DeForrest Brown, Jr. In residence | Open Studio

DeForrest Brown, Jr.

In residence

February 12-15, 2025, 12-5pm

Libby Leshgold Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Taking up residence in the gallery, DeForrest Brown Jr. will set up an open studio context in which he will mix recorded material for Rhythmanalytics—a multi-disciplinary project that is both an album and a book-length publication. For Brown Jr., the gallery becomes an essential part of the recording and mixing process, as his work responds in real time to the spatial constraints and social dynamics of the space. His open studio will also include a series of charts, maps and timelines created by Brown Jr. and Ting Ding that trace the artist’s extensive research into the history of techno that repositions the genre as a unique form of Black musical and cultural production. The residency draws from and expands the artist’s 2022 publication Assembling a Black Counter Culture.

DeForrest Brown, Jr. is an Alabama-raised, Ex-American, rhythmanalyst, writer, musician, and curator. Under the moniker Speaker Music, he channels the African American modernist tradition of rhythm and soul music as an intellectual site and sound of techno-vernacular expression. He has released three albums on Planet Mu; Of Desire, Longing (2019), Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry(2020) and Techxodus (2023). Brown’s debut book Assembling a Black Counter Culture was published by Primary Information in 2022. 

Research As… is a residency program that makes creative research visible. Artists, writers, curators, designers, performers, filmmakers, are invited to engage with ECU and the wider arts community in a series of public events that present their research practices.