Mo Laudi (Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape)

Mo Laudi (Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape) is a multi-disciplinary artist, composer, DJ, Stellenbosch University research fellow, the first South African Black curator to curate a group exhibition in Paris. He is inspired by African knowledge systems, post-apartheid transitionalism, international and underground subcultures. His boundary-blurring investigations find expression through experiments with sound as material and sonic landscapes, painting, collage, sculpture, installations, video and performance as socio-political critiques of society. He is known for his Globalisto philosophy and his key contributions to Afro-Electronic music. His process delves into archives and seeks to evoke healing, the notion of rest, communal connections, deep listening, care and repair.

The urban fabric of his hometown as a teenager was the backdrop for graffiti, street art, murals; in 1990, a prize gave him the opportunity to make an outdoor painting dedicated to Gerard Sekoto at the Polokwane Art Museum. His first participation in an exhibition was at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2019 with the sound work Motho ke motho ka batho (A Tribute to Ernest Mancoba). This has since been shown with his Rest Paintings series at the Dakar Biennale last year and at Shimmer in Rotterdam (2023). Challenging invisibilisations, Mo Laudi has also paid tribute to historic figures such as Mongo Beti, George Hallett, Gerard Sekoto. Other recent commissions include: Congo Square in D# Minor for Sammy Baloji’s Johari Brass Band at the Grand Palais, Paris, 2021; Lumumba’s Groove for Christine Eyene and Curating Lab, Pelt, 2021; Helfritz' Wunderkammer (The Ethnographic Gaze and the History of Cabinets of Curiosities) for Sandrine Colard and Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum-Cultures of the world, Koln, 2022. His video collage Afro-Bolero accompanies the track he composed with Philippe Cohen-Solal (released in 2020).

Mo Laudi explores the history and significance of the club as a space for radical hospitality. His performances have taken place around the world since the 2000s; sonic lectures have taken place at Sonsbeek 20-24, Arnhem, invited by Amal Al Haag; Mobilis Alkebulan, at Kadist Foundation, Paris, (2021); Fondation Cartier, Paris, invited by Chimurenga (2016). Globalisto Sessions are a monthly programme on Tsugi Radio. His curatorial projects include Globalisto. A Philosophy in Flux at the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Etienne (2022) and one in development at the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève, Geneva, in collaboration with Madeleine Leclair (2025).