Rekodi Maji

(2024) Presented by Subcircle and Monkeyhouse

Rekodi Maji (record the water) is a project/artwork by Walter Kitundu in conversation with waterways and the communities which they surround. The sculptural heart is a kayak turned musical/scientific instrument adorned with strings, floats, and sound-makers carefully calibrated to respond to the sea state, the movement of the boat, and the weather conditions. This instrument records sonic data as Kitundu paddles past coastlines and islands and into bays and inlets. The kayak itself serves as a resonant chamber to amplify the sounds of strings and tines on the hull. Each journey produces a unique composition, an audio rendering of a particular line traced on the surface of the sea, lake, or river.

Kitundu considers the relationship of people to water as an ongoing composition with recognizable movements. He contrasts Indigenous ways of knowing and being in connection to waterways to the industrial era where settlers often saw water as little more than a power source, waste stream, and thoroughfare. Tourism and fishing have ushered in a new movement where water quality is a priority and steps are being taken to care for and restore waterways and the habitats they make possible.

The sonic and visual data collected in these journeys is meant to be carefully examined in search of markers of change and possibility. Can we hear an eroding shoreline or detect a steadfast rocky outcropping? Can we discern the difference between sounds from a revitalized waterway and those from the crumbling remnants of long abandoned mills draped with cormorants and neglect? What lessons and stories are held in the water and how do we retrieve them and make them legible?

The performance presentation of the work (as distinct from other data gathering journeys) utilized a radio transmitter to broadcast sounds from inside the vessel to an audience perched on shore. GPS tracks traced each journey and were translated into charcoal drawings.

Jorge Cousineau created a wonderful film (below) documenting the development of Rekodi Maji which paints a poetic picture of the ideas and influences that shaped this art/research project.

Kitundu would like to thank karen Krolak for her steadfast belief in this project and guiding it from a notion to the ocean. He also extends his gratitude to Subcircle, Scott McPheeters, Niki Cousineau, and Jorge Cousineau for graciously receiving him in Biddeford and moving with grace, generosity, and enthusiasm to make this work possible. Special thanks to Jorge and Willem for taking the time to visit Chicago and for documenting the creative process, and to Jorge for the consistent technical and intellectual support. Warm appreciation and gratitude to Peter and Eve McPheeters for hosting Kitundu on land and sea, and to the communities of Biddeford Pool and Biddeford for their welcome. Thanks also to Nicole Harris (Monkeyhouse) and Jason Ries for your support, and to Kaleb Germinaro for his invaluable assistance during the initial trial runs of Rekodi Maji. Lastly Kitundu would like to thank his family, Shirin Vossoughi and Azadeh Kitundu for their love, support, and guidance. None of this would have been possible without them.

Rekodi Maji was funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies and also by programming support from The Onion Foundation, Mass Cultural Council and The Miner Nagy Family Gift Fund.