Radio MIkoko + (Research)- ONGOING.
Radio MIkoko +
Extending the rhizomatic ideologies and root systems of mangroves, this work explores tangential, non-singular perspectives through a sonic lens. By abstracting field recordings of mangroves and the sounds of Lamu town, it offers frameworks for engaging with nature, humanity, and ecocide through a spirit of multistability. Does listening to the Mangroves evoke curiosity about understanding the world through an analogous approach— one that thrives on fragmentation and flux, yet sustains life?
From an auditory and radio-based perspective, this inquiry examines how the symbiotic systems inherent in these ecologies transcend conventional sound and listening practices. How can we learn to listen with and within mangroves? Focusing on field recordings and delving deeper into these intricate root systems, Radio MIkoko + is proposed as a conceptual exploration. This ontological hack" disrupts conventional listening practices, enabling a dislocation that serves as a reverse projection of auditory familiarity.
A radiophonic piece that weaves together the sounds of mangroves, interviews, and the sounds of Lamu town, creating a rich collage. This piece can be broadcast as part of Radio Mikoko + alongside other works from the collaboration with the artists. Additionally, a field recording workshop will be hosted to extend and deepen the various strands of the project, fostering collaborative exploration and engagement.
Tramsitting across Borders
The expansion of Radio Mikoko to a radio installation creates a bridge between different geographies, extending the resonance of mangrove ecologies beyond Lamu and its archipelagos. This offers a political discourse providing a space to amplify the project's themes of urban environmental struggles, displacement and histories of radio activism, allowing for an engagement
KOOZARCH-
Mangrove Ecologies: Listening to land
Akin to a jam session or freeform garage band, the group conversation features a diversity of talents; musical and sonic scholarship is represented by Pratyay Raha and Joseph Kamaru — also known as KMRU — while spatial interests are covered by architectural designers Gabriela Carrillo and Carlos Facio Gaxiola, from the Mexican practice Colectivo C733. In this exchange, all parties discuss the specific majesty of mangroves.
“My practice extends a lot through listening, the practice of listening and slowing things down and being still with nature, and seeing what emerges from the surroundings.”
Lamu - Ebb/Flow Residency
October 2024
Mangrove Ecologies presents Radio Mikoko+
Public exhibition in the Botanical Garden of the University of Basel
June 16-21, 2025
Presented as a public activation during Art Basel 2025, this sound installation transforms the Viktoriahaus of the University of Basel into a listening garden shaped by ecological research and translocal exchange.
Mangrove Ecologies is an interdisciplinary exhibition that explores mangroves as both fascinating biotopes and living metaphors. Bringing together artists, scientists, artisans, designers, and technologists, the project explores how the complex intelligence of ecological systems can lead to a reciprocal, rhizomatic, and interconnected way of life—thus shaping planetary diplomacy.
The exhibition's focus is Radio Mikoko+ ("mikoko" means mangroves in Swahili), a multisensory installation developed over nine months (August 2024 - June 2025) by the artists David Muiruri (KE), Joseph Kamaru (KE), Ann Mbuti (CH/GER), and Yassine Rachidi (CH/MAR). Drawing on narratives, field recordings, material experiments, and cartographic research, the work takes visitors on a sonic and sensory journey from the island of Lamu to Basel.
The exhibition is the result of extensive research on the island of Lamu, a place shaped by centuries of cultural movement and encounters. Here, the idea of "otherness" emerges not as a dislocation or a sign of exoticism, but as a multifaceted sense of belonging that transcends fixed boundaries. Visitors are invited to enter the humid embrace of Victoria House in the Botanical Gardens, where the installation activates the senses through the humidity of the air, the sight of mangrove creatures, and the multilayered soundscapes from Lamu, which echo the ebb and flow of the tides.
Mangrove Studies: Lamu, Kenya, Langkawi, Fiji, Papua New Guinea
photo courtesy of Joseph Kamaru
