Memory Biwa

Born in Windhoek/Namibia in 1979.

Her work addresses the histories of colonial war and genocide in Namibia, with a focus on transnational memorial and reparative processes. Biwa’s research on oral narratives and performance, as archival forms, informs notions of subjectivity and the re-centering of alternative epistemologies and imaginaries. Her postdoctoral research on a linguistic-sonic collection staged in 1950s Namibia expanded into a practice on the aural convergence between voice, instrumentation and forms of technology.

Biwa is part of the sound duo Listening at Pungwe with Robert Machiri, who works with both historical and contemporary sound collections and archives. Listening at Pungwe has given lecture performances and appeared in exhibitions and installations in Cape Town/South Africa, Durban/South Africa, Dakar/Senegal, Berlin/Germany, Marseilles/France, Lausanne/Switzerland and Perth/Australia. The project was awarded a grant from New Music South Africa (NMSA), and a fellowship from the Institute of Creative Arts, University of Cape Town in 2016. Prix Ars Electronica gave the project an honorary mention in the category Digital Communities in 2020.

Biwa and Machiri are recipients of the 2021 DAAD Artists-in-Berlin program.

Memory Biwa is a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, in cooperation with Donaueschinger Musiktage 2021 as part of the project Donaueschingen Global.