Free Saturday Workshop #5: Identitea with Seven Alexa Manschot

Not Quite There, but Here With Me is a series of five workshops led by Seven Alexa Manschot, inspired by Moshekwa Langa’s exhibition You will find us in the best places. Just as Langa does in his work, we explore how we can transform personal memories and experiences into images and objects. Using everyday objects as building blocks and our own associations as a driving force, we learn more about what is uniquely ours in a creative way.

Among other things, we’ll be making a wearable amulet and a personal memory game. We’ll play with stories, materials and flavours, and discover how something that is initially ordinary can take on an unexpected personal meaning. You don’t need to be an artist or know exactly what you want to make; curiosity is enough.

Be inspired by Langa’s exploration of identity, memory and everyday materials, and discover how your own perspective makes the world special.

PROGRAM:

31 October: Workshop #1 – Heartbeads – What do you carry with you?

7 November: Workshop #2 – Place bunting – Layers of memories

14 November: Workshop #3 – Me-mory

21 November: Workshop #4 – Quite like me

28 November: Workshop #5 – Identitea

Workshop #5 – Identitea

We are exploring how Langa allows different places, materials and memories to coexist side by side and intertwine.

How can we blend, interweave and allow our multifaceted memories to coexist through taste, smell and texture?

Participants will create a drink with which they can identify. This can be achieved through different cultural cuisines, childhood memories, a preference for texture, or a preference for warmth or cold. It may be a drink they already enjoy regularly or a new (re)discovered flavour (combination).

Participants will discover and taste different products and explore what resonates with them. They combine flavours, taste the drinks and make connections with their own identity. Questions that might arise include: how does your experience change depending on whether you drink this hot or cold? Which processes, such as fermentation or filtration, might give the ingredients even more character? Participants create a leaflet with a recipe, explaining the ingredients and their personal significance.

Participants finalise their recipes, share the drinks with one another and describe what they can taste. Why is this your drink? What places and memories are embedded in it? How is it drunk: on its own, ceremonially, in the morning or evening? After exercise? Before bed?