Reimagining Black Futures with Black Beyond

black beyond in conversation with Eileen Isagon Skyers

BLACK BEYOND is an experimental art and design group composed of multidisciplinary artists that come together to reimagine alternate realities for blackness: from an extended reality art exhibition, to designing The Kitchen Gala Afterparty Experience, to explorations of sound as a tool for survival.

Their ideological underpinnings began with a proposal by their now creative director jazsalyn and Neta Bomani for an art exhibition that (like many things) was abruptly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Over time, jazsalyn’s continued dialogue with the artists led them to ideate a new kind of exhibition experience, designed and produced with a group of fellow artists, for the digital realm. 

The group launched BLACK BEYOND _origins on NewArt.City, and coupled the extended reality exhibition with activations, DJ sets, and performances by TYGAPAW, Ahya Simone, Daniel Brathwaite-Shirley, Yves B Golden, and The Heaux History Project, among others. The fluid, multidisciplinary nature of their programming is intentional: their aim is to cultivate a sense of community through telepresence and create spaces that defy the erasure that is so often normalized across Black communities online. Looking to Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism, they wanted to “glitch” the internet with an exhibition that could untether itself from our filtered and algorithmic experiences.

By the time they were finally able to open their first IRL exhibition  _assembly, alchemy, ascension [a^3], they had developed a unique cross-platform repertoire that spans visual curation, conceptual language, a dublab radio show, a custom origins typeface, and a community practice.

Naturally intrigued by how they were working to transcend the borders of institutions, domains, galleries, and gatekeepers, I sat down with creative director and founder jazsalyn, along with curators Shameekia Shantel Johnson and Yvonne Mpwo to discuss BLACK BEYOND’s expansive trajectory of exhibitions and events—delving into what it means to reinvent digital material, and reclaim digital space for Black creatives.

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Eileen: Can you tell me a bit about BLACK BEYOND to begin? How did you all meet, and what were your motivations for starting?


jazsalyn: After starting my first semester at The New School, I was confronting my own struggles coming from a modest, single-parent household and migrating from the south. I felt an undeniable calling and sense of responsibility, and I was realizing how few black aspiring artists have access to institutional resources. 


Shameekia: Salome Asesga connected me with jazsalyn. We were doing similar work by using institutional resources to invest in a future generation of artists, art workers, and community activists. Since then, I grew more familiar with BLACK BEYOND and how she transformed it from an exhibition concept into a new media research group. She and I kept in conversation, and she reached out to ask if I’d collaborate with her to help produce _origins.


Yvonne: I was also struck by BLACK BEYOND because my current curatorial practice centers Black virtual realities. jazsalyn and I connected after a community meeting hosted by NYFA. 


Eileen: Your first IRL exhibition, assembly, alchemy, ascension recently closed at The New School. 

The curatorial statement reads as more of an open question:

a^3 serves as a critical analysis of black metatheories and how they relate to each as a continuum of thought and practice [...]  This is not a drill. nor an equation, or a curatorial statement. This is a call to action! a^3 asks,what does the BLACK BEYOND mean to you? Was this intentional?

jazsalyn: The curatorial statement is open ended—and for some that may not sit well, because people want answers. I’m into the idea of shifting power dynamics in the art sphere, so I approach the curatorial process as a way of building an intentional community of artists and cultural workers, and allowing our work to be in conversation. I see our programming as an opportunity for us to flesh out answers together.

Eileen: I'd love to learn more about some of the works exhibited in [a^3].

Can you talk through Zainab Aliyu's Affirmations for My Existence, Jasmine Hayes’s piece, and Jamal Ademola's video work? 


jazsalyn: Jamal and Zainab are both of Yoruba descent. And both of their works explore identity through poetry—but it goes much deeper than identity. Their poetry serves as a digital mantra or chant of affirmation. Zai is looking at Sufi poetry, which embodies a spiritual experience, composed around Islamic mystical ideas or themes. Her father is trilingual, and although she doesn't identify as Arabic, that is a part of her identity.


Yvonne: Jazmine Hayes explores themes of Black-femme labor and care through a braided tapestry in her pieces These Hands Work and the three embossments of braids titled “Coded 1-3”. Jazmine is interested in the history of weaving as a communal language that has connected the African diaspora. . The way the braids in these embossments  are configured resembles binary codes. Binary codes are the virtual language of world building and inform virtual reality. She, in a sense, digitizes an indigenous language and practice.


Eileen: I’ve definitely thought about how many different cultures, languages, and visual identities are conflated into one singular system of “sameness” through technology. The tech creates this filtration for our entire visual system that precludes, or excludes, so many different histories.

I’m curious: can you share more about your community work? I really appreciate how your work exercises and activates Black space both on and offscreen.

jazsalyn: I’ve curated many different experiences as an extension of BLACK BEYOND: performances, lectures, and a workshop with a meditative sound bath. During one workshop, we wrote letters of support to political activists that had been imprisoned. I am always thinking about how to expand that programming and how to incorporate it into the group exhibition aspect of BLACK BEYOND.

I worked with Jeharrah Pearl and NAVEL LA to produce a sound workshop featuring Akeema Zane, which explores sound as a technology and tool for survival. It’s been a tool of refuge, preservation, and transcendence for the afrodiaspora. Through that workshop, BLACK BEYOND caught the attention of dublab, and I started the radio show alternate realities. 


Eileen: There was also a sound project in the [a^3] exhibition right?

Jazaslyn: Yes—Johann Diedrick is another artist within the black beyond sphere, exploring the sonic realm. They facilitated a workshop for the [a^3] show called sonic shelters. We wanted to draw parallels between their sonic research and the other [a^3] artists exploring sound or machine learning to reflect, shift, and alter black experience. 

Eileen: I was also super impressed by black beyond_origins, your online exhibition on New Art City last year. From herbalist Yves B Golden, to TYGAPAW, you were really able to create a locus of activity online during a time when much of the world was still shut down. Can you tell me a bit more about your experience creating that space?

Shameekia: It was interesting working with the design team and learning how the space functions. It was my first time collaborating on a virtual/XR experience, so figuring out the logistics of storytelling through the digital space gave us a language we wouldn’t necessarily have in the physical world (like hosting a live-streamed TYGAPAW performance in a cave just floating above the water). 

jazsalyn: The concept for _origins emerged from a dark space, and the will to overcome hopelessness. I found hope within friends, fellow femme and queer artists, and art cultural workers who were also challenging erasure, and this community just continued to grow into a team of collaborators, ultimately bringing _origins into reality. 



Eileen: A lot of ideas about the “metaverse” have already been co-opted by Big Tech, and there seems to be an assumption that black and queer practitioners have not been core contributors to this kind of work. As we shape the next steps and stages of digital architecture, I'm curious what your thoughts are on how major corporations establish this footprint in digital space—and how we might resist, refuse, or circumnavigate them?


jazsalyn: During lockdown and throughout various phases of the pandemic, the internet wasn’t the safest place for me. I was actually thinking a lot about world-building and safety, and finding our own spaces. So much of black memory has been extracted and projected onto us. It’s like we have to live as this monolith in this world where we aren’t truly ourselves. So I became really interested in the internet, and the different aliases and identities you can embody through and beyond the screen.

The topic of resistance and refusal makes me think of the work I’ve been exploring to recall ancestral intelligence and exercises to re-indigenize technology. REIMAGINE Prototype 002, which is my personal and conceptual work featured in [a^3].

On the surface, it appears as a meditative visualization. But if you dig deeper, it’s a poetic computational study to re-indigenize algorithms and reimagine lost indigenous histories and technologies. Through python syntax, RP 002 hacks and illustrates parallels between the lost histories of afrodiaspora, ancient extraterrestrial civilizations and colonial subjugation. The RP 002 ML algorithm is trained using images collected from NASA and The MET’s “African” Collection database. And the visualization is the algorithm attempting to recreate the images in the dataset.

Eileen: What was it like to curate the Kitchen Gala After-party experience? The event looked incredible, and it honored some legacy artists from The Kitchen’s storied past.

jazsalyn: I'm so grateful to The Kitchen for inviting us to create such a historic moment in time to honor Lorraine O'Grady and George Lewis! For the after-party experience, we invited Holland Andrews and Alima Lee to transcend guests through a hypnotic, sonic portal at the Cathedral of Saint John Divine. The performance was accompanied by ethereal and chaotic light art, creating an immersive audiovisual experience to explore themes such as new dimensions, portal activations, vibrant rebirth and Pluto’s return. 


Eileen: Can you share what’s next for BLACK BEYOND?


jazsalyn: It was originally this concept for a group show and now it's this whole art platform, and new media research group. We are figuring out what that means for the future, and what it means to continue to expand in a more intentional way. It's been such a journey that we are taking some time for deep reflection and we want to really embrace that slowness and intentionality.


BLACK BEYOND would like to acknowledge and give infinite thanks to the _origins team members: Amron Lee, Avery Youngblood, Ege Uz, Eli Peralta, Gabe Deko, Kevin Cadena, jazsalyn, Livia Foldes, Sammie Veeler, Regina Flores Mir, Shameekia Shantel Johnson, tee topor.


And exhibition artists: Adama Delphine Fawundu, Akeema Zane, Amirah, Anastasia Warren, Asha Hassan Nooli, Asia Stewart, ed-en, Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Mputu, Fields Harrington, Harmony Holiday, Jamal Ademola, Jazmine Hayes, JAZSALYN, Kiara Kalinda, Lamb, Mika Gadsden, Maliyamungu Muhande, Olivia M. Ross, Terri Ayanna Wright, Vitória Cribb, Willy Ndatira, Xavier Scott Marshall and Zainab Aliyu.

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BLACK BEYOND

SHOPPING IS THE CURE. Patrick No 
catches up with RP's founder Sophia Boli

The third installation of Sophia Boli’s Retail Pharmacy finds itself on the gallery-brimmed Henry Street, which borders Chinatown and the LES. Vendors and patrons around the world are stopping over, eager to acquire clothes, jewelry, home decor, and a whole lot more. As hundreds and hundreds of clientele go in and out of the doors, all I can see is a communal smile on the patrons faces as well as Boli’s. Boli is a key figure in this post-vaccine independent fashion world and I was lucky enough to find some time before the pop-up to catch up and discuss how Retail Pharmacy began, plans for the future, and how community is key. 

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Patrick No: So, you said that you’re from LA, moved to Hawaii when you were younger, correct? Did you move back to LA before ending up in NYC?

Sophia Boli: Yes. I always wanted to live here honestly, but LA is obviously much closer to Hawaii. My parents are older and I thought I would visit them a lot when I lived in LA I was like, “Oh, probably visit twice a year.” I think I visited two times the whole time I lived there, in like five and a half years. When COVID happened, all the rents in NYC dropped and I felt like, “All right, time to leave.” I've been talking about it for a while. I told Casey (boyfriend) I wanted to leave. He used to live here, so we just moved together and it almost kind of worked out. I ended up moving to NYC in November 2020.

SB: I went to ArtCenter in Pasadena for a semester… then I dropped out. (laughs) I was studying photography and I was doing photography thinking that I wanted to be a photographer, but not realizing that I actually really liked creative direction and styling. When I was growing up in Hawaii, there wasn't that creative industry where I could pick a job. Like I did everything. I did the styling, photography, creative direction; all of it.

SB: So I thought that that was just what being a photographer was. Then I learned that it's more… snapping the camera for other people's ideas. I realized I didn’t really like that. The only class I was getting an A in was Concept. Even my concept teacher even told me, he was like, “There's something weird in your head that's gonna be killed by this school.” I'd end up going into a massive amount of debt and probably fail most of my classes. Is it worth it? My teacher was like, "I'm gonna be honest with you girl. It's not.”

PN: In the age of internet, technology and online shopping, explain to me your reasoning for why retail is so important. Personally, I don't think I've bought a lot of clothes online, for the past year. Unless it's like SSENSE or eBay. 

SB: I think especially with a lot of the pieces I carry, they're very complex or there's details to them that don't necessarily translate in photos or online. Some of them are really hard to tell what they look like.

SB: It's like A: Internet sales don't do the clothing justice, in a sense of looks. And B: I think that there's something special about finding a piece of clothing in person and connecting that memory of getting the item with the day it happened. I remember where I got almost every single thing I own. Whether it's something somebody gave it to me, or something I bought, found, whatever it is, I remember every single thing.

"AT RETAIL PHARMACY, YOU CAN TELL WHEN SOMETHING'S HANDMADE VERSUS MADE AT AN ATELIER. IT COMES DOWN TO CONCEPT VERSUS PRODUCTION."
-SOPHIA BOLI

PN: The retail experience is something that I find super special.

SB: I do too. I think a lot of these people do also. I think that's why they make garments like they do, pieces that come from their heart because they like to see people wearing things that are personal and have a personal connection with them. I mean, the Internet's great, and Instagram's great because that's how I find all these designers, but buying something in person is more special. You get that whole memory. I love the idea of doing the popup with it because I throw this whole party together. So it's a really good day for everyone to remember and then they get to bring something home with them.

PN: Totally! You take a look at your closet or you look in the mirror and you'll remember the day that you got that piece of clothing.

SB: Exactly. People get hyped about it, you know? They get to run into friends they haven't seen in a long time or the vendors get to be shown with designers who they admire a lot. It's just really fulfilling for me and I hope it's fulfilling for them too.

PN: Describe to me the moment where you had the thought of: "I want to create a popup." Did you feel like something was missing in the city and that you wanted to fill this weird void? Post vaccine, post-pandemic, a lot of stuff closed. Then stuff like this is popping up.

SB: It was a mix of things. So I always kind of wanted to have a store eventually one day. It was kind of always in the back of my mind. I've worked in retail since I was able to work. That was my first job.

SB: Merchandising windows at a boutique in Hawaii. I would come in every other weekend and do some weird artsy display in the window in this boutique. My mom owned a store when I was really little, and then she worked in a high-end boutique. I was raised in the back of the shops because we didn't have money for daycare or anything. Even my grandpa owned a little five-and-a-dime corner store in Brooklyn. It's just kind of like in my blood!

SB: I definitely don't have the money to open up a brick-and-mortar, that's for damn sure. I felt that there were all these pieces I was seeing on people and at other popup events, but they just didn't have that much representation in person. There's like maybe one or two other stores that kind of sell this type of merchandise.

SB: Love them! They're great. We have some crossover and I like what they do, but it's like there can't just be one. That's not good for the designers. It's not good for the artists. It's like we live in a consumer society and people are buying something with every paycheck they get.

PN: You wake up in New York and you spend 40 bucks.

SB: Exactly, exactly. I'm really big on the idea that there needs to be more of these types of shops, and this is the only way we're going to actually change the fashion landscape and the way people shop. The masses are not going to follow if two or three people are doing popups. It needs to be something that's really noticeable. What I did notice about living in NYC is how many people were doing popups, especially in the first summer I lived here. I was like, “Oh, okay, I guess that’s the model.”

PN: You were like, “People are doing popups, let me do one! I wanna do a popup.”

SB: Yeah, exactly. I was trying to figure out how I could put together some kind of store, eventually one day. In the meantime, I was managing a boutique in the West Village working full time, and I was trying to learn everything I could about the back. Pretty much trying to learn whatever I didn't already know and just save up money. I had a little bit set aside that I could put towards display and shipping and packaging and all that. I just approached Casey (no gallery owner), and I was like: "I know you guys have some open time! Can I do a popup? It's been something I really wanna do!" I didn't have the money yet to rent out a location. It would've been another, you know, six months before I probably saved up that extra stupid amount of money for popup locations in New York. 

PN: In recent years, trends come and go as quickly as a month. Maybe even like two weeks or maybe even like two months. How do you think this affects the new generation of fashion designers that you carry here? Do you think there's something that is special about what you carry? Something that's like something that's not really on main fashion's radar.

SB: I have a mix of designers that get pieces produced for them and do seasonal collections, and then people that just make stuff as they want to. Whether it's upcycled or made from scratch, they do it on their own time. I think it's interesting to see that the people who are creating pieces on their own time tend to be very ahead of the trend. They're not relying on that extra six months of production time or having to get your patterns made and then sending it to your atelier or all that extra stuff. At Retail Pharmacy, you can tell when something's handmade versus made at an atelier. It comes down to concept versus production. I see some of these pieces that are more conceptual and I'm like: "Okay. I feel like that's going to be a trend soon." I actually even had something happen with one of my designers in the last shop. We had this molded black plastic bra top from expo 33. Doja Cat wore this one by OTTOLINGER that looked exactly like it. People kept tagging her and being like, "Oh my God, I can't believe Doja Cat is wearing your thing! She was like, "Wait, that's not mine. Somebody else made that... a year after me."

PN: This popup is the type of thing that stylists or assistant stylists come to, they see something and they're like, "Oh, this is handmade, this is one of one, I want this. This is gonna be something totally new that a lot of people haven't seen yet.”

SB: I'm not paranoid, but I am becoming more aware that people actually do come down to the Lower East Side and look at what the "young cool kids" are doing and they just rip off that.

PN: Yeah. You have like a 27-year-old stylist come in and be like, "I can't think of anything. I'm gonna go see what other people are doing."

"I’M JUST REALLY HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO CREATE AN EVENT IN A SPACE FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE TO COME AND MEET UP AND HANG OUT, BECAUSE I NEVER HAD THAT GROWING UP."
-SOPHIA BOLI

SB: No, it's interesting. It's a thing where it's: Always on the mood board, never on the set. The amount of times I've been sent mood boards where I'm like, "That's my friend on here. Like, why don't we just hire her?” Yeah…

SB: It's weird. We're all broke. We're not getting any more money if you just keep doing that.

PN: I know. Yeah! A designer you carry, Camila Frater, one of her shirts got picked up by Pink Pantheress and was worn in an ID article. What's your opinion on having a popup that brings more attention to independent designers, then seeing articles on the "big screen." There's this pipeline and you're a part of it.

SB: I've given them a place to go to! (Laughs) It's interesting. I try not to think about it that much. That's like a very small, negative aspect of a very positive whole thing that I'm doing. For the most part, I'm helping these designers make money and gain more exposure. I can't even stress how grateful I am to be able to do it and to have this opportunity. I grew up in a place where this kind of community did not exist. I remember when I was in middle school, I wore some pants that I revamped myself. I just got shit on for them. I got so badly teased.

SB: I tried wearing clothes that were "cool," but that didn't work either. So, I'm just really happy to be able to create an event in a space for all of these people to come to and meet up and hang out, because I never had that growing up.

PN: You want to make what you wish you had?

SB: Exactly. I want to create what I wish I had been able to experience.

PN: I feel like the best satisfaction is seeing some like 16-year-olds come in and take a look around.

SB: The last shop, there was this one moment where four late teens or very early twenties kids came in. I was sitting at my desk and they were looking down like, "How can we be in the shop?" They were asking all these things with wide eyes. And I was just like...

PN: Is this real? It's like a surreal moment.

SB: It's all surreal!!! Like I said, I didn't grow up as a cool kid in Hawaii at all. So, I definitely never thought that people would like what I'm doing. I always just accepted that I do things a little different and that's how it is. I didn't know that there were so many people out here in NYC having it like that too.

PN: Based on the first and second time, I'm assuming you were like, "Holy shit. People are like-

SB: I know! I only had like 27 designers. The first shop was still like pretty fucking insane. I was overwhelmed and then I realized that this could actually work. People show up for stuff out here. People are interested in this. I just think people don't care as much about clothes in other places. I think a large part of that has to do with the fact that we're always on the street. When I'm running around the city, I run into so many people. I could never not be dressed well!

PN: (laughs) I know right! I was just talking about this with my friends. We all felt that we finally hit the moment where we live in New York where we go outside and we see like seven people you know. You have like 50 plus designers here, right? How do you find most of them?

SB: The street, Instagram, and through friends. Friends will definitely suggest stuff. I also have that make stuff too. Even through just the shop now. There's this one designer I have, Bone, who I found because one of the customers from the first shop was wearing a top by her. I was like, "Wait, who made that top? I love that top." Then I reached out to them to be in the next shop and now she is part her family. 

PN: How nice is that experience of being able to walk around the streets of New York and being like, “Oh my God. People are wearing like really cool shit, all the time!”

SB: It's so cool. It's still so surreal to me when I see people wearing stuff from the store.

PN: Yeah. Like what's that, what's that feeling like?

SB: It's the best feeling. I can only imagine that the only better feeling would be like, if I made the stuff and they were wearing it. (Laughs) You just like knowing that somebody supports what you do.

PN: What's next for Retail Pharmacy. Bigger space? Bigger event? I heard that you and Parkmart are doing something soon...

SB: So yeeeeeah! We're planning on trying to do something huge. We want a space that can accommodate it because we don't wanna half-ass it, you know?

PN: What are some things that you really want to do in a year or in the future?

SB: I want to be able to quit my day job and pay myself with this, just so I can dedicate more time to it. I don't know. I'm definitely the no expectations, no disappointments, kind of person. Every shop, I tell myself: “No one's gonna come. I'm not gonna make any sales. Oh my God. I'm gonna have to send everything back.” I just want to keep doing more events. The last one where I had a runway and stuff.

PN: Is there gonna be a fashion show here today?

SB: Canceled sadly. I was bummed because I didn't have time to plan something else. I was gonna plan a poetry reading last minute and I hit up my friend. She's like, “Sophia, there's three other poetry readings on Thursday night. I was like, “Nevermind.”

PN: Seems like you want to have more events happening than just runways?

SB: Yeah. I loved how I had that 10-day popup. I want to do longer ones and be able to have different things going on throughout the week. Maybe even a month-long one. I'm actually planning something in August that is going to involve events that are either reading, poetry-based, or performance art. A lot of the designers in the shop have multiple disciplines. Whether they're poets, painters, performance artists, or even musicians.

SB: Yeah. A lot of them are multifaceted. I'm just trying to figure out what different ways I can showcase those other skills that they have.

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Retail Pharmacy

Words by Apryl Fuentes
Images by Michael Tyrone Delaney

Curatorial duo Natalia Luna and Josh Terris, dreamt up a space for play, from a shared passion for special design finds and the stories that follow each piece. On a classically sunny LA day we met up for lunch; our conversation meandered through a range of design and art-related vignettes. In a world of mass production, overpriced resell culture, and quantity over quality – formas is a one of one. 

There is a storytelling nature to curating a space, combining new with old, little accents from the past here and there. On the nightstand alongside the photo booth picture strip, is some random nostalgic junk from a yard sale or your parent’s garage. What about the heirloom your mother used to make her mother’s recipe, amongst bright ceramic dishes handcrafted by someone you admire. Tell me the story behind your favorite chair; the one you sit in while you write that email you’ve been meaning to get to. Every object has its function and sentimental value. Obsessed with archival design, I was drawn to this project by Natalia and Josh.

Los Angeles-based design hub formas came to fruition in the fall of 2019, when the duo came together to curate a feel-good experience with “home goods from the future.” A visit to their by-appointment space will leave you sparked with wonderment. You can sit on a larger-than-life chair shaped like a baseball catcher’s mitt or peruse the various conversational trinkets – make sure to ask Josh about the infamous golden glove. Not everything is what it appears to be. 

I’d never interacted with a Gaetano Pesce piece before, let alone two – in person. The Italian architect and designer is best known for his use of unconventional materials to create functional forms with an eccentricity ahead of his time. This particular vessel, for Fish by Gaetano Pesce, is made from flexible resin and is essentially flubber for adults. I was surprised by its texture and resilience, considering how cautious I’d been to interact with the piece thinking it was fabricated from glass. It’s like when you go shopping with an adult and they tell you to watch out because anything you touch and break, they have to buy. I maneuvered through the studio with this same "break it, buy it" sentiment reverberating through my mind; except this time I could interact with objects uninhibited by my elementary fear.

“I remember being at my grandma and grandpa's house and they had a modular sofa. It wasn't cool or anything but we'd be watching TV moving it around, like little kids just playing with it. You're a kid thinking, 'why does this move so much' and like, 'why can we have it in different places?' Now knowing the design, it’s so cool.” - Josh Terris 

Delving into the recesses of our minds, we exchanged our earliest design-related memories. I often think about how much art surrounded me while I was growing up. My child brain didn’t make that connection between the different mediums I was engaging with, at least not until I found myself taking a deep interest in what I do now. Similarly, Natalia shared those moments when her dad would take her to Ikea to peruse the showroom for vibrant, modernized home decor at an accessible price point, which the company is most notably celebrated for. Those earlier Ikea pieces are now collectibles, with most of their worth attached to the rarity of designs in their simplistic yet funky glory. 

The duo muse about their particular interest in design that is built to last. When I asked if they would ever design a chair, both immediately rejected the thought. “I'm more so just interested in the history of how long a chair has been here and the fact that it's still in perfect condition or it's not. I would want to design a chair if I felt like we weren't prepared to do it. I wanna do it the right way. I want a chair that's gonna last forever.”

Her interest and desire for research, is the major driving force behind this labor of love. Natalia created a chair obsessed Instagram account @situ.ation “for those who love to sit”– an unintended prelude to form.as. We related on being part of zine culture circa 2012, surprised we never crossed paths during any given independent book fair that took place from the bay to NYC. Natalia and Josh are collectively inspired by an environment familiar to many of us who grew up in Southern California, a place rich with subcultures. These were the motivations and inspirations behind creative mediums the two participated in, predating their collective endeavor. There's skate culture, the desert and its ample space, punk culture, music, landscapes, and road trips among many escapes that influence discovery.

If Natalia can’t envision a piece of furniture or decor in her home, then she can’t fathom collecting it for the studio. Her creative pursuit is less about the money and has everything to do with the adrenaline that comes from each find. Sourcing is the reward. I can feel the excitement shared between her and Josh, while they retell wayward Craigslist encounters, driving long distances for a gem. Or the time Natalia manifested a Pierre Cardin mirror after endless hours of searching. There ended up being the exact one she wanted, right up the street at a neighbor’s house. If you look hard enough you might even recognize a piece or two from their collection in the background of some A-list celebrity’s Instagram photo moment. That’s beside the point. As it ever evolves, formas shapeshifts into new functions and invites you to pull up a chair.

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Formas

A Conversation With This LA Based Design Studio

Words By Ryan Blackway
Images by Cult Matheson, Photo Assist: Kemi Adejumo 
Styling: Kelly Benjamin 

TikTok figured me out, quick. I still feel conflicted about how fine-tuned the content is for me here over any other place on the internet. I find myself inundated with videos that speak to my interests; an abundance of content speaking to art, history, architecture, food, design, philosophy, science-fiction, film, and sonics. To the point where I am learning something in each video that feels valuable and educational in ways that I still do not find on the internet.… I mean the app even tells me to get off and I listen. We’ve reached a moment where we’re all aware of what’s happening but still subscribe to it, and in this era, I’m so happy to have met people like @cyberexboyfriend, aka Laura Lisbon. 

I found myself tapping through the gauntlet of social fandom, from feed to profile, and consuming an hour of content there before hitting the follow. Big day. And it was one of those early follows that really flourishes right before your eyes. You know the type. Your freshly downloaded platform and the early creators that get some of your first follows. I bet you can recall some now from an era past. 

To me Laura is a perfect indication of the times, sharing the content that speaks to us as a generation... sure, there are many tech rabbit-hole conversations this article could go down, but we’re not here for that, we’re here for this modern-day content Picasso who has a knack for mixing punchline humor with education covering high fashion, design, music and beyond.

The thing about Laura's content is his takes aren't just hot ones — they're honest ones too. When something's intriguing, or under-appreciated, he explains how he got there while in the same breath admitting it also looks like a hotdog at first glance. Laura is holding the door open for those who want to learn, to comfortably enter and experience curated taste without the pretentiousness. Accessible art education.

What I was curious to talk about with Laura was this newfound sense of authority. What’s it like to now have people be interested in how you feel about something. There’s so much content, that we rely on people to catch it all and set the table nicely for us to eat. I’m always interested in the tastemaker, and what references and influences are shaping the landscape for the next generation…

What the cultural zeitgeist searches for in celebrity, who we choose to give our attention to, what standards we hold them to and what our preferred aesthetics are, have been questioned, broken down, and rebuilt in just a couple of years.

Often times we consume content from people who research, report, and divulge their opinion without ever getting to know them. This interview serves as an anthropological waypoint to mark the storytellers who disseminate information and celebrate the work they’re doing as they inspire and educate a new generation. After speaking with and fostering a friendship with Laura over the course of this article coming to fruition, it was made abundantly clear just how self-aware he is of the algorithm, and the confined parameters he must operate within, while simultaneously strategizing ways to break it down and extend his reach beyond.

Ryan Blackway: Your TikTok channel is one of my absolute favorites. It removes the pretentiousness that can come with art and culture education. Was this a void, you felt compelled to fill? How did this come to be?

Laura Lisbon: Yes and no. Partially, yeah, ‘cause like my girlfriend got tired of me just talking about random stuff, and so did other people in my life. It's just like one of those things when you're online and you watch content and you, look at content, you can look for validation or wonder if people feel the same way as you do about certain things and certain aspects. I want it to be my own soapbox, but be the soapbox for people who are looking for a soapbox, I guess the voice for the voiceless, so to speak. Just the fact that I'm a visual learner and there's not a ton of content online about more hoity-toity stuff like that. You can find content about Marvel very easily, but, you can't really find a ton of content on like Krzysztof Kieślowski films.

RB: When it comes to understanding trends, movies, and albums, you make it feel so effortless. How much of this is done from research versus like an opinion or intuition that you have from within?

LL: It's all an amalgamation. You see somebody talking about something and you're like, okay, I'll check it out. And then, it reminds you of this, this, and this. I'm very fortunate I grew up on the internet, whereas a lot of people only had that locality. People from the internet have more access, a greater repertoire and they've been in conversation and interacting with this kind of content for a longer time. So they have a baseline understanding, the base floor of understanding has rows, but the ceiling has gotten much higher.

RB: There seems to have been an influencer monopoly that's been broken and it’s been deeply needed. Can you expand on what this new era entails and why we all want it so badly?

LL: People are just kind of tired of “influencers,” so to speak. It's been what, 3, 4, 5 years of that. It's very clean cut, but it's not a lot of influencing, you know what I mean? It's more so people showing you the same things that you've seen before. Whereas influencing is you pulling from the depths, putting people onto the small and you didn’t really see that until recently. You've watched a shift in a more honest portrayal where prior to that, outside of TikTok, it felt like everything was becoming like television traditional media once again.

RB: It's worth noting at the date of this interview you've amassed nearly 200,000 humans that want to hear what you're talking about, and you’ve become an authoritative figure in the process. This algorithm seems to be flipping who that authoritative figure is on its head. What's it been like to earn that trust and, what kind of community have you formed or have you been able to find within this space?

LL: I definitely have people that I talk to, it's crazy to me to think that, yeah, I could be the reason something sells out, you know what I mean? Cause I've watched that happen to other people. I haven't really seen it for myself, but it's crazy to think that, you know, you talk about something and then somebody's Spotify plays go up. It's not even so much that it's pure blind trust, but it's the fact that you end up being a tastemaker now, and back in the day, if Rolling Stone Magazine said an album was wack, the album was then considered wack. Right? And to think that I am potentially part of that now…

RB: Hmm. I'm sitting with that for a minute. I would be remiss to not talk about how the new era of tastemakers aren’t trying to reinforce something as “cool” due to group approval. You're letting things be unapologetically what they are and celebrating that versus pushing this forced narrative. How much of that is fueled by what you're nostalgic for versus where your taste has evolved to today?

LL: I'm into breaking down authority and cultural authority. So it's a double-edged sword where I'm like, let me watch this movie from back in the day. It's cool. It's great. And then I can also be like, yeah, this movie's wack. You can skip this. This is not it. And part of it is me doing that for the sake of breaking down the walls and breaking down the perception – to change the perception that people have and switch it up.

RB: You’re not the type that strikes anything down just for the sake of it either. Your content is shaped by unfolding or unpacking this forgotten piece or this other connection to something else that connects all the dots to emphasize just how special it is. Always illuminating.

LL: I try my best to find something that I like in everything. I can be in my head and one on one, I am a very harsh critic, but I also understand that online, harsh criticism gets views, but at the end of the day, if you're known for harsh criticism, it becomes really hard. Being such a harsh critic of any and everything you have a tendency not to enjoy doing it. I hate that kind of attitude where people focus on that and people's whole platform is built off of putting stuff down.

RB: If you look back in history, pop culture history, anything that ever got a one-star review, the people that led with, “it’s the death of,” marked the renaissance or birth of a new direction. The criticism of Lil B, the criticism of Lil’ Wayne, or Jay Z's, “Death of Autotune,” all serve as these catalyst moments.

LL: That's really interesting cause TikTok traditionally has broken that ceiling. The ceiling has to do with age. For the first time you’re really seeing people under 24 years old, the youth, actually curating while being the youth. Rather than having an A&R, doing focus testing and lobbying a radio station. For a single to hit then, you’d have 30 singles to choose from, so single 27 is the one that hits it big, but today you have kids digging and pulling from everywhere and I think that's very important, especially with the globalization and the democratization of taste.

RB: What do you feel like is the current zeitgeist and where do you feel like we're headed and are we better for it?

LL: We're in post-postmodernism, which is hard to describe it's like post-post irony, irony comes from a point of sincerity, post irony is being sincerely ironic about something, but post-post irony is, “I like it. I hate it.” Shrek is a good example where everybody saw like Pacino with the Shrek phone case. Supreme did the Shrek logo shirt and like Balenciaga does like the DHL logo or they do the bags that look like cat food, where it's like it's camp everything's camp, everything's fun. It's abstraction. I'm sure Pacino didn't know, but he did know because his phone case was upside down. So like that was a moment to show like I'm weird, I'm different because it's showing that you don't care by not caring while also caring at the same time. It's weird. 

RB: What do you feel like your content is building towards or what else is happening in your brain?

LL: I wanna do something with TV, movies and maybe make more music, curate music. Right now I'm just kind of taking it one day at a time, there's stuff in my head, those ideas that you hold somewhere in your brain? I have a ton of those and I'll pull 'em down when I need 'em when the opportunity arises, you can't just walk into HBO with a script and be like, “Hey, produce this.” It'll be fun to see what happens next.

RB: I know TikTok is such a powerful platform, but it doesn't necessarily always take kindly to self-promotion, but we don't have that rule here so let’s get this out into the universe, let’s get some HBO energy going, you know?

RB: What was one film that made you see the world a little differently after you watched it?

LL: I wish I talked about this more in my YouTube video, but House. The 1977 film by Nobuhiko Obayashi broke the way I thought about movies and what could be done and like how to have fun. It's why I very much view everything the way I do, because House is such a well-made intelligent film from a cinematic standpoint. The consequences of World War II from a Japanese man with the dichotomy of very tonally unserious, but like super, super dark. It makes you think about how you watch Spy Kids, Shrek or Scooby Doo and you approach them very differently. You learn to genuinely have fun without that fear of being like, I'm too good for this. It taught me you can be sincere and smart and still have fun in your own way.

"I'm into breaking down authority and cultural authority."

RB: I love that. Is there a film to you that has just incredible replay value that you would watch time and time again?

LL: Perfect Blue. I can watch it for hours. I've seen it a million times. The Virgin Suicides a lot, it's a sleepy movie. It's cozy. It's very warm. It's very blue. You can fall asleep to that movie. It's not very loud. It's not like Sailor Moon. Midsummer. I like slightly morbid films, but not incredibly morbid. I like to be visually challenged and stimulated, but I do like cozy films. I love a good RomCom. Um, now I have to think of a RomCom. But I'm a Cheerleader — a classic. What’s the one with Jennifer Connelly in Target? Career Opportunities. Cozy simple movies, Love And Basketball, I don't know. There are so many movies.

RB: Which video game has the best soundtrack?

LL: Jet Set Radio Future for sure, perfect. Cibo Matto was on there, fantastic soundtrack, it was in my head before I rediscovered the game. An earworm that had been stuck in my head from childhood. Even as I'm talking to you now the track, The Concept of Love is already stuck in my head.

RB: Who are a handful of people you'd love to have dinner with that are alive.

LL: Ooh, okay. Spike Lee. Rick Owens. Rei Kawakubo. Sophia Coppola., Francis Ford Coppola. And Dennis Rodman. Can't forget Dennis Rodman.

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cyberexboyfriend

STUDIO94: 
A Space for New Sounds in Stockholm

Words by Esra Canoğulları, Images by Felicia Granath

Drawing inspiration from their creative friendships across design and music, STUDIO94 was born out of a need to support and highlight under-represented musicians in the Stockholm music scene. Not bound by any genre or specific sound, STUDIO94 strives to be a trusted name in their community, moving away from a niche sound in electronic music and carving out a multi-genre path of their own. 

Charles Elf co-founded STUDIO94 with Nahom Zerai in 2021, both excited by the idea of starting a record label. Nahom took to the design side of the label, designing logo and graphics, Alex Alazar supported on merch and putting together their first compilation; STUDIO94 Vol.1. Grace Chang and Sara Vahdani joined the team shortly after to support the business side of the label and contribute their perspectives. 

When listening to STUDIO94’s catalog it’s clear they are committed to creating an expansive idea of what electronic music can sound like within their scene. Their first release as a label, STUDIO94 Vol. 1 is a 14-track compilation released via their Bandcamp, featuring 12 artists, all exploring their own approaches to house music. A standout is Clafrica’s track Aquarian SZN, with a bubbling bassline that sonically embodies that cold chill of Aquarius season. Pushing through the cold air while still feeling immersed in the depths. Giving electro undertones Aquarian SZN references back to Drexyia’s deep sea universe. 

Following STUDIO94 Vol. 1 is their second compilation, 'A Better Place', to be released at the end of August. This collection of 29 tracks takes on a more ambient approach, including tracks from 29 different producers, including Kareem Lofty, Laraaji, J.Albert, and more. A distinct shift from the upbeat and house-oriented sounds of the first compilation, this release moves into a more immersive listening experience. An exploration of experimental, downtempo, 80s, ambient, and new wave sounds and elements merged into one full-length project. 

Contributing to the vast landscape of electronic music in Europe, STUDIO94 embraces fluidity within electronic genres of the past, present and future while highlighting artists whose work is in line with this ethos. “No genre or sound, we strive to showcase the future and the unheard”.

Tell us a bit about the music scene you are a part of in Stockholm:

Given that Sweden is a huge exporter of music, the music scene in Stockholm isn’t that big internationally. There are a few labels in the electronic scene that are releasing great music. Our experience is that the music scene, culturally, is blooming but there are gaps in certain genres, and it's a good thing. It allows for a lot of creative freedom and fair competition for music-interested people to actually do their own things. Another thing about the music scene in Stockholm is that there are two main club venues that focus on music. These clubs allow different labels, artists, collectives etc to host and curate club nights, us included.

 Given that Sweden is a huge exporter of music, the music scene in Stockholm isn’t that big internationally. There are a few labels in the electronic scene that are releasing great music. Our experience is that the music scene, culturally, is blooming but there are gaps in certain genres, and it's a good thing. It allows for a lot of creative freedom and fair competition for music interested people to actually do their own things. Another thing about the music scene in Stockholm is that there are two main club venues that focus on music. These clubs allow different labels, artists, collective etc to host and curate club nights, us included.

What kind of a platform/space are you hoping to create?

STUDIO94 originated from the need for a creative outlet to explore and develop our own generative potential. Having felt excluded from such pre-existing spaces, we decided to create our own platform where we would be able to make all our ideas come to life. Today, we strive to extend that same platform to others through music and build a community around creatives who've once felt the same. Highlighting underrepresented musicians, producers and artists that we think deserve the spotlight  is one of the ways we do this.

What we hope to create with STUDIO94 is to become a trusted name that inspires and brings people together through music. This notion is regardless of what genre you usually listen to. We want everybody to feel welcomed to our community and be introduced to music you normally wouldn't go for through us.

The first compilation STUDIO94 Vol. 1 focused on a range of approaches to house music, this upcoming compilation is ambient. Why is it important to you all to highlight a wide range of genres within electronic music?

No specific reason; we are a record label bound by no genre or sound. We just want to put out good music that we like. This notion is important and goes back to the intention of wanting to create a space where everybody feels welcome and come together for the love of music. 

It came about quite organically and evolved from being a fun project with friends that turned into an actual business. Charles, who is an artist himself (Prof. Stranger), always wanted to cross “starting a record label” off his bucket list. Nahom started working with the logo and graphics and Alex showed up a day or two later with some ideas for the merch/compilation. Grace and Sara joined the family not long after to help out with the business side of things. So here we are.

What are some of the collectives and labels that have inspired you to start a label?

Locally, we are also very lucky to have been surrounded by a lot of talented and creative friends. Port Au Mansa, which is a perfume oil brand and Geza, a newly founded clothing brand are two examples. Having that creative spirit around us has really inspired us to build something of our own. Music-wise, we’ve been inspired by Tukio which is a Stockholm-based independent radio station. Also, the setting and ambiance of Hosoi, the first listening bar in Stockholm.

What's on the horizon for STUDIO94? Any artists you are excited about or projects you’d like to highlight?

Our biggest upcoming project is our second compilation album, A Better Place, which features 29 artists from all around the world. We’re really excited about this project because it’s something we’ve been working on for a long time! It’s set to be released at the end of August this year. We’re also launching a website around the same time where you will be able to order double-cassettes of A Better Place. Also, we have plans on dropping digital releases from some amazing artists and producers in the near future, so a lot of exciting things to come. 

Keep up with future projects from STUDIO94.

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Studio94

RIAN PHIN :
EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF Y2K FASHION 

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Like and Subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/RianPhin

Through Tiktok, YouTube, and Instagram Rian Phin is creatively engaging with the ever-evolving practice & language of sustainability that ebbs and flows in the fashion world. This video archives one of our favorite Twitter topics revering the Black community’s impact on this era, while connecting its evolving nature and present-day continuance.

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Rian Phin

In Conversation with Cy X, Josephine Shetty, Meenakshi Parashar, + Pauli Cakes


Gatebreaking is the opposite of gatekeeping. This can look like teaching people your skills and cheat codes, sharing as many material and informational resources as possible, or unraveling barriers and hierarchies within spaces you inhabit. Some examples are below: 

Download this template to explore your own gatebreaking fantasies.

Self-publishing, sharing unfinished and unedited work 

Sharing research and theory on free platforms that are accessible outside of academic institutions, like Tiktok and Twitter 

Creating transparency around pay rate, and sharing what you charge for specific services

Crowd-sourcing data and research on disparities within your field or community

Teaching people new softwares, hardwares, instruments, tools, and mediums

Being someone’s guarantor or job reference

Creating seed libraries and art equipment libraries

Holding the subway station exit door open for entry or sharing a swipe

Sharing communal studio spaces for free or low-cost 

Sharing streaming and Adobe logins, workspace memberships, software licenses

Hiring without a portfolio or resume and training on the job instead

Archiving digital resources for your community – perhaps sample artist contracts, mental health and legal services, translation services, guides on organizing an event, or tutorials for new skills

Constructing spaces to make them more comfortable for disabled and chronically ill people 

Artists drafting contracts with their own desired payment times, stipulations, etc.,  instead of solely signing and accommodating client contracts 

Gatebreaking has also historically looked like prison abolition, strikes and uprisings, whistleblowing, oral history and knowledge-sharing in all its forms, accessible healthcare, education, and social services, translation and ASL (american sign language) interpretation, centering survivors, and disability justice measures

"Comfort is about expanding into the edges of yourself and your surroundings, slowing down, and honoring the abundance of knowledge within and around you. What comes to mind when you envision maximum comfort?" 

If you’ve ever received bodywork (perhaps a massage, cupping, or acupuncture) you may have experienced a heightened awareness post-session of muscle tension creeping back in. Maybe you realized some of your daily movements and interactions were in fact sources of tension. Bodywork, like any healing modality or shift in pace, allows us to better measure our somatic states across familiar surroundings.

Over the last few years, as lockdown induced global deceleration and covid-capitalism charged on, I witnessed myself and my friends developing a similar sense of friction as we moved between stillness, grief, and survival. Specifically, I noticed a more acute awareness of isolation and burnout within ourselves, and structural barriers within our industries and communities. Every time we slowed down, the speed of life around us felt more dissonant.

People within and outside of creative industries increasingly speak of being stuck in “survival mode”, of being unable to prioritize rest and deprioritize production, unless our bodies bring us to a grinding halt. Burnout erodes our sense of self, and we become prone to comparison and jealousy. Burnout is also deeply isolating and has compounded the physical isolation we’ve experienced throughout the pandemic. Prolonged isolation, in turn, has restructured all the ways we relate and commune. 

Even now, living in a dense city with a near-infinite possibility for connection, I am obviously not immune to isolation. I notice that all intimacies and kinships must be tended very actively and intentionally in order to last, across digital and offline spaces. It doesn’t come easy – early on I’d go to clubs chasing my fantasies to feel calm, to feel euphoric, to feel desire. Some nights would be so beautiful and surreal they’d entirely shift how I approach organizing, pleasure, and safety. Other nights I’d instead find the ground turning into quicksand underfoot, feeling the ache of alienation. For me, the club is less a space of deep presence and more often one of disassociation – which can be a balm in its own way.

For the past two years as our surroundings warped around us, we all quietly watched many of our fantasies wither, coping with heartbreak in private. I imagine us all as sea sponges absorbing everything our environments offer us, from data to nutrients to emotions to resources. When we are severed from our environments we become saturated with capitalist messaging, with each isolating influence causing us to contract further. 

Examining these crises of pace, selfhood, and relation reveals Darwin’s “survival of the fittest'' theory as one of several precursors to modern capitalism. In the 1850s Darwin’s theory positioning competition as the crux of life was translated to sociology, politics, and economics as Social Darwinism, from which modern capitalism emerged in the 19th century. Social Darwinism was also employed to justify eugenics, facism, and authoritarian regimes around the world. Survival of the fittest ideology rears its head in so many of our social relations, from CDC messaging surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, to education access, to food distribution, to (yes) music and creative fields.

Searching for antidotes to isolation, competition, and burnout guided me to the natural world – specifically mycology – for answers. In Merlin Sheldrake’s mycology book “Engangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures”, he summarizes a study offering the term “‘involution… [i.e.] rolling, curling, turning inward’”, as an alternative to “evolution”. Involution dislodges Darwin's theory as the dominant understanding of life over time, instead suggesting that life on earth has solely persisted through all lifeforms becoming more enmeshed and symbiotic. 

If gatekeeping is survival of the fittest ideology internalized and imbued into our social relations, then socialism, mutual aid, and abolition might emerge on the flip side as political equivalents of involution. Gatebreaking then, could be a more accessible umbrella term for interpersonal involution and enmeshing, or simply the opposite of gatekeeping. So teaching people all your skills and cheat codes, sharing as many material and informational resources as possible, and unraveling barriers and hierarchies within a space you inhabit. 

Sharing this idea of gatebreaking online, I half-jokingly made a style mood board for gatebreakers that featured comfortable, durable garments, including hiking clogs, a puffer skirt, and a fuzzy multicolored scarf-hat. Ultimately, what anyone chooses to wear when they’re gatebreaking is unimportant, but I do believe that individual and communal comfort lies at the heart of gatebreaking. I want nightlife and gathering spaces to have more seating and snacks, bodywork stations, safe ride funds, and harm reduction measures (including earplugs, condoms, and safer substance supplies like narcan, fentanyl testing strips, and cup condoms to prevent drink spiking). All of this has been done before for free or with minimal fundraising, and can be prioritized at any moment. Comfort is about expanding into the edges of yourself and your surroundings, slowing down, and honoring the abundance of knowledge within and around you. What comes to mind when you envision maximum comfort? 

On a personal level, one specific event foreshadowed and shaped my thoughts surrounding gatebreaking. Last year I was on my way to a DJ set while managing seasonal chronic pain and needed urgent relief. I ducked into a CVS and iced my hands with a few foil-wrapped ice cream sandwiches for 40 minutes, stressed enough that I entirely disregarded what other shoppers were thinking, and lost sight of the fact that I was late to my set. I realized then how chronic pain encourages improvisation and innovation beyond the prescriptions of traditional Western medicine, creates fissures within capitalism, and can encourage slowness. When I look back on that brief moment of prioritizing my own comfort, I think of all I have yet to learn from disability justice and chronic pain communities on gatebreaking and access. I dream of ways we – particularly visual artists, graphic designers, and coders – can better circulate non traditional knowledge and healing tools hidden in plain sight. 

As the new year provides space to parse collective isolation, grief, burnout, and internalized capitalism, and clears the ground for new collective fantasies, I hope we can resource each other towards maximum comfort. Whether we label it gatebreaking or not, you’ll always fall closer in orbit to those reaching towards you, guiding you to a more easeful, interconnected, comfortable world where knowledge and resources flow just as emotions do. Online and offline, interpersonally and intergenerationally, not staying confined within one body. 

Donis for
CULT CLASSIC RADIO

REIMAGINING BLACK FUTURES WITH BLACK BEYOND

Words by Eileen Skyers

Donis forCULT CLASSIC RADIO

REIMAGINING BLACK FUTURES WITH BLACK BEYOND

Words by Eileen Skyers

Donis for
CULT CLASSIC RADIO