Acaye Kerunen

Based in Kampala, Uganda, Kerunen’s multidisciplinary practice encompasses visual and performance art, curation, and activism. The sculptures Kerunen has created for Neena, aan uthii are vivid tapestries of embodied knowledge, incorporating a diverse range of natural materials and techniques that demonstrate her ongoing commitment to climate-conscious practice.

The artist likens her finished works to “simultaneous equations,” intricate systems requiring the precise coordination of countless variables to achieve balance. The language of mathematics permeates her sculptures and performances, evident in the numerical precision of weaving patterns and the harmonic structures underlying her sung sound works. Across artisan communities and individual textile practices in Uganda, intricate configurations of pattern, number, and form are passed down as living, embodied knowledge. While grounded in universal principles, this knowledge remains dynamic, evolving as it interacts with new makers and ideas. Kerunen’s installations knit together examples of these sophisticated mathematical processes, subverting their traditional harmonies to highlight their timeless ingenuity.

Deep indigos, tangerines, fuchsias, and greens illuminate the works in Neena, aan uthii. Kerunen’s use of color reflects her deep engagement with the chemistry of natural systems. Eschewing the partitioning of colors into primary or secondary categories, she works with dyes derived from a rich palette of roots, flowers, grasses, and ash, sourced from across Uganda’s diverse ecological regions. The resulting hues carry layered contexts, their subtle variations revealing the environmental and chemical conditions of their making.

Time emerges as both a medium and a thematic element in Kerunen’s work, interwoven through the tactile acts of knotting, threading, sewing, and weaving. These processes not only document the temporal rhythms of their making but also embody collective memory, passed down through generations. Dependency on such mercurial factors as climate, harvest yields, and supply chains imbues her work with an awareness of temporal fragility. Raffia and thread become tools for recording lived experiences, capturing the nuanced relationship between human labor and the natural world. Through these acts, Kerunen offers an alternative archive—one that honors impermanence and transformation while reclaiming time as a space for reflection, healing, and resistance to colonial and patriarchal temporalities.

Accompanying the sculptural installations on view, Kerunen has composed and created sound and video pieces that continue and relate to the storytelling of each work. The artist will perform a selection of these in the gallery during the opening reception of the exhibition on January 14, 2025.

Pace Live

Acaye Kerunen and Paolo Guglielminotti Perform Neena, aan uthii

Tuesday, Jan 14
Opening Reception: 6 – 8 PM
Performance: 7 PM
5 Hanover Square
London

Accompanying the sculptural installations on view in London, Acaye Kerunen has composed sound works that activate and expand the narratives of select pieces. As a Pace Live performance, Kerunen will present these recordings alongside movement and live music with London based guitarist, Paolo Guglielminotti, during the exhibition’s opening reception on January 14, 2025, at 7:00 PM.

Kerunen’s performance practice is deeply entwined with the materiality of her sculptural work. Music plays a central role in the creative mapping of movements of liberation through sound. Drawing on Uganda’s rich musical and theatrical scene, Kerunen blends these influences into a distinctive form of embodied storytelling, shaped by her deep engagement with both communal and personal histories.

Adapted for the stage by Toronto-based theatre company Volcano, Kerunen is currently designing the set and costumes for I Have a Drum!, an upcoming production by the internationally acclaimed Ingoma Nshya: The Women Drummers of Rwanda. Through this collaboration, Kerunen extends her material practice into a broader spectrum of performance traditions, seamlessly intertwining her sculptural work with the dynamic energy of live theatre.