A Skin of Soil
Live audiovisual performance ← Back to Artist Work
A Skin of Soil is a live audiovisual performance and ongoing research project developed by Akyute. The piece explores storytelling as a porous territory—one where language behaves as living matter, capable of decomposition, regeneration, and transformation.
The work was conceived as the first chapter of a long-term series structured around the Chinese astrological calendar, beginning with the Year of the Wood Snake (2025). Through speculative narratives, fables, and embodied storytelling, A Skin of Soil reflects on processes of shedding, renewal, and collective transformation, drawing from cycles of time, ecology, and migration.
The performance unfolds as a 45-minute live reading accompanied by generative live A/V and sound. The narrative text, originally developed in collaboration with astrologer and writer Alice Sparkly Kat, is performed live by Magdalena Hart, whose voice anchors the storytelling layer. Simultaneously, Akyute constructs an evolving audiovisual environment through audio-reactive visuals and live modulation, in collaboration with sound artists B4mba and Opoku.
Rather than presenting a linear narrative, A Skin of Soil operates as an ecosystem of stories, images, and sounds. Language is treated as a material surface—humid, unstable, and permeable—through which questions of regeneration, displacement, and ecological entanglement emerge.
A Skin of Soil was presented at MIRA Festival, where the piece took shape as a singular live performance.
Credits
Concept & Performance:
Akyute (Magdalena Hart, Natalia Gima)
Text (original collaboration):
Alice Sparkly Kat
Live Reading:
Magdalena Hart
Live A/V & Visual Systems:
Natalia Gima
Sound Collaboration:
B4mba & Opoku
Presented at:
MIRA Festival
Duration:
45 minutes
Year:
2025