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Exhibition Research: Sketches for the Future

Simnikiwe Buhlungu

What We Put in the Skafthini (Mixtapenyana), 2021

by Danica Pinteric

“I’ve been trying to think about this thing…the future as a kind of general, open, and wide concept. And I’m looking at it—I mean, of course the most obvious answer is for me to say that time is not linear, it’s cyclical, which I think it is…cy-cli-cal, cyclical. But further than that, I think I’m more interested in understanding: whose future [are we] talking about?”

Simnikiwe Buhlungu in What We Put in the Skafthini (Mixtapenyana), 2021.

Futuring as a Verb

Simnikiwe Buhlungu wastes no time in the opening lines of her new sound work, What We Put in the Skafthini (Mixtapenyana). Over nearly ten minutes, Buhlungu’s voice fills the room with her wide-ranging exploration of how concepts of futurity and community change depending on their geographic contexts. In the past, Buhlungu’s practice has been concerned with questions of power and epistemology: how do we know what we know?

In this new work, Buhlungu considers compelling forms of knowledge production which are rather casual or mundane. Recorded directly onto an audio cassette over one week in the summer of 2021, Buhlungu anchors her ideas with examples from daily life, weaving practical objects and common terms into her theoretical musings. One such term, skafthini—referring to reusable plastic containers for storing and transporting food—comes from Buhlungu’s upbringing in Johannesburg, South Africa. Buhlungu first mentions the skafthini as an example of an object with an intended function connected to futurity through preservation. Buhlungu refers to the skafthini and objects like it as “future archival bodies,” things which simultaneously encapsulate a speculative gesture and a very utilitarian purpose. Such objects embody an everyday practice of “futuring as a verb,” as the artist puts it in our acquisition interview for the work. In other words, they activate the human impulse to anticipate the needs of the future in the present.

Buhlungu has chosen to record and preserve the sound work on an audio cassette, which, correspondingly, can also be considered a future archival body. Buhlungu grew up experimenting with cassette tapes with her brother, recording their own material over older tapes to create their own shows. Buhlungu’s interest in sound has permeated her practice for years, especially though her Mixtapenyana series, where she experiments with various sonic formats, including radio and, as the title suggests, the mixtape (in an interview with Buhlungu, she explains that -nyana is a common diminutive form used where she grew up; akin to the Dutch suffix -tje).

Recorded in an age tormented by a collective sense of anxiety and uncertainty about what the future may hold, Buhlungu’s interpretation of futurity through the skafthini metaphor feels radically down to earth. For Buhlungu, futuring does not always amount to a monumental or impenetrable frontier, it is something we already do on a daily basis.

Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Photograph of audio cassette tape, What We Put In The Skaftini (Mixtapenyana), 2021. Collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. © Simnikiwe Buhlungu.

The artists hand appears holding a blue, slightly transparent audio cassette tape. On the top of the tape on a white label, the work title, “WHAT WE PUT IN THE SKAFTHINI (MIXAPENAYANA)” appears written in all-caps in black marker.

Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Photograph of audio cassette tape, What We Put In The Skaftini (Mixtapenyana), 2021. Collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. © Simnikiwe Buhlungu.

More Sketches for the Future

This still from IOU 4 USA depicts a square charcoal drawing held up by two hands. The drawing is of a frame from The Simpsons and shows an IOU note in Homer’s hands. The note reads: “DEAR USA I.O.U. LESS KANDERS SIGNED USA”.
January 12, 2022/by Nikolai

Christine Sun Kim, IOU 4 USA, 2021

by Fabienne Chiang
A square, pale yellow sheet of paper rests on a white surface. A hand appears left of the sheet, as though about to turn it over. The light brown text at the top of the sheet reads: “#2 Learn a poem by heart. Go to a place where you can look through a window and recite it to yourself at the beginning and end of your workday. Repeat for at least 5 days.”
January 5, 2022/by Nikolai

Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen, 12 interventions for the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

by Danica Pinteric
Inside an empty, patinaed building, two performers are shown on the floor. The performer lies on their back, and the performer on the right is sitting in an upright position, cradling the other performer in their arms.
December 9, 2021/by Nikolai

Michele Rizzo, Rest, 2021

by Danica Pinteric
The artists hand appears holding a blue, slightly transparent audio cassette tape. On the top of the tape on a white label, the work title, “WHAT WE PUT IN THE SKAFTHINI (MIXAPENAYANA)” appears written in all-caps in black marker.
December 2, 2021/by Nikolai

Simnikiwe Buhlungu, What We Put in the Skafthini (Mixtapenyana), 2021

by Danica Pinteric
The police officer examines the inside of her left middle finger. She is wearing a yellow hat with a silver police badge and a turquoise dress. Her fingernails are painted red. Her made-up face is partially covered by another hand, which is out of focus.
November 15, 2021/by Nikolai

Ghita Skali, The Invaders, 2021

by Fabienne Chiang
Sung Tieu, Song Notes For Factories, 2021 From Fiction to Knowledge
November 9, 2021/by Nikolai

Sung Tieu, Song Notes For Factories, 2021

by Fabienne Chiang

Now at the Stedelijk

MODERN — Van Gogh, Rietveld, Léger and others is on view from 18 May until 24 September 2023.MODERN — Van Gogh, Rietveld, Léger and others is on view from 18 May until 24 September 2023.

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Ghita Skali, The Invaders, 2021The police officer examines the inside of her left middle finger. She is wearing a yellow hat with a silver police badge and a turquoise dress. Her fingernails are painted red. Her made-up face is partially covered by another hand, which is out of focus.Inside an empty, patinaed building, two performers are shown on the floor. The performer lies on their back, and the performer on the right is sitting in an upright position, cradling the other performer in their arms.Michele Rizzo, Rest, 2021
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