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Michael Salu

  • Selected Writing
  • Selected Talks & Events
  • Art
  • Stream
  • Diary
  • Info
  • SALU.io

Hello. I am a writer, artist and critic. Recently my work has been focused on new mythologies that spring out of technology’s evolution of language. I'm in the final stages of a novel about tech, ‘The Self’ and the unconscious. Springing out of the same work and research is also an immersive art project which utilises the video game engine to create a psycho-geographic world that aims to explore the future of marginalised groups in the face of automated governance.

I am also an award winning creative director and run a strategy-driven, multi-disciplinary creative consultancy.

Naturally, you can find me on instagram.

Cloaks, some tone prose.

October 20, 2016

My recent short text 'Cloaks' also receives publication over at Cabaret Wittgenstein: Laboratory for Anti-Dystopian Writing. Find it here

Tags art, writing, creativefiction
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Collaborative exhibition with Rut Blees Luxemburg 3-8 Nov

September 26, 2016

I have a collaborative show coming up with the maestro Rut Blees Luxemburg at Bearspace Gallery this November. It is part of Urban Photo Fest and expands further on our billboard project (initially featured in Hackney) pictured, we'll be delving more into the hidden 'soul' populating the rapidly evolving urban landscape.

Private View / Opening: Monday, 7 Nov. 2016 , 18:00 to 20:30

Artist Talk: Monday, 7 Nov. 2016, 18:00 to 18:30

Tags art, installation, photography, writing
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My Words in French

August 8, 2016

My first translated work. French naturally. "Techniques Mixtes, Dimensions Variables." An essay in the form of a semiotic flaneur's traipse around New York riffing on the landscapes painted by Wu Tang Clan and even Outkast. Appears in the French edition of #talesoftwocities an anthology on the socio-economic imbalances of #NewYork edited by John Freeman and published by Penguin Randomhouse & ActesSud in France. Also featuring writing from Garnette Cadogan Teju Cole  Lydia Davis, Junot Diaz, Mark Doty, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer, Dinaw Mengestu, Colum McCann, Taiye Selasi & many more...

Tags writing, essay
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© Elsa Westreicher

© Elsa Westreicher

Freeman's Journal, Savvy Contemporary & The Reader Berlin

August 5, 2016

Last week saw a deep poignant discussion unfold between award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna, writer Garnette Cadogan, John Freeman and myself for the Berlin launch of issue two of Freeman's Journal. Themed family, we used this entry point as a way to scour the grit of how we are adapting (or not) to a rapidly changing world.

Tags talks, literature, art
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manifesta.png

Performance piece at Manifesta 2016

July 27, 2016

Manifesta performance piece coming up! I'm developing some new work for next year. Entitled 'Superimposition' it is a meditation on synthesized violence and propaganda, hopefully to take exhibition/book form. In the meantime I'll be testing it out as a one off performance at Manifesta. Helping me execute this ode will be brilliant butoh performer and dancer Valentin Tszin. If you can, get down to Zurich on 17 September

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In Event Tags art, artist, performance, exhibition, multi media
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Cover image: Liz Johnson Artur   Untitled, from ‘The Black Balloon Archive’, 1991–ongoing

Cover image: Liz Johnson Artur
Untitled, from ‘The Black Balloon Archive’, 1991–ongoing

Made You Look: Dandyism and Black Masculinity

July 20, 2016

The image can lie, but the skin cannot.

I've contributed a short text to the publication Loose Associations edited by Daniel C. Blight , which accompanies 'Made You Look' (Dandyism & Black Masculinity) curated by Ekow Eshun . My text entitled 'Cloaks' is loosely based on ‘The Hypocrites’ in Canto XXIII of Inferno. For their punishment, they are forced to wear coats or cloaks that are beautiful on the outside, but lined inside with heavy lead, forcing them to bend over and struggle to move.

Tags creative writing, fiction, photography
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BUY THINGS! FEEL GOOD!

May 27, 2016

Limited edition fine art screenprints are now available from our online pop up store. Grab one while you can!

Tags art, prints, 3D art
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Welcome to S.O.U.L. - 4 June, London

May 15, 2016

On 4 June I'll be presenting a medley of multimedia readings from my ongoing short story collection and art project #welcometoSOUL. It'll be held at Library London. RSVPs available here Some of the subject matter in my stories were also addressed in a recent TED talk

Tags art, literature, performance, reading
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An Interview with Wildness Journal

April 13, 2016

"Even now, I have lucid visual memories of my really early years…"

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Tags press, film, art, literature
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Visual Verse

April 6, 2016

A piece I created in 2012 has been selected as April's image for Visual Verse, an anthology of art and words.
"One image, one hour, 50-500 words.
The picture is the starting point, the text is up to you. "

And the submissions keep coming!

 

Tags art, literature, collage, art collage
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Nils Frahm's 'Piano Day' 2016

March 15, 2016

Next up a short film commissioned for Piano Day 2016. Piano Day was initiated by Nils Frahm last year as a worldwide celebration of the piano, supported by a series of events, performances and works of art. My film will be premiered on 28 March at the De Montford Suite of the Town Hall Hotel, London.

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Tags art, film, performance, music
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#LTpresents ANONYMOUS →

March 14, 2016

WHO DO WE BECOME WHEN WE ARE ANONYMOUS?

The live arts cabaret Local Transport begins its residency at Southbank Centre with three immersive works by leading artists, writers and thinkers that explore what anonymity means to us now, and how it protects us from surveillance, permanence, isolation, injustice and consequence. What happens when you strip identity away and leave only the message?

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Tags LTpresents, performance, event, film, art
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A Slave to the Algorithm →

March 6, 2016

Delighted to be hosting a night of readings and conversation around my recently published works at the The Reader, Berlin. Join us on 20 March to explore how might might write about sexuality, gender, identity and desire through the prism of technology. 

In Writing, Event Tags reading, berlin, technology, vr
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© Lewis Klahr

© Lewis Klahr

Critic's Week with Lewis Klahr at Berlinale →

March 3, 2016

I joined one of the select panels for the Berlinale Critics Week with seminal film artist Lewis Klahr. We discussed his recent work Sixty Six and the boundaries of definition we create within art and film.

In Event Tags film, berlinale, lewis klahr, art, berlin, berlin art
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Freeman's at the Royal Society of Literature

March 3, 2016

An audio recording of a panel discussion at the Royal Society of Literature as part of the launch of Freeman's Journal. The panel consisted of editor and writer John Freeman, novelists Tahmima Anam and Kamila Shamsie and myself.

In Event, Writing Tags audio, reading, literature, talks
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Should We Celebrate the Image Society? A TEDx Talk.

March 1, 2016

A TEDx Talk

Our lives are massively bombarded by images. Should we celebrate that fact or dread its consequences? As a creator of images, Michael Salu is interested in communication they provoke. Can communication through images nd our advancement with digital experiences actually help us reach a greater level of empathy for each other? Or should we fear the reverse? 

In Event, Writing Tags talks, ted talk, art, visual culture
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Algorithms in our Lives

March 1, 2016

Michael Salu's story The Nod explores identity through virtual reality and appears in issue 1 (Arrival) of Freeman's Journal. 

I spoke with Freeman's Journal about some of the underlying elements structure my recent art practice, which is manifesting in both text and image as I explore the representation through the physical and the digital.

In Talks, Writing Tags algorithms, sci fi, science fiction, fiction writing
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Photo © John Freeman

Photo © John Freeman

Freeman's Journal at Libreria

March 1, 2016

Freeman's Journal landed at new bookshop Liberia in February as preview event before the shop's official opening. I joined editor John Freeman and short story writer extraordinare Helen Simpson in a discussion about migration, what drives us to write, where we find characters and how we talk about the world.

In Event, Writing Tags literature, fiction writing, science fiction, libreria, freemans journal, john freeman
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2015-10-09 20.53.38-1.jpg 2015-10-11 23.01.40.jpg

The London Literature Festival: Data and Desire Oct 2015

March 1, 2016

Has access to hard data actually helped us to know more than before?

What can't Big Data tell us? What does all of this information mean for the unknowable, the intangible, the essential mystery of life?

Local Transport presents three short, sharp, multimedia performances from innovative artists and writers.

Michael Salu & Rut Blees Luxemburg, Natasha Caruana and Catherine Anyango take the stage for fifteen minutes each. They tell stories of love at first sight, dystopia and Big Data using words, photography and illustration.

Tags art, performance, literature, natasha caruana, rut blees luxemburg, michael salu, catherine anyango
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#welcometoSOUL Level 4

March 1, 2016

Art billboard takeover. My psycho-geographic movement between text and image continues #welcometoSOUL

Tags billboard art, art, street art, installation, fiction
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