beats/bits of(f) sPACE(s) letters from etokobarek 1-i is the first solo show by em’kal eyongakpa at the gallery.
“What space? What spaces? What rhythm? What beat? Spaces that move in line with improvised yet precise trajectories. Spaces beyond space that have no need for coordinates. Spaces of the present and the past, emerging from the darkness and becoming real. It is impossible to frame or pin down the artistic practice of em’kal eyongakpa; rather it must be left to flow in the blurring and uniting of various media. Video, sculpture, photography, installation, performance: without the limits imposed by technique they become something else entirely; they melt together, aping the rhythm of reality and at the same time of unreality; they mix contingent and illusory dimensions, continuing to generate old and new spaces, and perhaps even future ones. Metal is transformed into an upside-down rain of stars and in soft threads of rotating light. Boom! Explosions that violently invade the sky. They fall behind the buildings and are sucked up by the darkness. Boom! Fireworks that intermittently light up the last night of the year. “Amsterdam is burning!” eyongakpa creates ecosystems of glows and shades, of noises and music, natural and urban soundscapes, in an ongoing dialogue. These are pulsating environments capable of amplifying space; with a roar they throw windows open, letting in a tornado of unknown perceptions and a delicate zephyr of disorientation. Is space a place? Is it an undefinable place? Is it a transitory phase? Is it perceptible? Filters, layers and transparencies lean on the images of a world that the artist documents through his eyes, his camera and the transposition of his own dreams. […]”
– Giulia Brivo
