Tick Tick Boom: An Audio Catalogue

A final word of thanks to everyone who contributed to making the Boom!

We hear from a guest about how she felt experiencing The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember during our event

Interviewed by Zinhle, we hear from DJ Charles Leonard about what inspired his set on the night of the Boom, and how he thinks around music and memory. We want to extend our thanks to Charles for taking the time to not only play his set on the night of the boom, but also for taking the time to record this interview with us. You can find him @JCharlesLeonard on X.com

Interviewed by Zinhle, Soweto-born and Johannesburg-based artist Andrew Tshabangu reflects on the status and history of art and photography in South Africa; personal and collective memories; and moving towards the future. Many thanks to ntate Andrew for being willing to take part in this interview for our audio catalogue.

During the night Lethabo bumped into artist and curator Shenaz Mahomed, who graciously allowed us to interview her. Here, you can hear some of her thoughts about the night and how she felt in the space. Thank you Shenaz, for allowing us to interview you for this audio catalogue. She is an artist, curator, and lecturer at the University of Pretoria.

As part of the Boom on the 2nd of November, we made sure to pass out seed bombs to our guests as gifts to take home. In thinking around the insidious nature of apartheid spatial planning and how it continues to make itself known in how we move through our environments, and the presence of invasive tree species around us – such as the iconic Jacaranda tree – each seed bomb contains a seed from one of three native tree species indigenous to the greater Johannesburg area, as a way of slowly reclaiming the soil one seed at a time. For us, this was one way for this curatorial engagement to outlive the transient moment of the boom itself, alongside each of our guests.

Responding to questions posed to him by Karolien, Professor Nyasha Mboti ruminates on the theories explored in his book Apartheid Studies: A Manifesto and where these themes intersect with The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember and themes of permanence and impermanence. Many thanks to Professor Nyasha Mboti for taking the time to answer our questions for this chapter of our audio catalogue. He is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communication Science at the University of the Free State.

On the evening of the second of November, we held a momentary gathering at The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember where we aimed to create a space to experience joy, even for a moment, outside of the hardship of everyday life. This snippet of audio captures a little bit of what the night sounded like.

In the following conversation with Tristan, Lesotho-based artist Mathabang “Matty” Monethi reflects on her artistic practice and themes of memory, forgetting, replaying records, wear-and-tear, and the futility of trying to remember what is lost to time. Many thanks to Mathabang for taking the time to record this conversation with us – you can find her and images of her work on Instagram @matty_monethi

Interviewed by Lethabo, we hear from DJ Nodiggity about what inspired her set on the night of the Boom, and her thoughts around music as a way to bring people together and make new memories. We want to extend our thanks to Nodiggity for taking the time to not only play her set on the night of the boom, but also for taking the time to record this interview with us. You can find her on Instagram @nodiggity_za

In the following interview, facilitated by Karolien, architecture collective room19isaFactory speaks to their conceptualisation of the second skin, how they think about the lounge and lounging as both a space and a praxis for joy and resistance, and how these thoughts have influenced their current installation work at Kudzanai Chiurai’s The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember at 44 Stanley, Johannesburg. Many thanks to the members of room19 for graciously allowing us to respond to their installation, and for availing themselves for this interview. The members include Tuki Mbalo, Thandeka Mnguni, Miliswa Ndziba and Tuliza Sindi.

Welcome to the Tick Tick Boom audio catalogue! Listen to this introduction for a short explanation of how we arrived at the point of an audio catalogue, and what you can expect to find while listening.

Join us as Denzo walks us through the conceptual underpinnings of the Tick Tick Boom curatorial engagement, as we ruminate on leisure, pleasure, and lounging as resistance.