EVENT SERIES EXPLORING IDENTITY & SPIRITUALITY
IN THE POST-DIGITAL AGE
• PAST EVENTS •
֍ NEW RITUALS presents
NKISI & Ryoichi Kurokawa
at BARBICAN CENTRE (London) 2022
Two transformative audiovisual performances exploring identity and spirituality in the post-digital age received their UK premieres at London's Barbican Centre. In subassemblies, Ryoichi Kurokawa digitally reconstructs ruins of nature and architecture and electronic musician Nkisi mixes improvisation, trance and African Cosmology in her visceral performance, Invisible Gestures. Japanese artist Kurokawa is a poet of transformative cinema, bringing analogue and natural imagery into digital platforms. Tonight he uses 3D imaging, thermal image and film to explore the relationship between architecture and its surroundings; human-made structures and nature. Nkisi takes from both her Congolese heritage and club music such as gabber and hardcore in her signature sound. Here she draws on her research into vibrational rhythm and ancient Kongo traditions, connecting with the audience: sound materialises as vibrational fields and visuals move through the space.
֍ NEW RITUALS presents
Aisha Devi feat. Asian Dope Boys
& Pan Daijing
at BARBICAN CENTRE (London) 2018
New Rituals presented two ecstatic multi-media performances, making their London premieres at Barbican's Main Hall, which use Electronic music and visual art as the basis to explore identity and spirituality in the post-digital age. Aetherave is a newly-commissioned performative, visual and sonic spectacle. At the heart of the piece are the rave-like sounds of Swiss-born Nepalese-Tibetan musician Aïsha Devi, who channels the ancient incantations and hi-fi beats heard on her new album DNA Feelings. Asian Dope Boys’s visceral dance stylings and the grotesque yet sacred imagery of Chinese artist Tianzhuo Chen provide a harmonic visual counterpoint to Devi’s sonic explorations. In Fist Piece, Berlin based Chinese artist Pan Daijing explores the unsettling states of femininity through choreography, visuals and sound material from her 2017 record Lack. Tonight’s live performance features dancer Gregori Homa and video contributions from Ekaterina Reinbold. The resulting work takes the audience on a multi-sensory journey that’s simultaneously tender and fierce. Supported by Goethe-Institut London
