Em’kal Eyongakpa

Mámbáy bebhɛp 43t / besáŋ berat / bakay nɛkɔ
IMMA, Terrace of the Formal Gardens

EVA International are delighted to announce the second iteration of Em’kal Eyongakpa’s presentation titled Mámbáy bebhɛp 43t / besáŋ berat / bakay nɛkɔ, commissioned through Encounters an EVA International & IMMA Partnership 2020 – 2022  for the 39th  EVA International.  Presented as part of IMMA Outdoors until 31 July 2022, this immersive sonic installation, draws on the artist’s interests in the two-way relationship between oral culture and the natural environment.  For this project recordings of lullabies, chants, laments, poems and folk songs have been gathered between Southeast Nigeria, Southern Cameroon and Ireland, as well as processions and intersessions between the Gulf of Guinea and Western Europe, with contributions from refugee settlements, displacement camps, and rural communities. The interwoven sound composition can be heard and felt within Eyongakpa’s installation; both played aloud for listeners, while simultaneously transcribed to create a layered, physical experience of vibrations which ebb and flow across a custom-built platform for people to engage and connect with. Encounters 2020 – 2022 has been made possible with the generous support of Mondriaan Fund.

Artist Biography
Em’kal Eyongakpa lives and works in South West Cameroon and Amsterdam, Netherlands. His work has recently been exhibited at the Jakarta Biennale (2017); the 13th Sharjah Biennial (2017); La Biennale de Montreal (2016); the 32nd Bienal de Sao Paulo (2016); 9th and 10th Bamako Encounters (2011, 2015); 10th Dak’art biennial (2012); and several other museums and exhibition centres around the world.