JCAF Knowledge Talks

Neo Muyanga speaks about how his work as a composer and his research on African idiomatic songs has informed his interest in opera and its various manifestations in South Africa. He shares the process of working as composer and librettist on the recently premiered The Bacchae: An African Choral Ballet, and how designing soundscapes for exhibitions and films has allowed him to connect the visual and sonic realms in new and unexpected ways.
Mentioned in this episode: 
Madrigal tradition in Italy 
Musique concrète 
Sidney Poitier 
‘The Bacchae: An African Choral Ballet’ (Joburg Theatre, 2026) 
Sparagmos 
Nietzche and the abyss 
‘Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse’ (Homi Bhabha, 1984) 
Miriam Makeba  
Abdullah Ibrahim 
‘When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration on Painting’ exhibition (Zeitz Mocaa Museum, 2022) 
‘Milisuthando’ (Milisuthando Bongela, 2023) 
To find out more about Neo’s work, visit the Centre for the Less Good Idea’s website. 
Music for the JCAF Knowledge Talks podcast was commissioned by JCAF.
‘INGWENYA’, performed by the Afrikan Freedom Principle, led by Mandla Mlangeni, © MM Publishing.
Website URL: ⁠⁠⁠⁠jcaf.org.za⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠foundation_jcaf

Paula Gaetano Adi speaks about her robotics practice, which blends Western technologies with traditional South American crafts, vernacular cultures, folklore, collective work and DIY making. In doing so, she questions the morality behind contemporary technological innovations, and expands on what robots can say about human relations and power. Gaetano also shares insights about her work Guanaquerx (2024), the first robot to cross the Andes Mountains. Designed after the guanaco, a camelid native to South America, the project radically imagines a robot liberation from utilitarian, extractive and militarised technological paradigms.
Mentioned in this episode:
‘A Cyborg Manifesto’ (Donna Haraway, 2016)
Mestizo Robotics
Guanaquerx (Gaetano Adi, 2024)
Cosmotechnics (Yuk Hui, 2021)
The Crossing of the Andes (1817)
Three Laws of Robotics explained by Isaac Asimov (1965)
‘Technology & Ethos’ (Amiri Baraka, 1970)
To find out more about Paula’s work, visit her website.  
Music for the JCAF Knowledge Talks podcast was commissioned by JCAF.
‘INGWENYA’, performed by the Afrikan Freedom Principle, led by Mandla Mlangeni, © MM Publishing.
Website URL: ⁠⁠⁠⁠jcaf.org.za⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠foundation_jcaf

Ayanda Mnyandu speaks about how his skate tours in inner-city Joburg challenge negative perceptions of the city, his engagement with street culture, and he reflects on recent collaborations with architects. Mnyandu also shares insights from his time working at Skateistan, a global NGO that uses skateboarding as a tool for youth development.
Mentioned in this episode:
City Skate Tours
Chris Joslin Skateboarding 360 flip
Structures exhibition at JCAF
Matri-Archi(tecture)
IN-FORM-ALL Collaboration between Matri-Archi(tecture) and Ayanda Mnyandu
Skateistan NGO
Skating for girls in Afghanistan
‘People as Infrastructure’ by AbdouMaliq Simone
‘The Sound of Skateboarding – Tony Hawk’
To find out more about Ayanda’s work, visit the City Skate Tours website or follow him on Instagram.
Music for the JCAF Knowledge Talks podcastwas commissioned by JCAF.
‘INGWENYA’, performed by the Afrikan FreedomPrinciple, led by Mandla Mlangeni, © MM Publishing.
Website URL: ⁠⁠⁠⁠jcaf.org.za⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠foundation_jcaf

Igshaan Adams speaks about how domestic spaces, everyday movement through Cape Town's segregated landscape, and personal introspection have informed his artistic practice. He reflects on the impact sufism had both in his life and in his work. Igshaan shares how tapestries can hold experiences, and how weaving has become a way to reconcile different parts of himself. Adams also discusses the importance of collaboration, particularly with family members and people from his community. 
Mentioned in this episode:
Philani, a NPO working in Khayelitsha
Sufism
In Between (Igshaan Adams, 2011)
‘When Dust Settles’ exhibition (2018)
Desire lines
The Practice of Everyday Life (Michel de Certeau, 1984)
Bismillah performance (Igshaan Adams, 2014)
Paul Gilroy’s concept of ‘a planetary humanism’
To find out more about Igshaan’s work, visit blank projects’ website or follow him on Instagram.
Music for the JCAF Knowledge Talks podcast was commissioned by JCAF. ‘INGWENYA’, performed by the Afrikan Freedom Principle, led by Mandla Mlangeni, © MM Publishing.
Website URL: ⁠⁠⁠jcaf.org.za
⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠foundation_jcaf

Stella Mutegi speaks about her experience co-founding Cave_bureau, a Nairobi-based bureau of architects and researchers. She discusses how researching the caves in and around Nairobi has contributed to better understanding of the tensions and connections between rural and urban contexts, as well as the pre- and post-colonial conditions of the city. Mutegi also shares insights into indigenous knowledges in Kenya and expands on Cave_bureau’s interest in improving life in African cities, while taking into account the social and environmental implications of architecture and urbanism.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Great Rift Valley in Kenya
The Anthropocene Museum
Mount Suswa in Kenya
Cow Corridor (2021)
Shimoni Caves of the Enslaved
Cave_Bureau’s exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (2023)
British Pavilion at the Architecture Venice Biennale co-curated byCave_Bureau (2025)
To find out more about Stella’s work, visitCave_bureau’s website or follow them on Instagram.
Music for the JCAF Knowledge Talks podcast was commissioned by JCAF.
‘INGWENYA’, performed by the Afrikan Freedom Principle, led by Mandla Mlangeni, © MM Publishing.
Website URL: ⁠⁠jcaf.org.za⁠⁠
Instagram: ⁠⁠foundation_jcaf