Andrei
van Wyk
Andrei van Wyk (1990) is a musician, composer and sound artist based in Johannesburg.
His work focuses on hypertextuality, experimental composition, muzak and the relations
between sound, noise and music within the context of human political and social experience.
Through sound-collage, plunderphonics and free improvisation, van Wyk seeks to recreate
and amplify significant aspects within basic human interaction and experience such as
humour, boredom and loss, while placing them into broader historical narratives.
He is an MA student in history at Rhodes University in Makhanda, with a focus on land dispossession in the city of Gqerbeha and the ways in which the artistic process of ‘soundscape’ creation and synthesis can open newer ways of reading reconstructed narratives of the past, with the sonic being placed at the forefront in order to analyse the history of colonialism and apartheid in the Global South, with a focus on the Southern Africa.
He also performs in various other musical projects including in the Experimental Jazz band The Wretched alongside drummer Tumi Mogorosi and vocalist Gabisile Motuba, which will see their debut album release in 2020 through Savvy records, and as a solo artist with his industrial-noise project Healer Oran.
van Wyk’s sound work has been included in a variety of projects including the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival, Johannesburg; the FNB Joburg Artfair, Johannesburg and Sound in Art Processes, Keleketla! Library, Johannesburg (all 2015) as well as a performer in Invisible Cities, Johannesburg (2014); Edge of Wrong, Johannesburg, (2015/7); AMAZE festival, Johannesburg (2016) and is a contributing musician to Mute Sounds’ 1 minute autohypnosis Project. He has collaborated with artists Karin Tan and Skye Quadling on “We felt a Rumble, you won’t believe what happened next: TO BE DETERMINED”, GoetheonMain; (2016) and at Kunstefees, Bloemfontein (2017).
In 2017 van Wyk was a resident artist at MAP gallery, Richmond and at the Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg in 2018. As a composer he worked in film and dance including the multi-award winning Mma Moeketsi (2018) by Reabetswe Moeti for which he won the Lake International Pan African Film Festival for best score. He composed music and sound design for artist and filmmaker Simon Gush’s exhibition “Welcome to Frontier Country” in 2019 and collaborated as a composer with Glasgow-based Dance Company Project X on the performance “Ghost Dimensions” in the same year.
His most recent work scores for “Lobola: A Brides Trues Price?” directed by Sihle Hlope, “The Reclaimers” by Sifiso Khanyile and “The Busiest Airline in Africa” exhibition by Simon Gush presented at the Stevenson Gallery in Johannesburg. He is also currently the studio and touring guitarist for South African singer and performance artist Desire Marea who will release his sophomore album through Mute Records in the UK in early 2023.
︎︎︎ ︎
He is an MA student in history at Rhodes University in Makhanda, with a focus on land dispossession in the city of Gqerbeha and the ways in which the artistic process of ‘soundscape’ creation and synthesis can open newer ways of reading reconstructed narratives of the past, with the sonic being placed at the forefront in order to analyse the history of colonialism and apartheid in the Global South, with a focus on the Southern Africa.
He also performs in various other musical projects including in the Experimental Jazz band The Wretched alongside drummer Tumi Mogorosi and vocalist Gabisile Motuba, which will see their debut album release in 2020 through Savvy records, and as a solo artist with his industrial-noise project Healer Oran.
van Wyk’s sound work has been included in a variety of projects including the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival, Johannesburg; the FNB Joburg Artfair, Johannesburg and Sound in Art Processes, Keleketla! Library, Johannesburg (all 2015) as well as a performer in Invisible Cities, Johannesburg (2014); Edge of Wrong, Johannesburg, (2015/7); AMAZE festival, Johannesburg (2016) and is a contributing musician to Mute Sounds’ 1 minute autohypnosis Project. He has collaborated with artists Karin Tan and Skye Quadling on “We felt a Rumble, you won’t believe what happened next: TO BE DETERMINED”, GoetheonMain; (2016) and at Kunstefees, Bloemfontein (2017).
In 2017 van Wyk was a resident artist at MAP gallery, Richmond and at the Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg in 2018. As a composer he worked in film and dance including the multi-award winning Mma Moeketsi (2018) by Reabetswe Moeti for which he won the Lake International Pan African Film Festival for best score. He composed music and sound design for artist and filmmaker Simon Gush’s exhibition “Welcome to Frontier Country” in 2019 and collaborated as a composer with Glasgow-based Dance Company Project X on the performance “Ghost Dimensions” in the same year.
His most recent work scores for “Lobola: A Brides Trues Price?” directed by Sihle Hlope, “The Reclaimers” by Sifiso Khanyile and “The Busiest Airline in Africa” exhibition by Simon Gush presented at the Stevenson Gallery in Johannesburg. He is also currently the studio and touring guitarist for South African singer and performance artist Desire Marea who will release his sophomore album through Mute Records in the UK in early 2023.
︎︎︎ ︎