Moon Poetics 4 Courageous Earth Critters and Dangerous Day Dreamers 2020 - 6 part narrative sound piece, commissioned by Somerset House Studios online spatial and sound residency “Sonic Terrains”
Later presented within solo exhibitions at Remai Modern CA 2020 and Leeds Art Gallery UK 2021
Voice actor: Samantha Lawson
Sound mix by Tom Slater of Call and Response
Ancestral undulations and the transmission of knowing 2020
Sound work exploring the vocalisations of Orca and other Pacific Northwest cetaceans as a method for modelling collectives, pods, care, kinship, family and inter-species communication
Commissioned by the Serpentine Galleries, General Ecology and presented at Julies Bicycle London
A Sojourn Through Saturn and Across the Southern Sea by Zadie Xa combines spoken-word narration with traditional Korean percussions and abstract compositions to create an otherworldly soundscape to be experienced on London’s Underground. Starting at the top of Covent Garden Tube Station stairwell, the piece accompanies our descent and travel into the subterranean environment. As we enter the underground tunnels, a journey through time and memory begins.
The work is inspired by one of the trips Xa takes most frequently in London – that to her studio in Bromley by Bow on the Central Line. The hot temperature and harsh noises of the tube evoke an imagery of banshees and ghosts in the artist’s imagination, echoed in the work by ghostly wails and hisses. A Sojourn Through Saturn and Across the Southern Sea also includes excerpts from shaman songs and percussionist rhythms, acting as a supernatural force giving motion to the journey.
Credits:
Words by Zadie Xa including excerpts from ‘Fish Scales’ by Taylor Le Melle
Musical contributions from Jihye Kim
feat. ‘vILLIANs tHEMe’, produced by Siege the Beat Bully
The Serpentine Galleries’ GUEST, GHOST, HOST: MACHINE! Podcasts are hosted by Legacy Russell and Victoria Sin and were recorded after the Galleries’ annual Marathon, 2017, which took place at City Hall, London on 7 October 2017.
Zadie Xa presented: Perfumed Purple Rice and Sateen Songs for Sadie ft. Jihye Kim
The GUEST, GHOST, HOST: MACHINE! Marathon brought together artists, scientists, engineers, poets, AI developers, sociologists, philosophers, filmmakers, writers, anthropologists, occultists and musicians to consider the impact of artificial intelligence and its relationship to human development on planet earth. After a trilogy of Marathons that addressed Extinction (2014), Transformation, (2015), and Miracles (2016), the Serpentine turned to the near future, exploring artificial intelligence, interspecies cooperation, machine learning, transhumanism and non-linear time.
A Reduced Listening production
Hosted by: Legacy Russell and Victoria Sin
Producers: Jessie Lawson and Jack Howson
Music: Jemsheed by Ayshay.
Mixing engineer: Rob Winter
Additional sound design: Amnesia Scanner and Dean Kenning
3 minute sound excerpt from Iridezcent Interludez (25 min 40 sec) 2018. Initially performed with Jihye Kim and Namyoon Kim at Palais de Tokyo for Do Disturb 2018