Suskewiet Visions (2022) is a project departing from the folkloristic tradition of Suskewiet, an animal sport practiced in the region of Southwest Flanders in which male flinches to compete for the higher number of birdcalls. It observes the serial and particular mathematical markings on black wooden sticks which are traditionally used for counting, and reimagines them as temporal ephemera scores produced along the River Lys as source for a future algorithmic sound composition. The project explores how the protocols of a game in between human and caged birds be a staring point to develop a universal tool to learn and listen differently to our environment, re-contextualising folklore to reveal the potential to harmonise our dominant relation towards the nonhuman.
Trained as a computer scientist, David Shongo is a pianist-songwriter, visual and sound artist from Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Working through musical performances and audio-visual installations, David Shongo uses archives, sounds, and images from his environment to create interactive sound and visual architectures. His musical language is based on the ethnomusicology of Congo with a jazz and experimental approach. Filip Van Dingenen is a multidisciplinary artist and co-founder of the École Mondiale in Brussels. He was a researcher at LUCA School of Arts in Ghent/ Brussels and an affiliated researcher at the Laboratory of Education and Society at KU Leuven, as well as a researcher at the Jan Van Eyck Academy (2013), and associate artist in residence with Mark Dion at ACA (2008). He has authored several artist books, and has presented his works and performances internationally.
“Suskewiet Visions” was developed in the framework of a S+T+ARTS residency hosted by Cleantech Hub Snowball and GLUON in partnership with the intermunicipal organisation Leiedal. The residency aimed at exploring how digital technologies can support citizens, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and researchers in their ambition to create more balanced relations between nature and humans in the region of South-West Flanders. Shongo & Van Dingenen developed three artworks (sound installation; video installation; drawings) during the residency. All three were shown at the :REWILD exhibition at MAXXI in Rome.
