Inner and Outer Space with Nkisi

Join visual artist and musician Nkisi and MoMA PS1 Assistant Curator Kari Rittenbach for a conversation on the research behind the sonic installation Invisible Gestures (2022). Combining found recordings, electronic effects, and her own vocals, the work anchors trance and ritual in the present, while drawing on Kongolese, Vodun and Afro-diasporic traditions that consider sound a vibrational form of remembrance and world building. Nkisi and Rittenbach will discuss the artist’s influences and the spectrum of aural intensities experienced within the environments of both spatial installations and underground raves.

As part of the Warm Up 2023 season, MoMA PS1 presents the New York City premiere of Nkisi’s latest visceral work at 5 p.m. in the Courtyard. Her intense and powerful sound builds on ancient Kongo rhythms, Earth's pulsing electromagnetic grid, the postcolonial space of cultural pluralism, electronic feedback, noise, and improvisation.

Please note that our galleries will close at 4 p.m. and reopen at 5 p.m. for Warm Up. This presentation precedes Warm Up sets by Pauli Cakes, DJ Noir, and Eli Escobar.

Nkisi (Belgian, b. Kinshasa) is co-founder of NON Worldwide. She recently launched her label INITIATION and research platform The Secret Institute, which explores the mysteries of vibrational rhythm, rituals as socio-political tools, invisible gestural sonics, noise tantra, and trance strategies.