TRANSFORMATIVE NARRATIVES
Transformative Narratives is a collective founded by Tony Wagner and Lena Kuzmich that initiates performative and audiovisual experiences through transdisciplinary world-building. Linking stories, molding characters, and shaping glimpses of imaginary landscapes, the collective seeks to unravel transformative forces of the self, as well as the power of collective growth and radical care. Mutualism provides both theme and methodology to combine experimental music, visual arts, and text. Their projects disclose the queering of kinship, weaving personal stories into shared immersive experiences. In their recent work, Transformative Narratives explore multi-species worlds, thereby relearning how space is negotiated and communities formed.
MEMBERS
Lena Kuzmich (they/no pronouns) is a multidisciplinary artist from Vienna, currently based in Amsterdam. Their work, a fluid remix of photographic and videographic fragments taken from pop and subcultures, stitches together stories. Imaginative landscapes, composite depictions of bodies, and technology all become a portal beyond preconceived notions about the world and our identity in it.
In their practice, they strive for cross-disciplinary approaches by exploring multi-species worlds, thereby relearning how more-than-human life expands our perception of identity and community. Eclectically, they gather content from science, art, social theory, pop culture, subcultures, and historical myths to create collage-like worlds using various editing software. Found footage is combined with their own creations and photographs to assemble new contexts and narratives. In their work, images from “obscure” internet forums meet those originally published in scientific databases, aiming to dissolve hierarchies and reveal the narratives that shape our understanding of the world.
instagram: lenakuzmich_
www.lenakuzmich.world
lena.kuzmich@gmx.at
www.transformativenarratives.xyz
Tony Wagner (they/he) is a musician and artist whose work establishes connections between soft and harsh sound and opens zones for the exploration of care and exaltation. Dealing with loss, lust, pain, desire, queer joy and transformation, Tony’s sound seeks intensities. Sensitively constructed vocal sample arrangements topped with spoken texts contrast rhythmic noise productions with distorted glitching vocals, pushing pulses up to 163bpm.
Tony Wagner released their EPs Dreamreality in 2020 and Xxxerberus in 2022 as Tony Renaissance on their label Tender Matter. As co-founder of the event series The Future, member of the Sounds Queer? collective and founder of Tender Matter, Tony is promoting and highlighting the work of queer, non-binary, trans and gender non-conforming artists in electronic music.
instagram: tonyrenaissancex