1.11.2022 Lecture
Kirtis Clarke – Obfuscation
Kirtis Clarke works between in Amsterdam and London and has an interdisciplinary practice characterised by an ongoing investigation into subjects related to rootedness, migration and collective ways of working. Working across performance, sculpture, digital media and archiving, encounters with other artists, friends, family and members of the black diaspora aid in developing new methodologies for creating work rooted in a collective sense of identity. In 2022, Kirtis expands this research focus at Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam) in the formation of Co-Instituut, a new research trajectory concerned with developing and consolidating new and existing co-created practices and methodologies. Joining up with a scatter of artists, activists and designers, Side Pattern archives a series of inter-scale advocacy projects, posts and publications that work between the lines, inside the underbelly and far outside institutional frameworks. They mediate around The Side as a site for engaging with new forms of collective and community focussed artistic production efforts. His most recent work, Lifetimes Lived Apart (2021), a visual essay demonstrating a narrative-driven approach through a constellation of reference material, abstract forms, films and audio, becomes a means by which fragmented diasporic knowledge can re-exist in tandem. Alongside a large-scale sculptural triptych under the same title, in 2022 the work is presented in the courtyard of Black Cultural Archives (London) following features at Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven), HOME x Saint Ogun 1 Year Anniversary Exhibition (London), and the ICF Diaspora Pavilion 2 at Block 336 (London).