-based Asian and African diaspora entities. The event will feature live radio performances by Hany Tea and Emma Lo (Mutating Kinship Lab, Spätifunk), as well as Jon Carlos Evans (Black Communion) and Ariel Orah (Soydivision).
"This format is part of sōydivision's ASSOY Radio residency at Movingpoets Novilla, initiated by Ariel Orah. The radio installation TRANSTRAUMA FM will also exhibit during the day as part of the exhibition 'Weltfest?' by Movingpoets Berlin e.V. at Novilla Gallery."
Emma Lo
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Credit: Huong Nam Nguyen Thi
(she/her) is a writer, researcher, and artist based in Berlin. Her doctoral research as part of the project “Acoustic Disruptions” at the Intervening Arts Research Center (SFB1512), focuses on intersections of sound, technology, and diaspora. She has ongoing collaborations with SOYDIVISION´S #soy&synth and Asian Feminist Studio for Art and Research (AFSAR), among others.
hany tea
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Credit: Huong Nam Nguyen Thi
(she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist and activist within DAMN*, a political platform and activist collective supporting the Asian diaspora in Germany against discrimination through community organising and education. Their practice explores themes of memory, diaspora, and environmental issues through sound, storytelling, and performance.
Emma and Hany are co-initiators of Spätifunk, a project with/about Berliner Spätis, and are part of Mutating Kinship Lab (MKL), an artistic think-tank entity dedicated to fostering dialogue and collaboration within the Asian diaspora artist community in Germany.
Klaas von Karlos
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Credit-Michaela-Mahle
Klaas von Karlos is one of the musical aliases of filmmaker, writer, and audiovisual artist Jon-Carlos Evans. He is a graduate of Webster University (BA, Film Production) and the City College of New York (MFA, Media Arts Production). His audiovisual works fuse twisted samples of capitalist, western & religious agitprop against images and sounds of the Afro Diasporic experience with syncopated industrial drums, ambience, and dialectic imagery to create a sensory experience that is part sonic essay and dissonant revival.
In 2009, he founded the audiovisual collective ReVerse Bullets in Brooklyn with original members Marcus Pinn and Aedelwulf. The debut release, 2012’s “Drapetomania!” was nominated for “Best Mashup” at the MashRome 2013 Film Festival. 2020’s “US” from the EP “Stockholm Syndrome” was selected for the New York Live Arts exhibition “Curating the End of the World,” organized by Reynaldo Anderson, Tiffany E. Barber and Stacey Robinson at the Times Art Center.
As KVK, he has also collaborated as a member of the projects BIINDS, Naked Sweatshop (w/ Kyoko Takenaka), Divan Rouge (w/ Ulises Labaronnie), and OXI (w/ Ememe). From 2013 - 2019, he curated the GLITCH performance series in various venues in Berlin and NYC, hosting such artists as Jessica Ekomane, Onyx Ashanti, Sofia Portanet, Sara Persico, Eiliyas, Infinite Livez, et al. As a subdivision of Perfect Entropy Productions, GLITCH also operates as a music imprint, releasing albums from artists such as Munsha and R.J. Thyme.
Past residency selections and support include Elektronmusikstudion, Harvestwork Media Center, CTM/Transmediale, Ableton MIDI Hacklab, and Goethe Institut Kamerun. Notable past releases include “Dreampop Dysphoria” (as ReVerse Bullets), “The Mansa Musa Affair,” “Divan Rouge,” and “The I, Shinjia Mixtape”(as Naked Sweatshop).
He also currently works as the Programme Lead for the Creative Production (Film) MA at Catalyst Institute for Creative Arts & Technology in Berlin.
https://linktr.ee/ReVerseBullets
ARIEL ORAH
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Ariel William Orah is a Berlin-based Indonesian artist, community catalysator, and cultural practitioner.He was born in Bandung, Indonesia and has been living and working in Berlin, Germany since 2012. His main practices focus on diasporic socially engaged art creation and his research interests include social and climate injustice, as well as the trilogy of identity, memory, and scarcity. Orah’s artistic practice stems from his unique educational background in economics, sustainability, and empathy experience design, complemented by his personal journey as an Indonesian diaspora living in Germany.
Orah’s main artistic medium is performance and sound art.Selected works includes GAUNG (Ballhaus Naunynstrasse,2021,2022), ARYATI (supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds,Uferstudios, 2022), KIAMAT (supported by Musikfonds e.V.,2022), SCAR-CITY (Ballhaus Naunynstraße,2023), TANA SADJI (Hamburger Bahnhof Gallery, 2022). In 2023, Orah’s sound composition piece “KecaKKlang” in collaboration with Dhiaz Pahlevi, won the first award of Soundcima :Recorded Sound Festival for experimental music and electro-acoustic sound art 2023 in category of spectrality. Orah has released numerous solo albums and performed under the pseudonym ravenative and is actively involved in various bands and music constellations such as grau&, soydivision ensemble, böseblick ensemble, RANGKĄ,and OKNUM.
For the last six years, Orah’s work centered on a collaborative platform and artist group sōydivsion, which he founded in 2017 and the platform has been curating, organizing and involved in more than 180 artistic formats to date - ranging from event series, performances, workshops to residencies and festivals in Berlin and all over the globe. He also co-founded and actively involved in Mutating Kinship Lab (Think Tank Lab for Asian Diaspora Artist-led, supported by Fonds Dastellende Künste since 2022 and 2023) andL-KW (empathy driven sonic syndicate focus on sonic activism and diaspora).
In addition to his work as an artist, he is also active as a curator and independent researcher, especially in the field of performing art and sound. In April 2023 Orah’s awarded a four years artist studio residency for Berlin professional artists from the ”Workspace Programme of the Senate Department for culture and Europe”, managed and developed by Kultur Räume Berlin. Orah’s is also an active member of MoBe Moving Poets Berlin e.V. an international community of artists based in Berlin and in Charlotte, USA.