Artist in Residence Napoleon Maddox and Sorg explore beats as archive

In February, LNUC Concurrences was visited by artist in residence Napoleon Maddox and his collaborator Sorg, for several events around music as resistance, storytelling, and archive. On February 13th Napoleon and Sorg presented "A conversation that Looks Like a Concert" at Mono record store in central Växjö. The event combined music and conversation around the colonial history, the history of slavery, social justice, revolution, and music and beats as artform and communication. Among the works performed were pieces from "Checkin Us" an album that captures the history of Millie-Chistine McKoy, the conjoined twins born into slavery in North Carolina in 1851, who were trafficked as children and reached fame as vocalists after the declaration of emancipation. The album chronicles their lives through the perspectives of different protagonists and gives voice to experience of slavery, marginalisation, racism, and ableism - but also resilience and humanity. Another central theme was their album on Toussaint l'Ouverture and the Haitian revolution.

On February 14 Napoleon and Sorg offered a master class in beat making at Mono, where they explored the collections of vinyls as archives and demonstrated how beat making uses meaningful fragments form recordings and works them to create sounds that communicate new meanings rooted in both the past and the present.

Napoleon Maddox visit as artist in residence in 2026 is made possible by a collaboration with the Cultural University.