Free
We warmly invite you to the new exhibition at Listen Gallery:
Buggin’ Out and Cuttin’ the Fool are Holy Ghost Adjacent
By Eiliyas
An exhibition centred on three compositions adopting Eiliyas’s methods of creating sonic improvisations using feedback, reactions and interactions with various media. While the primary medium is sound and will refer mostly to feedback-oriented methods of development, exploration and experimentation – the connection will also pertain to his research topic “The Blues in Technology from the Perspective of Sonic Culture“, using James Baldwin’s sense of the blues, which explores transmissions of the self and states of consciousness/ unconsciousness through the inventions we create, and how these tools can ‘extend and amputate human faculty’ (McLuhan). The exhibition, in turn, performs itself as it collages dierent technologies and sounds that compose and decompose throughout the space.
Eiliyas is a Macon born, Atlanta bred, Berlin-based artist working with sound, creative writing and conceptual art. He is also host and curator of Mixtape Menage, a platform for becoming familiar with creators and cultural facilitators of the world through their music collection. In 2023, he founded Black Communion, a space for highlighting Black and POC sound artists and experimental musicians, sharing the experience of Afro-Diaspora by facilitating the connection and collaboration between artists coming from various creative communities, united by sonic activism ranging from composition to improvisation and sound practices.
Curators Statement
Imagine a language so open it holds the complexity of everything – feedback is the invisible resonance between things, both living and dead. I came to meet Eiliyas through a series of synchronicities. These intangible sequences of chance, fatalist occurrence or feedback, that lead you to meet people that mirror your questions about life, are the very experiences that keep me pursuing a role in the arts. Eiliyas’ artistic practice aligns with my constant investigations on what exactly it is about listening that lingers at the core fabric of our being. He eloquently renders the intangibility of material and immaterial language which exists at the intersection between spirituality and sound. Demonstrating the adjacencies between technology, culture, being and listening, Buggin’ Out and Cuttin’ the Fool are Holy Ghost Adjacent will lay the foundations for you to notice and reflect on the synchronicities that keep us in daydream – Riah Naief
Listen Gallery is the only POC-artist-led grassroots organisation in Scotland specialising in sound art and listening practices. Curating a wide range of opportunities for people from all backgrounds to access the theory and multi-disciplinary experiences of sound and listening-centred art-forms. The programme collaborates with artists to present exhibitions, workshops, performances, talks and screenings that educate and stimulate debate around sound and listening theory. At the core of Listen Gallery, is the belief that sound is one of the most accessible and inclusive, yet frequently overlooked, forms of engagement within the visual arts. Listen Gallery’s motto is ‘love is serving the ears now’, focusing on listening as a concept of care rooted within its organisational structure.