Samson Kambalu creates site-specific installation, video, performance, and literary works that question our notions of capital, the act of giving, national identity and history, and what it means to give, in today’s context. Kambalu aims to create work that functions as a commentary on the anti-reification theories of the Situationist International movement and the Protestant tradition of inquiry, criticism, and disagreement. His practice is anchored in the idea of inquiry as a platform to actively question how art can serve as a space for critical thought around ideas of sovereign activities. What does the idea of sovereignty mean in our contemporary society? Who is actually able to participate?

The praxis of Kambalu’s artistic approach also seeks to interrogate and engage in a dialogue with the Nyau gift-giving cultural practices he grew up with in his native Malawi. The exploration of these practices has served as a catalyst for his Nyau Cinema series, some of which will be on view during AB7. The series features brief films of psycho-geographical performances that function as interactive interventions. Kambalu utilises these cinematic fragments as a tool to explore ideas of the spiritual, the ritual, repetition, and the cultivation of non-linear narratives designed to immerse the viewer into the multimodal artistic adventure that he creates through his work.

Paper Potlatch Procession, 2019
Flag in cotton and silk, installed with a wooden stick, 100 x 2 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

The Country Drowning in Unhealthy Nationalism, 2019
Flag in cotton and silk, installed with a wooden stick, 100 x 2 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

Impossible Country, 2019
Flag in cotton and silk, installed with a wooden stick, 100 x 2 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

The Wall, 2019
Flag in cotton and silk, installed with a wooden stick, 100 x 2 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

Beni Flag, 2019
Flag in cotton and silk, installed with a wooden stick, 100 x 2 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

Bronze Age, 2016
Digital video, colour, 43’’
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

I get stuck on the steps, 2016
Digital video, colour, 46’’
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

I try to get back to earth, 2016
Digital video, colour, 37’’
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

3pm, 2016
Digital video, colour, 27’’
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

Walk don’t Walk, 2016
Digital video, colour, 48’’
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

Terminator, 2016
Digital video, colour, 46’’
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London

I Take My Place in History, 2016
Digital video, colour, 27’’
Courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London