Earth Friction: Geological Forces_Forced Nature, 2022-onward
Soundscape performed for Lava Lines
with a set design by Leïla Arenou
Biblioteka, London
32 minutes
This soundscape, performed live, weaves together field recordings of geothermal activity, excerpts from speeches – and actions – by social justice and environmental activists, electronic beats, industrial noise and vocals, with DJing techniques. These personal and political threads connect to broader geopolitical realities, binding the geological to the colonial.
For this soundscape, I drew inspiration from my fascination with natural phenomena and volcanic activities, which led me to live in Iceland from 2007 to 2009. This formative period, near the Arctic Circle, has helped me get an insight on the ongoing aftermath and damages resulting from the Danish colonisation of Greenland which I refer to in the soundscape. I was also inspired by my own experience of injustice — my parents were refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia — as well as my ongoing research on the work of indigenous and diasporic activists, and conversations I had with friends, spotlighting certain geopolitical factors – ongoing imperialist exploitations – in places like the DRC and Greenland which are rich in natural ressources.
For this performance, and more broadly, DJing kits has been a means for audio-collaging, story-telling, and most recently, a tool for music composition. In Earth Friction: Geological Forces_Forced Nature, I wanted to gel the sonic ingredients cohesively together with electronic beats and beeps, bass and anger, using intense industrial/noise sound and vocals (listen below). Each performance shows sign of devlopment in my DJing and compositional skills, and so this performance really do continue to evolve!
Performed at:
2026 | Doing Ecology Otherwise, Centre for Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths university
2023 | On Wounded Kinship – All The Birds Sing Bass, Nottingham Contemporary
2023 | Sudden Beams 2: Extraction, Plaform Asia x Near Now x OTOKA, Nottingham
2023 | Climate Crisis >> Art Action Takeover, Whitechapel gallery, London
2022 | Lava Lines, Biblioteka, London
List of texts, field recordings and musical beat I have mixed together - I am grateful to the artists and actvists cited below:
AJA - Charge x Texts "Greenland was colonised by the Danish..." x clips from Oklou - Silicium
Field Recordings of Bubbling Lava; People Reacting to Geysir in Iceland; Mud in Myvatn
Text about Lithium x Mad Mike - Attack Of The Sonic Samurai (The Battle Within)
Gods of Technology - Being of Sound Mind (instrum.) x text 'Element of Sulphur (s) (doc. excerpt)
Blood Sweat Cobalt in DRC, Fortune news documentary (excerpt)
aamourocean - Life Sim - IDL aamourocean ◖ᵔᴥᵔ◗ ♪ ♫ Remix
Txai Suruí's speech at COP26 (excerpt) x 100 gecs - 745 Sticky (Black Dresses Remix) [Kidcore re-Remix]
ex.sses - M.A.D.
X6Cta - Break & Bass x Wishmountain - Dust
X6Cta - exiter x protesting crowd during a climate strike in Guildford
HDMIRROR - ALWAYS TOO LATE
dreamcrusher - PSA (excerpt from intro)
Commissioned by Leïla Arenou and Naïmé Perrette for the occasion of the Lava Lines program of exhibition and events. Supported by Arts Council England and Fluxus Arts Fund.
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About Lava Lines:
Lava Lines explores the life forms, contemporary myths and geopolitical powers that shape volcanic landscapes. Portals to an underworld of almost limitless energy production, volcanic environments are also the seat of ancestral practices. Lava Lines gathers texts, visual and sonic formats to touch on collective memory, non-human agency and myth-making.
Exhibition:
Francisca Khamis, Naïmé Perrette, Camille Picquot, Rachel Pimm, Mika Oki.
Live programme:
Francisca Khamis, Juliette Lizotte, Mika Oki, Chooc Ly Tan, Adán Ruiz, Ana Vaz and Rieko Whitfield.
Radio by Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee. Publication by Folium Publishing.
Curated by Leïla Arenou and Naïmé Perrette.
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Soundscape performed for Lava Lines
with a set design by Leïla Arenou
Biblioteka, London
32 minutes
This soundscape, performed live, weaves together field recordings of geothermal activity, excerpts from speeches – and actions – by social justice and environmental activists, electronic beats, industrial noise and vocals, with DJing techniques. These personal and political threads connect to broader geopolitical realities, binding the geological to the colonial.
For this soundscape, I drew inspiration from my fascination with natural phenomena and volcanic activities, which led me to live in Iceland from 2007 to 2009. This formative period, near the Arctic Circle, has helped me get an insight on the ongoing aftermath and damages resulting from the Danish colonisation of Greenland which I refer to in the soundscape. I was also inspired by my own experience of injustice — my parents were refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia — as well as my ongoing research on the work of indigenous and diasporic activists, and conversations I had with friends, spotlighting certain geopolitical factors – ongoing imperialist exploitations – in places like the DRC and Greenland which are rich in natural ressources.
For this performance, and more broadly, DJing kits has been a means for audio-collaging, story-telling, and most recently, a tool for music composition. In Earth Friction: Geological Forces_Forced Nature, I wanted to gel the sonic ingredients cohesively together with electronic beats and beeps, bass and anger, using intense industrial/noise sound and vocals (listen below). Each performance shows sign of devlopment in my DJing and compositional skills, and so this performance really do continue to evolve!
Performed at:
2026 | Doing Ecology Otherwise, Centre for Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths university
2023 | On Wounded Kinship – All The Birds Sing Bass, Nottingham Contemporary
2023 | Sudden Beams 2: Extraction, Plaform Asia x Near Now x OTOKA, Nottingham
2023 | Climate Crisis >> Art Action Takeover, Whitechapel gallery, London
2022 | Lava Lines, Biblioteka, London
List of texts, field recordings and musical beat I have mixed together - I am grateful to the artists and actvists cited below:
AJA - Charge x Texts "Greenland was colonised by the Danish..." x clips from Oklou - Silicium
Field Recordings of Bubbling Lava; People Reacting to Geysir in Iceland; Mud in Myvatn
Text about Lithium x Mad Mike - Attack Of The Sonic Samurai (The Battle Within)
Gods of Technology - Being of Sound Mind (instrum.) x text 'Element of Sulphur (s) (doc. excerpt)
Blood Sweat Cobalt in DRC, Fortune news documentary (excerpt)
aamourocean - Life Sim - IDL aamourocean ◖ᵔᴥᵔ◗ ♪ ♫ Remix
Txai Suruí's speech at COP26 (excerpt) x 100 gecs - 745 Sticky (Black Dresses Remix) [Kidcore re-Remix]
ex.sses - M.A.D.
X6Cta - Break & Bass x Wishmountain - Dust
X6Cta - exiter x protesting crowd during a climate strike in Guildford
HDMIRROR - ALWAYS TOO LATE
dreamcrusher - PSA (excerpt from intro)
Commissioned by Leïla Arenou and Naïmé Perrette for the occasion of the Lava Lines program of exhibition and events. Supported by Arts Council England and Fluxus Arts Fund.
About Lava Lines:
Lava Lines explores the life forms, contemporary myths and geopolitical powers that shape volcanic landscapes. Portals to an underworld of almost limitless energy production, volcanic environments are also the seat of ancestral practices. Lava Lines gathers texts, visual and sonic formats to touch on collective memory, non-human agency and myth-making.
Exhibition:
Francisca Khamis, Naïmé Perrette, Camille Picquot, Rachel Pimm, Mika Oki.
Live programme:
Francisca Khamis, Juliette Lizotte, Mika Oki, Chooc Ly Tan, Adán Ruiz, Ana Vaz and Rieko Whitfield.
Radio by Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee. Publication by Folium Publishing.
Curated by Leïla Arenou and Naïmé Perrette.
