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SPECIAL PROJECTS



 
The Betsey Drake Equation (2022)

To and Fro is a pilot project that brings together Primary’s Public and Artist Development Programmes. The project pairs four Primary residents / members with four non-resident artists who connect with our Public Programme.
The core of the programme is some paid time for each pair of artists to share their practice and develop new ideas together, with the potential for ongoing collaboration and exchange beyond To & Fro.
Sonya Dyer and Beth Kettel (Primary) are one of the four participating pairs in the project.


Foundation  Journal cover (2021)

Specially comissioned cover image for Foundation: The International Review of Science FIction for the Decolonising Science Fiction issue.

 

A group of people taking part in 'Performance Skills for Activists' led by Rosa Stourac McCreery.

Constructing Realities, Bartlett School of
Architecture (2018)

Space architect Barbara Imhof and artist Sonya Dyer explored the possibilities of space as an environment for future habitation both materially and conceptually.
Constructing Realities took an interdisciplinary look at innovative process, technology and design in the built environment.


Research Network: aPOCalypso at Iniva (2017)

A post-Afrofuturist conception of possible futures was the focus of this event, part of the Stuart Hall Library Research Networks 'Virtualities' season, on 28th May.


Pie chart showing the variations of Callaloo. On top of the chart is placed the question: Which is best?

The Politics of Food and Outer Space at The Delfina Foundation (2014) 

'The Seed of the Future,' a performative presentation by …And Beyond Institute for Future Research (ABIFR), presents research on the relationship between food cultivation and astronauts well being.

The presentation proposed Callaloo / Amaranth as the Space food of the Future and posited ABIFR’s central proposition of re-imaging Space travel as a form of feminised labour.


Film still showing the corner of Shönhauser Alle and Paul Robeson Strasse, Berlin.

Paul Robeson Research Station at Site Gallery (2011)

Paul Robeson Research Station presented a series of screenings, discussions and live mapping, which culminated in a choral performance.

Through discursive platforms, tomato growing and using the idea of the ‘anthem’ as a transnational symbol, the project aimed to explore the legacy of Robeson as a symbol of workers solidarity, social justice and internationalism. Read More ︎︎︎
Promotional image for 'Or, Dark Fecundity..' Featuring a black and white draft of the 'Anarcha' prototype.
Or, Dark Fecundity, the Center for Afrofuturist Studies, Iowa City (2018)

During the residency at the Center for Afrofuturist Studies at Public Space One (Iowa City, Iowa, USA), Sonya Dyer / the … And Beyond Institute for Future Research further developed their ongoing project Hailing Frequencies Open (HFO).

At PS1, Dyer worked on developing prototype Space vessels inspired by the architecture of early Soviet Space vessels first used to send cells into Space, using tape to create zones within the gallery inspired by the Orthodox Jewish practice of Eruv and the ‘ready room’ used by Captains within Star Trek and other speculative Space travel narratives.

What happens when we recognise Dark Fecundity as a source of power?


Digital flyer of 'In some far off place...'.
In some far off place.... at Cubitt Gallery, London (2018)

As part of 'In some far off place...' at Cubitt Gallery, London, Sonya Dyer presented the performance 'Anansi Tings,' taking on Human Animal Relations Across Temporalities and Continents aka Why I Never Kill Spiders.


A group of Jamboree participants stand in a circle looking at notes spread over the floor while the leader of the group speaks.
Jamboree (2018)

Jamboree 2018 took place at the Dartington Estate, Devon, 0rganised by LOW PROFILE.

Via the …And beyond Institute for Future Research, workshop participants were posed the following question:

How are we going to live with each other in the future?

Inspired by the work of Octavia Butler and Franko ‘Biffo’ Beradi, the collective were asked to consider how art might help us in the act of reclaiming our collective ability to imagine a future different to our present.


Participants of the 'Propositions' series sitting in a dark room, attending to Sonya Dyer's presentation of 'aPOCalypsian Aesthetics'.
Propositions:
One of Four (2016)

Still from the presentation 'aPOCalypsonian Aesthetics,' given as part of the 'Propositions' series organised by the Dept of Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.


Documentation of 'May Day'. In the middle of a crowd, two women and a man stand next to each other. They are wearing white t-shirts with the words WE ASK NOTHING written on them.
May Day (We Ask for Nothing), 2012

Performance / Video, Whitney Independent Study Programme, NYC.