The Currency - Sensing 3 Kailend
In collaboration with Elom 20ce & Musquiqui Chihying
13 min 27 sec, 2025,
4K video, 16:9 aspect ratio, Stereo Sound, no dialog
Synopsis
At the foot of Togo's highest mountain, Agou, lies Kailend – an idyllic ecological farm and alternative grassroots school that experimentally practices sustainable and holistic agriculture, thus developing a counter-model to the prevailing practice of monocultural, pesticide-focused cultivation imported from the Global North.
The camera follows people working on the farm as they harvest and prepare yams, one of the region's essential foods.
They are observed by otherworldly beings who listen to the cycle of life with their technical equipment.
tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs - Description
tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs is a trilogy (Sensing 1 Agbogbloshie, Sensing 2 Ladipo, Sensing 3 Kailend) and part of of the long-term artistic research project THE CURRENCY by Elom 20ce (Togo), Musquiqui Chihying (Taiwan) and Gregor Kasper (Germany).
Through a transcontinental, multidisciplinary, collective practice, THE CURRENCY explores the possibilities of currencies to question capitalist logics, exploitation as well as power structures in order to re-explore the relationships between humans and their interactions with the non-human world. Global interconnections of capital flows, technological developments, and spiritual and collective resistant practices between Africa, Asia, and Europe are explored.
tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs is a flowing, polyphonic journey from three stops on the Gulf of Guinea: Agbogbloshie - the world's largest raw recycling site for electronic waste in Accra/Ghana; Ladipo - a dense market for used car spare parts in Lagos/Nigeria and Kailend - an idyllic organic farm and alternative grassroots school at the foot of Togo's highest mountain Agou.
In these special places, tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs explores the connections between different technological and spiritual spheres and questions the values of life beyond the economic logic of global capitalism. It follows different cycles of life and death, permanent processes of recycling and rebirth, and explores different frequencies, rhythms and voices from the visible and invisible world.
tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs is an invented term written in phonetic transcription that connects the two fields of technology and magic in a multi-layered way. It creates a framework, a working method and an interdisciplinary space that explores the connections between technicity and cosmology.
tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs sees itself as a polyphonic orchestra consisting of a sea of harmonies and dissonances, absorbing different frequencies, vibrations, sounds and rhythms to create a symphonic assemblage.
Installation View The Currency Lab - tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs, E-Werk, Freiburg, 2025
EXHIBITIONS
The Currency Lab - tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs @ Parallax – 6th Kochi-Muziris Biennale Collateral Program, Forplay Society, Kochi, India, 2026
The Currency Lab - tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs =, C.Rockefeller Center for the Contemporary Arts, Dresden, Germany, 2025
The Currency Lab - tɛknoʊmædʒɪkɛs, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst – E-Werk, Freiburg, Germany, 2025
CREDITS
Directed by Elom 20ce & Musquiqui Chihying & Gregor Kasper
Written by Elom 20ce & Musquiqui Chihying & Gregor Kasper
Cast Blessing Aglo, Oloye Ayele-Yawou, Schewniella Ayele-Yawou, Fedence Banya,
Kossi Beleï, Elikia Khaunbiow, Enouéké Khaunbiow, Ellim Logossou
Producer Gregor Kasper
Co-Producer Patrick Atakpa Ayele-Yawou
Cinematography Musquiqui Chihying, Gregor Kasper
Image Editing Gregor Kasper
Colorgrading Sergi Sánchez Rodriguez
Sound Design, Editing, Sum-Sum Shen, Ilya Selikhov
Sound Mixing Ilya Selikhov
Music Elom 20ce
Musicians Elom 20ce, Kamarou Gideon Kwaku Anthony, Koffi Assimadi, Dodji Efoui,
Michel Junior Gbadebo Olufade, Eustache Kamouna
Recorded at Colibri Studio by Rodrigue Bellow
Costum Asrafobawu
Production xizhuang
Co-Production Atakpa Productions, Asrafo Records, RLIS - Research Lab of Image and Sound
Commissioned by Galerie für Gegenwartskunst - E-Werk Freiburg