Talk Art podcast episode John Akomfrah and Tarini Malik

22 April 2024

Presented by Burberry and recorded live at the St Regis Hotel in Venice on the occasion of the opening of the 2024 Biennale di Venezia, the Talk Art podcast with Robert Diament and Russell Tovey met artist Sir John Akomfrah CBE RA and Tarini Malik, the curator of the Biennale's British pavilion for 2024.

Exploring post-colonialism, environmental devastation and the politics of aesthetics, Akomfrah's commission, titled Listening All Night To The Rain is the artist's boldest and most ambitious to date. Listening All Night To The Rain positions various theories of acoustemology: the study of how the sonic experience mirrors and shapes our cultural realities. Akomfrah draws on an acute acoustic sensitivity influenced by a variety of formative experiences, from protests to club culture in 1970s-80s London. Each room, or 'canto', within the installation is accompanied by a specific soundtrack, which layers archival material with field recordings, speeches and popular and devotional music. Extending the sense of hybridity in the filmic collages, Akomfrah’s use of sound encourages us to consider the breadth of cultural identity in Britain more broadly.

Listen in full via Acast podcasts.