Ancestral Algoryhthms is a new practice-led research project that I am developing. It explores the intersections between Sound, Interaction design, and New Media Art as tools for reimagining African futures. Drawing from African oral histories, material designs, and sonic archives, this study investigates how interactive and algorithmic systems can become living sites of cultural memory, African identity, and speculative storytelling. This research challenges the persistent notion that African art exists outside of technological advancement, instead tracing a lineage of innovation embedded within African material cultures, design languages, and rhythmic traditions. By engaging sound and interaction as co-creative mediums, the study aims to experiment with the ambiguity of generative methods, asking how African narratives might be reshaped or rewritten through immersive, responsive, or data-driven design
Central to this study is the idea of generative visual design as both a form of cultural preservation and a speculative interface, it is one that allows for the emergence of Afro-futuristic imaginaries rooted in historical consciousness. Working across disciplines, this research seeks to situate generative visual design not only as tools of aesthetic expression, but also as means to embody resistance, and claim cultural authorship in a rapidly digitising world. Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to a growing field of African new media art by foregrounding experimental practices that honour the past and work towards envisioning Afro-futures.
More on this case study coming soon.
Disciplines:
Art Direction, New Media Art
Credits:
Beadwork images - The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - Share licence.
