Pre Lecture Response
“Berlin-based musician, researcher and educator,” Shanti Suki Osman translates activism through sound. Her work heavily revolves around creating a space for young coloured women to explore their identity, history and collective trajectory through the medium of audio. Projects that raise questions grounded in the past, but aimed for the future, emphasising the power that the mere practice of listening, sound recordings and stories of everyday life have as vessels that carry ideas of change, empowerment and social awareness. It seems as if her overall aim is to bring light to those who have been ethnically marginalised and to help give back the reigns to their livelihoods.
Her involvement in Late Nights In Squat Bars, a feminist electro pop duo was the beginning of an unplanned route into sound art. Through her work she addresses issues concerning “identities, privilege, cultural commodification and appropriation, feminisms, (post)colonial criticisms and activism.”
Curated by Shanti, a radio series called Hidden Stories eloquently portrays these themes through music, post colonial narratives and untold tales of cultural heritage. Much like Yassmin V. Fosters work, it sheds light on otherwise disregarded processes behind historically rich music, tackling matters of misrepresentation.
A sound piece by Shanti, Perfect fit, combines disjointed sounds with layered voices. A conversation that she seems to be having with herself, but one the listener can engage in too. A stream of consiousness that touches on marginalised perspectives. Broken-up tidbits of valuable musings on society, reinforced in memory by the surrounding synths and metallic sounds. All supposedly bringing attention to voices in unwanted spaces.
In an interview regarding ‘Perfect Fit’ Shanti recalls situations in which she was the subject of racial stereotyping and expands on the normalisation of it. Something I can definitely relate to as a second generation immigrant. The policing of our emotions in order to fit in with the prevailing cultural conditions. Though concurrently she advocates listening as a practice, against a sea of voices and opinions that can overwhelm a given topic. ‘Whose voice is being heard and whose isn’t’ she says as a way of underlining the importance of the need to create spaces for non dominant narratives. But surely, her work, emotionally driven by her own lived experiences contradicts this and begs the question: Is she personally biased and does that take away from the credibility of her work? In the sense that it becomes less of a canvas for self realised conclusions, and instead an imposition of ideals based on her lived experiences. A quote from ‘Perfect fit’ comes to mind as I ponder these implications: “can we criticise each other without causing each other pain”
Despite the possible bias, I do regard the context of her work as exceedingly important. As it hones in on space making for women and artists of colour to stand in solidarity.
On a final note, some of her work was relatively hard to grasp. I found myself questioning her choice of textures and recordings. Abstract layers of sound that may raise eyebrows but do not seem specifically connected enough to the themes she stands for. The sonic confusion I’m faced with makes me ask whether some of her work is an appropriate way to bring attention to gender and racial constucts, as it can propagate misconceptions. Surely when addressing such important matters in todays day and age, does this abstractivity blur the line?
Post Lecture Response
Like much of her work I’d looked into, her lecture seemed to take on the form of a recorded sound piece. Sounds and textures laced with thought provoking statements and questions surrounding privilege and art spaces, with occasional breaks consisting of her thoughts and experiences. Percussive rhythms, slightly out of sync, over a heartbeat stood out to me as interesting way of incorporating biological rhythms into more complex structures of sound and music. motifs of a kettle whistling suggested a conscious choice to use anxiety inducing sounds. beyond this however it was, once again, hard for me to draw the connection between her elements of sound and the context of her speech. Unfortunately, without access to a QnA I was unable to ask her what drove her choice in textures.
Her dialogue and the lyrical content of her work was intriguing nevertheless, particularly when expanding on the word ‘enduring’ as an act of passive acceptance of societal norms.
Ive chosen not to expand further on her lecture as I feel I’d be repeating much of what I mentioned in the pre-response, due to much of her work being very similar and theme and context.
References
“A Perfect Fit.” S A V V Y Contemporary, 2020, savvy-contemporary.com/en/events/2020/listening-stations-shanti-suki-osman/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2021.
“Ballhaus Naunynstraße.” Ballhausnaunynstrasse.De, 2019, ballhausnaunynstrasse.de/play/future_sounds/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2021.
Pollard, Madeleine. “The Sounds of Activism: Shanti Suki Osman.” EXBERLINER.com, 5 June 2019, www.exberliner.com/whats-on/stage/shanti-suki-osman-future-sounds-interview/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2021.
—. “The Sounds of Activism: Shanti Suki Osman.” EXBERLINER.com, 5 June 2019, www.exberliner.com/whats-on/stage/shanti-suki-osman-future-sounds-interview/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2021.