Zainab Lascandri, IMAGINE A BLACK CHILD (performance), Screenshot, filmed by Rolf Hellat, 2024. © Courtesy of the artist.

ZAINAB, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ARTISTIC PRACTICE?
I’m a trans- and interdisciplinary artist and I studied Scenography in my bachelor’s as well as Transdisciplinary Studies in my master’s. I see my focus in my works on sound. I like combining sound with a sense of space, time and body movements. This fascination with sound also stems from my background in music. I started playing guitar when I was a child and very soon Hip Hop became an important motive in my life. I used to spray, freestyle rap and breakdance, so I learned a lot from this scene in my teens for my artistic practice now. I am also part of a music duo called None of Them since 2012. We venture through different music genres including electronic pop, punk, rap, techno, new wave… the list goes on. I very much try to combine what I have learned during my time at university on sound and gender studies, power constructions and other social structures in society to speak on what is important to me.

WITH WHAT GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS DID YOU EMBARK ON THE RESIDENCY?
Zurich has been my home for my entire life. Born and raised in Wiedikon. I became a mother quite early in my life and now my children are already grown up. This gave me space to think about what I wanted to do further in my life, and I decided to do something for myself.  I needed to jump out of this reality I was in for once and so I looked into the Pro Helvetia Residency Program for South Africa, but unfortunately, I missed the application deadline. So, I applied for New York because I wanted to go to a place where I can find black and brown cultures and nourish my knowledge. Life had already given me quite a lot of experience, so I wasn’t naïve going to the big city. I was clear with my artistic practice and how I wanted to develop further. And since I had this freedom to start from scratch, I really wanted to delve into the art scene there. The good thing for me personally was that the residency allowed a lot of freedom. You apply, you get it, you go there, they give you a studio space, and you do whatever you want.

WHAT EXPERIENCES DID YOU MAKE DURING YOUR TIME IN NEW YORK CITY?
It was quite easy for me to quickly immerse myself in the city’s cultural offerings—local visual artists, theater pieces, music scenes, and observing daily life on the streets. During the first few weeks, I explored a lot on my own. I was living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, but I quickly realized it wasn’t the ideal area to discover the kind of art I was seeking. I found the most interesting underground, young art scenes in Bushwick. I also loved Harlem for its vibrant Black and Hispanic cultures, and Brooklyn for the many block parties in various neighborhoods that I attended. New York really gave me the freedom to make connections and express myself without this giant pile of bureaucracy in front of me. That killed my artistic freedom a lot back in Zurich. I was met with a much more supportive and motivational energy in New York. Some people don’t have much to make their art, but you look out for each other and offer support since there is a bigger existential pressure. This also made for some side effects of course, where some people acted more sharkish. But all in all I really enjoyed my time just connecting with people over art.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT NETWORKING?
The only contact I had in New York was a friend who is also active in the music sene. Through her, I made a bunch of new friends. Since I am a very open person, I also made a lot of connections on the streets around my neighborhood. For example, I met many people at the Laams fashion and art store, which functioned as a common meeting spot for their community. Thanks to the American friendliness, I truly began to thrive and gained confidence in reaching out to people. Through these connections, I was offered opportunities to perform a concert, be part of various performative art pieces, primarily in the realms of sound and music.

Zainab Lascandri, Afterlife Geographies, Photo by Kamau Amu Patton, 2024. © Courtesy of the artist.

WHAT WAS A PROJECT YOU WORKED ON DURING YOUR STAY?
As mentioned, I once played a concert since I focused a lot on my music production during my time abroad. I also met a transdisciplinary artist called Kamau Amu Patton. With him, I explored the African Burial Ground National Monument. We activated the memorial ground through sound and movement. Kamau Amu Pattons Afterlife Geographies is inherently a collective endeavor, functioning as a platform for collaboration. It is also deeply connected to my past work. Sparked by the lack of non-white perspectives in the institutions where I was educated and shaped by the profound impact of my parents’ passing in 2018—on consecutive days and in different geographical locations—the work explores and questions processes of dying, concepts of time, ancestral connections, and the influence of societal power structures. Through my works, research, and collaborations, I aim to confront the pervasive absence of Black and Brown knowledge within our Eurocentric reality. Having grown up primarily with my white family, much of this knowledge was also absent in my own childhood. Afterlife Geographies invited me to reflect on and reconnect  through my personal artistic practise with these perspectives at a later stage in my life.

HOW DID YOU COMBINE YOUR RESIDENCY WITH THE WHAT’S NEXT_COMPASS SUPPORT PROGRAMME?
Z-Kubator offered me a lot of mentoring for specific topics I was facing, both in Zurich and New York. Since I already had a studio, I was not in need of more studio space in Zurich, but of course Z-Kubator would have offered it to me. In New York, I always had someone to talk to in case I needed any help, so I was happy to have that availability. 

WHAT’S NEXT?
Currently, I am working on three different theatre projects, where I am involved as a stage and costume designer, performer, and musician. In addition, I have upcoming concerts and releases, both with my duo None Of Them and as a solo artist. Starting in mid-June, I will be traveling to NYC, thanks to Pro Helvetia, to continue my research with Kamau. As part of this, we are planning additional research trips to Europe to explore the African-Caribbean diaspora there, as well as to West Africa. Ultimately, this research aims to form a foundation for my artistic practice, which could manifest in various ways within the art scene—whether in concert venues, exhibition spaces, theater productions, or perhaps something entirely different. I will also be collaborating on music and a show with Kitty and Kai in NYC. Although it’s not confirmed yet, it’s very likely that we will debut the planned show at the Bad Bonn Chilbi festival in Switzerland in early September 2025.

Zainab Lascandri, Screenshot of a Live Performance, filmed by Kamau Amu Patton, 2024. © Courtesy of the artist.

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