About the Project

Kosmotechnik is a multimedia project at the intersection of creative research and pedagogy which asks: how can we articulate our own (hi)stories outside of dominant narratives and imagine our own futures beyond societal constraints?

Inspired by scholar Yuk Hui's concept of 'cosmotechnics,' which understands technological thinking as emerging from context-specific cosmological conditions, the project is situated in Genadendal (‘Valley of Grace’), a small South African town in the Western Cape.

Visitors can navigate through an interactive portal created through workshops with local youth; collaborations with diverse creatives; and in dialogue with the Genadendal Mission Museum. Workshops combined pedagogy with play, using DIY digital storytelling techniques like lo-fi green-screen video, 3D scanning, cellphone shooting and editing, and costume and set-making from found materials.

Responding to the ACT Award’s provocation around the idea of freedom, the artists develop a radical curriculum which uses lo-fi technologies to challenge colonial legacies and imagine decolonial futures.

Created by Lo-Def Film Factory (Francois Knoetze & Amy Louise Wilson) with Hannah Carrim, Atiyyah Khan, Sibu Masters and Genadendal Youth.

This project was supported by STRP Festival ACT Award

About the Creators

Lo-Def Film Factory is an art-making community initiative founded in 2019 by Francois Knoetze & Amy Louise Wilson in South Africa. Their projects explore local narratives through low-budget productions that place emphasis on the transmission of ideas and experience rather than high production value, deploying methodologies such as archival research, dramaturgy and visual strategies associated with mediums of video, collage, sculptural installation and virtual reality.

Hannah Carrim is currently a doctoral candidate in History Education at the University of Cape Town. Alongside this, she is a History and English teacher working inside and outside of the classroom. She is involved in various projects to support and advocate for teachers, including the Newly Qualified Teachers’ Project. She also volunteers with Bottomup, an organization focused on critical education for young people in schools around Cape Town. Grounded in mindfulness practices, she believes in the transformative power of education for social change and justice, and towards reimagining a kinder and more equitable world.

Atiyyah Khan is an arts journalist, DJ, sound researcher and archivist, originally from Johannesburg but based in Cape Town. For the past 16 years, she has documented arts and culture in South Africa and her work has been published in major publications in South Africa
and abroad. Common themes in her work focus on topics like spatial injustice, untold stories of apartheid, jazz history and underground art movements. In 2013, she co-founded the collective Future Nostalgia with a few other music lovers as a way
to come together and listen to records.The collective is a platform to bring ‘collectors, selectors, deejays, and diggers’ together and has hosted events all over South Africa. Atiyyah has headed up several podcasts, radio shows, sonic lectures and other sound-related
work. Currently she writes for various publications documenting South African arts and culture
and continues her DJ and sound work.

Sibu Masters is an art and design educator and practicing artist. In his artistic practice, he was a member of the Social Life of Waste Arts (SLOW Arts) and founded the art collective Good on Paper. His work explores collective Cape Coloured identity, family history and generational relationships through a variety of media including painting, sculpture and digital art.      
 

Workshop Participants

Marvin Kapot
Elrich Habelgaarn
Rowan Diedericks
Johnwin Smith
Tatum Hendricks
Kirsya Davids
Joshua Hendricks
Christian Johannes
Trevino Damon
Chernique Moolman
Cassidy Davis
Frandeno
Jadene Jansen
Chesre Plaatjies
Angelique Benjamin
Amy-Lee Wildschut
Lizelle Christoffels
Kayla Jackson
Rochelle Blaauw
Thamelin Louw

Special Thanks to:

Judith Balie and staff at Genadendal Mission Museum - we are indebted to you for the gracious support, collaboration and for your provision of workshop space and access to the museum collection

Principal Adonis, Miss Woutrine Isaacs and staff support at Emil Weider High School

Members of the community who shared their ideas and stories, including Dr Isaac Balie, Clinton Bloem aka Bop, Raymond Phillips, Jason Cilliers, Hilton Seekoei, Marshall Rinquest and Oom Benny Beukman

Mook Lion - design and painting of several large-scale public murals in collaboration with workshop participants

Alex Hendricks for videography at the Emil Weider 2023 Centenary celebration