Lighthouse Open Session Review - Nov 2019

Lighthouse's November open session, as part of the 16-25 year old's Viral project, featured a live performance from the Informals, followed by a Q&A session with local rap artists Phonetic and Kemastry. It discussed and portrayed youth culture of today, from Russia to Britain, in a digital age.

The Informals (a musical duo from Russia and the Netherlands) presented an audiovisual spectacle compiling documentary-style shots along with sounds created on location. Their work represents the lives of a youth subculture in Russia and is never a finished piece as the performance is created though improvised selection of their material. The footage, appearing as chosen during the show, depicts scenes of a group of young people in the outskirts of Murmansk, a port city some 24 hours away from the capital. The youth are understood as "digital natives" using the Internet to inspire their everyday lives, such as through cosplay. Congregating in the abandoned military bases outside of the city, the youth can engage in their subculture away from the judgement they come up against in their mission to express themselves in the city.

The footage, interspersed with narration and subtitles, gives insight into the lives of the youth in relationship to one another and technology. What struck me was the comparison between the Internet and fire that was brought up during the performance; that fire, just like young people's use of the Internet, can cause just as much destruction as it can advance human capacity since it is a tool to be utilised. This perspective travels further than the dominant narrative of today's youth culture that often portrays youth and their relationship to technology as an unhealthy and debilitating hindrance. Immediately following, was a statement from one of the young people declaring that they have "seen the Internet" and were already bored by it. I think this perspective acknowledges the youth as digital natives in that they are equipped with their digital tools and know how to use it for their own benefit further than allowing themselves to be divided, as the typical discourse around youth culture tends to unfold. The piece represents a small pocket of Russia’s youth using technology to seek interaction with like-minded individuals. Endowing space with meaning in the crumbling outskirts, the camera and audio show how the youth take refuge in this abandoned city-scape to make themselves at home where they feel at ease with their shifting identities.

The discussion afterward the improvised screening made comparisons between the youth subculture in Russia with a subculture in Brighton and how young people are using space and technology to create their sense of self and collective identity. The Informals have worked to create something similar with Phonetic and Kemastry, shooting documentary-style footage and overlaying it with audio, also made from the space it was filmed, along with spoken word and rap from the artists. Phonetic, rap artist, spoke of her participation in the local Hip Hop scene and how rap enabled her to fulfil her need to hear music that expressed queer sexual experience that she was unable to find to make sense of her emotions whilst growing up. Phonetic discussed becoming known on the Brighton scene and, in turn, giving back her time and skill, so that others could come together in the form of public sessions and open mic nights.

Kemastry (a.k.a Kema) talked about how rap enabled him to voice his troubles creatively and constructively, discussing how his workshops with other young people in the area also allow them to express their emotion through the flow and technique of spoken word and rap. What was of interest to me particularly is his reference to politics, where he explained that being a rap artist gave him a platform to creatively criticise and voice opinion about his understanding of wider socio-politics that affect everyday life in the UK. The Informals made the comparison here to the likes of British rapper, Stormzy, who recently announced his support for the Labour Party in the run up to the General Election, triggering a voter registration spike in young voters.

Kema spoke of the importance of shifting the stereotypical Hip Hop narrative (often portrayed in the media and popular culture) of money, cars, and drugs, over to the means to creatively express oneself. The discussion also brought forwards the importance of utilising social status to speak out about injustice and encouraging positive action to help each other and elevate community. 

In sum, the open session provided a space for youth culture in Russia to be represented in an incomplete and adapting process of the audio-visual, while inviting local artists in the Brighton Hip Hop scene to be filmed and discuss their stories and experiences in a similar vein.

http://andreaskuhne.net/
http://www.polinamedvedeva.net/
https://www.facebook.com/phoneticartist/

https://www.facebook.com/kemastry/

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/viral-open-session-the-informals?query=the%20informals