Julian Abraham ‘Togar’
In his multidisciplinary artistic practice, Julian Abraham ‘Togar’ combines sound, music, installation, DIY engineering, programming, and science. Based on extensive research, his projects often include community participation and social engagement in such formats as workshops and educational programs.
For the Future Generation Art Prize, he presents his ongoing work the OK Studio, which started during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was conceived as a research project dedicated to creating a shared space to exercise, experiment, investigate, and practice various ways and forms of listening as an active position. Musicians and artists interested in experimental work with sound were invited to join the studio, so it quickly evolved into a place for collective jamming sessions and rehearsals, music recordings, cinema screenings, dance parties, etc. Since its initiation, the project has been realized and shown in different contexts and environments – from art institutions and museums to more informal places such as gardens and theaters.
The Kyiv iteration of the OK Studio consists of two parts. The first, presented at the PinchukArtCentre, displays the project’s archive through documentation materials and attributes from past years – posters, photos, musical instruments, a custom-made carpet, etc. The installation’s central video work One Jam per Week Will Do You Youth (2024) was recorded in Nottingham Contemporary during the jamming session of the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra with Julian Abraham. It was a response to Nayamullah’s compositions, a jamming collective whose members span the Indonesian archipelago, Togar’s native country. Diving into the project’s history, the audience is invited to explore the possible scenarios embedded in its nature.
Emphasizing the community-building potential of the OK Studio, its second part will be presented in close collaboration with the Kyiv-based 20ft Radio. A series of jamming session events with an open call for professional musicians and amateurs will be held during October and November, with the results of this cooperation supplementing the archive in the space of the PinchukArtCentre afterward.
In his multidisciplinary artistic practice, Julian Abraham ‘Togar’ combines sound, music, installation, DIY engineering, programming, and science. Based on extensive research, his projects often include community participation and social engagement in such formats as workshops and educational programs.
For the Future Generation Art Prize, he presents his ongoing work the OK Studio, which started during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was conceived as a research project dedicated to creating a shared space to exercise, experiment, investigate, and practice various ways and forms of listening as an active position. Musicians and artists interested in experimental work with sound were invited to join the studio, so it quickly evolved into a place for collective jamming sessions and rehearsals, music recordings, cinema screenings, dance parties, etc. Since its initiation, the project has been realized and shown in different contexts and environments – from art institutions and museums to more informal places such as gardens and theaters.
The Kyiv iteration of the OK Studio consists of two parts. The first, presented at the PinchukArtCentre, displays the project’s archive through documentation materials and attributes from past years – posters, photos, musical instruments, a custom-made carpet, etc. The installation’s central video work One Jam per Week Will Do You Youth (2024) was recorded in Nottingham Contemporary during the jamming session of the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra with Julian Abraham. It was a response to Nayamullah’s compositions, a jamming collective whose members span the Indonesian archipelago, Togar’s native country. Diving into the project’s history, the audience is invited to explore the possible scenarios embedded in its nature.
Emphasizing the community-building potential of the OK Studio, its second part will be presented in close collaboration with the Kyiv-based 20ft Radio. A series of jamming session events with an open call for professional musicians and amateurs will be held during October and November, with the results of this cooperation supplementing the archive in the space of the PinchukArtCentre afterward.
