As part of our work in South Africa with the British Council’s Connect ZA program, onedotzero commissioned Yuri Suzuki for the first Tshimologong Precinct Digital Artist residency at the Kalashnikovv Gallery in Braamfontein, part of the Fak’ugesi Digital Africa Festival. Tshimologong, the seSotho phrase for ‘place of new beginnings’, is an area of Johannesburg undergoing dynamic development as a home for local programmers, designers, developers and entrepreneurs.
Yuri Suzuki worked collaboratively with creative technologist Nathan Gates and local artists Bogosi Sekhukuni and Neo Mahlasela to create an installation, soundtrack and video piece entitled ‘Warm Leatherette’. ‘Warm Leatherette’ was originally produced by Daniel Miller, a song that references J.G Ballard’s 1973 novel ‘Crash’ a controversial story of flesh, sexuality and its violent melding with technology.