briefhistories.mp3 gathers a series of interviews with artists from and in orbit of the Brief Histories network, whose practices consider transmission, translation, and coalition-building across time and space. The episodes air monthly on the Bethlehem-based online radio station Radio Alhara between April and July.

Christian Nyampeta’s The Africans, A Radio Play in Three Acts, is what the artist calls a “multiform audio-social structure.” Originally composed in 2021, the radio play is an adaptation of writer Ali A. Mazrui’s 1971 novel The Trial of Christopher Okigbo, in which the late Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo is put on trial upon his arrival in After-Africa, following his death on the battlefield of the Biafran war. Was the poet entitled to place his individual civic engagement above his universal duty as an artist? In this audio reimaging, Nyampeta builds a sound world for Mazrui’s concept of “After-Africa,” an imagined pan-African realm where people go when they die. The story that unfolds examines the role of the individual artist in collective struggle.

Nyampeta’s performance will take the form of an intimate listening session in the artist’s studio. He will perform a remixed version of the radio play’s first act, stitching the original ensemble’s voices together with the live score. A brief conversation with Nyampeta will precede the 40-minute performance.

Space is limited, so please RSVP in advance. The address will be provided upon RSVP.

This project is organized in collaboration with Brief Histories and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, and marks the first event of Brief Histories since the gallery’s move from its location on the Bowery. It culminates a year-long reflection on radio as an alternative space and medium for artistic and cultural experimentation.

briefhistories.mp3 is organized by Alma Chaouachi, Mike Curran, Devon Ma, and Truth Murray-Cole, in collaboration with Fawz Kabra and Isak Berbic. Graphic design by Nadya Marin-Luna.