Talk: Artists in the Archive

A Round Table Discussion with Carmin Wong and Monthati Masebe

Castle of our Skinsinvites you to a round table discussion led by Carmin Wong (poet playwright digital humanist and Creative-in-Residence at Castle of our Skins) and Monthati Masebe (composer pianist African indigenous instrumentalist and featured guest artist for "Kusha" on December 15th also at the Goethe-Institut Boston).

The discussion will center around the definition of “archive” what it means for today’s artists and the different ways people engage with these records. As today’s archives should be a living and ever evolving collection that embodies the centered being of the artist Carmin and Monthati will reflect on their individual experiences as black women in this space.

Also part of the discussion is accessibility to accessing archives beyond the standard institutional libraries that are present in academia. Participants will dive deeper into decolonizing these spaces that prohibit those from accessing resources along with brainstorming ways to move forward with practicable access points to view artists’ work.

The final part of the conversation will focus on storytelling and the importance of allowing room for speculation and imagination in artistic work. Participants will reflect on how archives can embrace multiple perspectives and discuss ethical approaches for archiving today.

Audience participationis encouraged throughout the 60-minute discussion offering a chance for collaborative engagement.

This project is part of round 13 of the Goethe-Institut's International Coproduction Fund year 2023. The project "Other Histories" deals with the topic "archive" from multiple perspectives and developed out of the two-day Symposium "Diversity in New Music" held at the Goethe-Institut Boston in 2022 in collaboration with Ensemble Recherche (Freiburg).

Monthati Masabe

Sound Artist composer and healer Monthati Masebe offers a fresh lens on contemporary classical music with their fusions of south african indigenous sounds and electronic music. Born to a family of artists Monthati approaches their music from a strong storytelling background with an emphasis on curated rituals that pay homage to their healing practices and expand our understanding of musical value and quality. While you may find a wide range of works from classical ensemble repertoire to soundbaths and afrotech downtempo there is a common theme of textural multiplicities overlaid with ethereal vocalizations with their unique throat singing. Monthati is currently based in the US studying toward their PhD at Duke University with a focus on orchestrating african folk instruments and exploring inclusive notations that suit the dexterities of microtonality and polyrhythmic structures found in a lot of the traditional musics and african composition. Monthati is also known to South Africa as an actor and queer advocate pioneering non-binary representation through their famous role on Generations: The Legacy (a continental TV drama which has been leading South African entertainment for decades). Their music has been described as unearthing eerie and transcendental. A true experimentalist explorer and ancestrally led artist.

Carmin Wong

Carmin Wong is a Guyanese-born poet playwright digital humanist and dual-title Ph.D. student in English Literature and African American and Diaspora Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She was raised in South Jamaica Queens New York and she holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Playwriting from Howard University and an M.F.A. in poetry writing from the University of New Orleans. Carmin is the recipient of artist grants from Poets & Writers Scholastic Jeremy O. Harris and The Bushwick Starr and fellowships from the Wild Seeds Writers Retreat The Watering Hole and the Furious Flower Poetry Center. Her poetry was recognized by the Academy of American Poetry and her poems and interviews were broadcast by WRBH and WPSU radios. Her work is featured online and in print with Xavier Review Obsidian The Quarry Sou’wester and more. Carmin’s recent play Finding Home: Adeline Lawson Graham Colored Citizen of Bellefonte (Pennsylvania State University 2023) employs the arts and archival research to recollect and reimagine the lost narratives of African American residents of Centre County Pennsylvania in the 19th century. She is the co-author of the choreopoem A Chorus Within Her (Theater Alliance 2021) and the award-winning Furious Flower Syllabus: Opening the World of Black Poetry (James Madison University 2024). Carmin spends her free time facilitating writing workshops to youth and system-impacted adults in jails and prisons as well as organizing community-led arts and social justice programming.

Host or Publisher goethe-institut boston