This workshop will explore the intersection of Afrofuturism, technology, sound, Blackness and resistance, using as a launch point the ideas and narratives behind DeForrest Brown Jr. 's latest output "Techxodus", and his recent book "Assembling A Black Counter Culture".

DeForrest describes Techxodus as "abstracting Blackness through information overload"; the album can be read as an epilogue to his book, or as a extension of the Drexciya Mythos; researching and reimagining the artifacts and stories of Drexciya with new maps, ideas and music. Meanwhile, "Assembling A Black Counter Culture" contextualises and reframes techno as a unique form of Black musical and cultural production, illuminating the pathways from the transatlantic slave trade to Emancipation, the Industrial Revolution, and the Great Migration from the rural South to the industrialized North. By tracing these industrialised Black histories, DeForrest builds a deep and detailed context for the groundbreaking techno of 1980s Detroit, the immersive tech of Underground Resistance, the mythscience of Drexciya and the ongoing, expanding story of Afrofuturism in techno.



Over five videocall sessions, DeForrest will lay out the ideas and research behind his recent work, with extensive listening and reading materials provided to add context and depth. Your own responses to the ideas will be developed through creative prompts and one-to-one sessions.

DeForrest Brown, Jr. is an Alabama-raised, Ex-American, rhythmanalyst, writer and curator. He makes audio and other media work under his own name, and as Speaker Music, and is a key representative of the Make Techno Black Again campaign. DeForrest's written work explores the links between the Black experience in industrialized labor systems and Black innovation in electronic music, and has appeared in Artforum, Triple Canopy, NPR, CTM Festival, Mixmag, Afropunk and many others. He has lectured at Spotify for Artists, Brown University, Yale University, and has performed or presented work at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Camden Arts Centre (London), Unsound Festival (Krakow), Sónar (Barcelona), Issue Project Room (New York) and elsewhere. He was also the inaugural Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow at Issue Project Room, and a resident at the Rauschenberg Residency. On Juneteenth of 2020, he released the album Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry on Planet Mu.