The Glasgow School of Art

It was such a delight to welcome Ebun Sodipo for Shaping Archived Futures this evening. Throughout, she shared an insight into her research on the life of Vitória, an enslaved African trans woman in 16th century Lisbon and Azores. Reflecting on real and imagined narratives, Sodipo explored how she approaches the archive in her work and the importance of sisterhood in her practice.

Thank you for joining us for our takeover this week! Follow us for updates on our next events.

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Over on the website, we maintain a list of Past Events, highlighting the brilliant speakers we’ve featured over the years. From Akala to Sara Ahmed, from Marikiscrycrycry to Aqsa Arif, we’ve been delighted to engage with practitioners across varied disciplines, from Scotland and beyond, each bringing their own insight to matters of race, rights and sovereignty. Have a read through our Past Events to learn more about their practice and their contribution to the programme.

We hope to see you tomorrow, Wednesday 25th February, for Shaping Archived Futures with Ebun Sodipo. Book tickets now via our website at the link in the bio.

(Image: marikiscrycrycry, $ELFIE$ at Fierce, 2017, photo by Manuel Vason)

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Looking for some reading recommendations? Over at the website, we maintain a list of reading materials, suggested by invited speakers, students, staff, and audience members. Some highlights include: Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde; Native by Akala, a previous RRS guest speaker; and, the writings of The White P**e, the collaborative identity of Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad.

We’re always keen to add to the list so please reach out with any recommendations.

Read the full list on our website at the link in the bio.

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This week, on Wednesday 25th February, we’re delighted to welcome for Shaping Archived Futures.

How does our past shape our future? And how do we make art for those who will come after? In this event, London-based interdisciplinary artist Ebun Sodipo will reflect on collage and fabulation as methods to shape Black trans futures. Addressing archival gaps, Sodipo will share insights into her current research and illustrate how (re)imagining past states can facilitate future joy.
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Join us for a short presentation from Sodipo, followed by a discussion, with time for audience questions at the end.​
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Ebun Sodipo makes work for black trans people of the future. Guided by black feminist study, with a methodology of collage and fabulation, her work locates and produces real and imaginable narratives of black trans women’s presence, embodiment, and interiority across the past, present and future. In doing this, Sodipo fills in historical gaps to create moments of archival pleasure for black trans people. This work takes place across multiple spaces: galleries, festivals, theatre, digital, and print; in varied forms such as sound, performance, text, installation, video, and sculpture.

Book a ticket at the link in our bio.

Image: Ebun Sodipo. Courtesy of the artist & Soft Opening.

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Our current programme strand ‘States of Matter’ considers interactions between art and statehood, asking how practitioners shift our present states of living. As such, we began the strand in January with a workshop titled Sounding Out & Reaching Beyond at , a non-profit sound arts gallery and communal listening space based in Glasgow. Through listening meditation, collective sound-making and group discussions, we explored how experimenting with sound can allow us to cross borders - from one space to another, from one self to another. With food from , it was a warming and nourishing evening, spent connecting with each other. Listen back to songs from the workshop on Listen Gallery’s Mixcloud.

Join us tomorrow to find out more about our next event!

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Race, Rights and Sovereignty here! From Friday 20 February to Wednesday 25 February, we’re delighted to be taking over the GSA Instagram to highlight some past and future events, as well as sharing a few reading recommendations and unpacking our current programme strand, ‘States of Matter’.

Race, Rights and Sovereignty (RRS) was established as a partnership between The Art School: GSA’s Students’ Association (GSASA) and GSA Exhibitions. The programme has been developed in order to create opportunities, and forums, to engage with and unpack ideas and issues related to race, rights & sovereignty; particularly in the contexts of creative practice. The series aims to celebrate, challenge, inform and inspire the next generation of artists, designers and architects, empowering them to have a creative voice.

Keen to learn more? Check out our website at the link in bio and follow us

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Hearts full after our private view last night ❤️

Open 13th - 18th Feb (closed Sunday & Monday)

Sunshine on Rose Street 🌞

// VISUAL PRACTICE: TRANSLATING SOUND

Much of my visual practice has grown out of working with sound and the ideas that form around it. Some of the making is community-led, while other parts happen more quietly and independently.

I’ve been using the print facilities available to me at GSA — mainly the Caseroom and the Reid Print Studio. Having access to these spaces, and the knowledge shared by the technicians, has helped me slow my process down a bit. It’s given me time to think about how moments of shared experience from the events I curate can be translated into something physical through print.

Screen printing and risograph printing have become especially important in recent months. They’ve allowed me to hold onto the energy of a night and rework it into posters and zines — turning sound, atmosphere and memory into something tactile, something that can be picked up and passed on.

Some of the making happens collectively. Small teams come together to work on large-scale banners and signage on site at festivals, or to contribute to different parts of our regular zine publications through writing, illustration, photography and graphic design. That shared energy always finds its way back into the work.

Huge thanks to Ella Paez-Bowen ( ) for curating “THE SIREN” zine and helping shape it into something that reflects the wider community and culture behind it.

A lot of this work is made to travel, being fly-posted, handed out, folded up, carried in pockets. It doesn’t really feel finished until it’s out in the world.

SOUND has always been the starting and central point of my practice.

I’m drawn to how sound can shape a space. There’s nothing quite like hearing the first bass drop on a sound system and watching the room wake up as a result. People drift towards the speakers, bass shifts the air around them and the room starts moving together in a sort of rhythmic unison.

Playing records is only one part of it. Loading the van, rigging the system, testing levels and manipulating the space sonically all shape how the sound is felt as well being seen.

Sound systems create temporary, collectively built spaces. It’s in these spaces that community thrives. People come together, share time, develop friendships and ideas, look out for each other and move as one for a while.

Much of the work happens far away from the dance floor too. Organising, conversations, building trust and teaching one another all contribute to the sense of community that gives sound system its meaning.

This way of working is the greatest influence in everything else I make.

Photo credits:

1,2:
3: Zinuo
4, 5, 6, 8:
9: .se .eh6