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 Chisenhale Gallery, London and Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam—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, Buhlungu questions the language of standardized 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 Buhlungu’s practice, whilst continuing her experimentation with how conversations are disseminated in exhibition and publishing-form. Besides Puleng; dontsa-ring and roving preoccupations is co-published by Chisenhale Gallery, London, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, and Mousse Publishing, Milan."