Esther Mugambi - Work
‘Esther thinks visually, writes musically and communicates as a dancer,
effortlessly crossing all sorts of dividing lines, whether they are continental,
national, ethnic, racial, cultural or even tribal. Her equipment consists of
a radiant smile, a video camera and an unlimited sense of self-irony.’
Boris Gerrets
Mugambi's work explores the complexity of the self in relation to society.
Her work unites the imaginative with the thought-provoking and draws
on different disciplines accordingly. Her performances are a surprising
combination of theatre, moving image and music and are characterised
by a raw honesty that is engaging and unsettling.
effortlessly crossing all sorts of dividing lines, whether they are continental,
national, ethnic, racial, cultural or even tribal. Her equipment consists of
a radiant smile, a video camera and an unlimited sense of self-irony.’
Boris Gerrets
Mugambi's work explores the complexity of the self in relation to society.
Her work unites the imaginative with the thought-provoking and draws
on different disciplines accordingly. Her performances are a surprising
combination of theatre, moving image and music and are characterised
by a raw honesty that is engaging and unsettling.
Hybrid Eyes/Dubbele Ogen
Music video performance, 2009, 40mins
Kenya and I, we are like former lovers who don’t remember sleeping together
Mugambi grew up in Kenya, moved to Australia and later to the Netherlands,
developing a chameleon-like ability to adapt to many environments.
In this piece she imagines who she might have been, had she stayed,
exploring the notion of ‘becoming the other’.
Inspired by East African VJs who translate foreign films into local languages,
Mugambi acts as a kind of VJ, mediating the visual material (filmed in Nairobi and Amsterdam)
and the subtext as it shifts, adding her own commentary to splice reality and fiction.
concept & performance: Esther Mugambi
performance: Miri Lee
made in collaboration with: Marloeke van der Vlugt
camera and video editing: Alex Fischer
music: Floris van Bergeijk
A DasArts Production with support from AFK
Music video performance, 2009, 40mins
Kenya and I, we are like former lovers who don’t remember sleeping together
Mugambi grew up in Kenya, moved to Australia and later to the Netherlands,
developing a chameleon-like ability to adapt to many environments.
In this piece she imagines who she might have been, had she stayed,
exploring the notion of ‘becoming the other’.
Inspired by East African VJs who translate foreign films into local languages,
Mugambi acts as a kind of VJ, mediating the visual material (filmed in Nairobi and Amsterdam)
and the subtext as it shifts, adding her own commentary to splice reality and fiction.
concept & performance: Esther Mugambi
performance: Miri Lee
made in collaboration with: Marloeke van der Vlugt
camera and video editing: Alex Fischer
music: Floris van Bergeijk
A DasArts Production with support from AFK
Kenya No Borders Online
A film by Esther Mugambi 2008 , 6.5mins
KENYA No Borders Online sounds like an extreme wilderness adventure, with virtual lions and danger zones…
At a time when Kenya was reinventing itself after the tumultuous elections of 2007, Mugambi created a touching
and amusing music/video film that makes full use of the myriad of communication possibilities of the internet.
The juxtaposition of cold northern Europe with the heat and dynamism of East Africa makes for a strong backdrop
to her quest to re-establish a line of communication with the estranged country of her birth.
Giddy with laptop fever after hours of internet searching Mugambi finds herself in love with the idea of a place.
Advice and Editing: Catherine Henegan
Camera: Alex Fischer
Music Remix: Janfie van Strien
A Dasarts Production
A film by Esther Mugambi 2008 , 6.5mins
KENYA No Borders Online sounds like an extreme wilderness adventure, with virtual lions and danger zones…
At a time when Kenya was reinventing itself after the tumultuous elections of 2007, Mugambi created a touching
and amusing music/video film that makes full use of the myriad of communication possibilities of the internet.
The juxtaposition of cold northern Europe with the heat and dynamism of East Africa makes for a strong backdrop
to her quest to re-establish a line of communication with the estranged country of her birth.
Giddy with laptop fever after hours of internet searching Mugambi finds herself in love with the idea of a place.
Advice and Editing: Catherine Henegan
Camera: Alex Fischer
Music Remix: Janfie van Strien
A Dasarts Production
Welcome to Country
Performance Installation, 2007
Inspired by a trip to Cape York and the Aboriginal songlines, in this installation Mugambi’s body is a map,
with text written on layers of translucent, skin-like material that the audience may pull apart to read.
A live ‘autopsy’ where the landscape of the body, laid out on a table, is loaded with memories, the layers of history.
The audience has to navigate their way through this material, peeling off layers to read the text.
Accompanied by the soundtrack, Esther FM, a collection of songs and stories to the sensory experience.
Concept and Performance: Esther Mugambi
Sound Recording: Janfie van Strien
A Dasarts Production
Performance Installation, 2007
Inspired by a trip to Cape York and the Aboriginal songlines, in this installation Mugambi’s body is a map,
with text written on layers of translucent, skin-like material that the audience may pull apart to read.
A live ‘autopsy’ where the landscape of the body, laid out on a table, is loaded with memories, the layers of history.
The audience has to navigate their way through this material, peeling off layers to read the text.
Accompanied by the soundtrack, Esther FM, a collection of songs and stories to the sensory experience.
Concept and Performance: Esther Mugambi
Sound Recording: Janfie van Strien
A Dasarts Production
The Making Of
A film by Esther Mugambi, 2007, 7mins
'sepia toned cyber drama'
(Ladyfest London Films: Fear of a Female Planet, 2008)
Inspired by science fiction/fantasy novel, L'Eve Future, (1886) by August Villiers de Lisle Adam,
which chronicles the making of an android, Hadaly, an inventor to meet the ideals of his aristocrat friend, Lord Ewald.
This misogynist tale is subverted, turning the attention to the female protagonists and mixing the primitive technology
with a contemporary music video form.
Three women work together to create an android, the future woman, using organic and mechanical materials,
while encountering their conflicting ideals and experiences. In their chamber/kitchen they sing her into existence,
a being to surpass history and gender.
Concept and performance Esther Mugambi
Performers Jill Locke, Margret Sara Gudgeonsdottir
Camera Steijn van Santen
Editing Avi Krispin
Music/Recording Rosa Ensemble
Made possible by Danswerkplaats Amsterdam
A film by Esther Mugambi, 2007, 7mins
'sepia toned cyber drama'
(Ladyfest London Films: Fear of a Female Planet, 2008)
Inspired by science fiction/fantasy novel, L'Eve Future, (1886) by August Villiers de Lisle Adam,
which chronicles the making of an android, Hadaly, an inventor to meet the ideals of his aristocrat friend, Lord Ewald.
This misogynist tale is subverted, turning the attention to the female protagonists and mixing the primitive technology
with a contemporary music video form.
Three women work together to create an android, the future woman, using organic and mechanical materials,
while encountering their conflicting ideals and experiences. In their chamber/kitchen they sing her into existence,
a being to surpass history and gender.
Concept and performance Esther Mugambi
Performers Jill Locke, Margret Sara Gudgeonsdottir
Camera Steijn van Santen
Editing Avi Krispin
Music/Recording Rosa Ensemble
Made possible by Danswerkplaats Amsterdam
the wood for the trees
solo performance by Esther Mugambi, 2005
A solo performance about the multiplicity of a personage using a layering of movement, sound, text and music.
The landscape on stage is an externalisation of the internal, the key image being a multitude of small identical 'Esther dolls'
projected on the back wall via the video camera on stage.
This came about after researching the nature of camouflage, the instinct to blend into surroundings.
The ability to adapt oneself to different social environments led to the creation of a pattern selves housed in one body.
A performance more about creating an emotional experience than a narrative thread, it leaves impressions of the struggle
to connect with the world within the confines of one's subjectivity.
She communicates through puppets and the medium of the camera but builds to a very immediate ending;
up close to the audience, engaging them in a sing-along with all of her selves.
concept and performance: Esther Mugambi
dramaturgy: Bertram Dhellemmes
made possible by: Danswerkplaats Amsterdam (DWA)
solo performance by Esther Mugambi, 2005
A solo performance about the multiplicity of a personage using a layering of movement, sound, text and music.
The landscape on stage is an externalisation of the internal, the key image being a multitude of small identical 'Esther dolls'
projected on the back wall via the video camera on stage.
This came about after researching the nature of camouflage, the instinct to blend into surroundings.
The ability to adapt oneself to different social environments led to the creation of a pattern selves housed in one body.
A performance more about creating an emotional experience than a narrative thread, it leaves impressions of the struggle
to connect with the world within the confines of one's subjectivity.
She communicates through puppets and the medium of the camera but builds to a very immediate ending;
up close to the audience, engaging them in a sing-along with all of her selves.
concept and performance: Esther Mugambi
dramaturgy: Bertram Dhellemmes
made possible by: Danswerkplaats Amsterdam (DWA)
Better Off Mute
Physical theatre performance, 2004
‘Let the silence speak to you not with ideas but with a calm and gentle certainty’
Better off Mute addresses the issue of human dependency on verbal communication and the conflicting desire for silence.
The device of underwater video images projected on a venetian blind serves as the analogy of a place of stillness.
Their fear of silence is fought out with the characters representing the conscious and unconscious.
Concept and performance: Adva Zakai and Esther Mugambi
Music: Yaniv Fidel
Video: Randall Wood
Made possible by: Danswerkplaats Amsterdam
Physical theatre performance, 2004
‘Let the silence speak to you not with ideas but with a calm and gentle certainty’
Better off Mute addresses the issue of human dependency on verbal communication and the conflicting desire for silence.
The device of underwater video images projected on a venetian blind serves as the analogy of a place of stillness.
Their fear of silence is fought out with the characters representing the conscious and unconscious.
Concept and performance: Adva Zakai and Esther Mugambi
Music: Yaniv Fidel
Video: Randall Wood
Made possible by: Danswerkplaats Amsterdam