Simnikiwe Buhlungu
besides Puleng; dontsa-ring and roving preoccupations
In her most expansive publication to date, Simnikiwe Buhlungu takes the site of the ubiquitous water puddle as her starting point. With contributions from musicians, artists, curators, and scientists from around the world, the publication draws upon research related to hygrosummons (iter.01) – commissioned by Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, together with Chisenhale Gallery in London – and gathers an intertextual conversation around the literal and metaphorical possibilities of the water cycle. The artist’s original writing uses the footnote as an editorial style to trace personal anecdotes and literary references that have informed her commission. Situated amongst original drawings, texts, song lyrics, posters and correspondences, a series of research images reveal geographical sites and experimental processes that have shaped the development of a new body of work.
Delving into puddle microbiology amongst disciplines of art, science, geography, and history, Simnikiwe questions the language of standardised scientific expression. Her ongoing inquiries into sensing instruments and invisible systems of knowledge, positions the puddle as a body of water with agency, exploring how knowledge is created, by who, and the ways in which it is encountered. With these ideas woven into the publication’s design and materials, the book acts as an index to concepts within Simnikiwe's practice, whilst continuing her experimentation with how conversations are disseminated in exhibition and publishing-form.
besides Puleng; dontsa-ring and roving preoccupations was published on the occasion of the exhibition hygrosummons (iter.01) by Simnikiwe Buhlungu at Chisenhale Gallery, London (6 September – 3 November 2024) and Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (May – October 2025).
Colophon
Co-published by: Chisenhale Gallery, London, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, and Mousse Publishing Milan
Series Editor: Zoé Whitley
Editors: Olivia Aherne, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Amy Jones
Managing Editor: Anita Dawood
Publishing Editor: Micola Clara Brambilla
Assistant Editor: Rachel Be-Yun Wang
Proofreader: Wendy van Slagmaat-Bos
Design: Rose Nordin
Contributions: Alunamda Buhlungu, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, El Colegio Desextinctión, Khwezi Gule, Taylor Le Melle, George Mahashe, Gabi Ngcobo, Saïd Rosales, Norbert C.A. de Ruijter, The Brother Moves On, Zoé Whitley, Riet Wijnen
With the generous support of: Mondriaan Fund, Mercedes Vilardell, Frank Bowling, Rachel Scott.
Distributed by: Mousse Publishing moussemagazine.it
Printed by: Pureprint, London
ISBN: 9788867496617
© 2024 Mousse Publishing & Chisenhale Gallery, the individual authors and their right holders, the individual photographers and their right holders. All rights reserved.