April appears to be a busy month for the singer-songwriter, Solange Ferguson. When she wasn’t joining her sister on stage for two history-making performances at Coachella, or what is now affectionately known as “#Beychella,” you better believe she was busy brewing some fresh ideas to express her creativity with the masses.
In addition to recording new music, Solange recently partnered with Uniqlo to premiere her latest performance art project, Metatronia (Metaron’s Cube), at UCLA’s Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and it’s safe to say, we’re here for it.
The museum’s website describes her set as “an interdisciplinary performance piece and reflection featuring dance and sculpture.”
Solange released an artist statement explaining her appreciation for metatronia- a form of therapy that focuses on healing through vibrational sound- as a beneficial tool that clams the mind and explores the process and mapping of creation.
“The piece is an exercise of the following intuitive force that guides us, helping us to create space, and silence the mind to create the work,” she said. “Continuing my practices and interest inexploring the relationship of movement and architecture as a meditation, Metatronia centers around building frequency and creating charge through visual storytelling.”
Directed by Solange and choreographed by Gerard & Kelly, the full performance, which you can watch on the Hammer Museum’s website, is slightly over four minutes long and features monochromatic-styled dancers from California State University moving rhythmically to music akin to instrumental sounds you’d hear in a relaxing spa session.
The setting of the performance is based in the outdoors of California, embracing the greenery in nature, all while creating an instant calming effect, similar to what you’d experience during a meditation practice.
This isn’t Solange’s first time tapping into the world of alternative healing as a form of expressing her artistry. Last September, the artist performed a piece in Woodbridge, New York titled Musical Meditation, which she described as “a moment of meditation and reflection to build internal energy through music and fellowship.”
Additionally, Metatronia, follows other artistic performance pieces curated by Solange including her digital work, Seventy States, which was a collection of music video concepts for her 2016 album, A Seat at the Table and her artistic performance at Guggenheim Museum last May, where she transformed the museum into a personal space to host an intimate interdisciplinary art performance, “An Ode To,” inspired by the aforementioned album.
The combination of landscape and art in Metatronia is therapeutic within itself, but with Solange creating a visual story infusing the combination of the two with soothing visuals and audio, she shares access to to a different, uncharted realm of wellness and healing.
Shawna Davis is a wellness journalist and the founder and creator of the wellness lifestyle blog, Flowing and Froing. Beyond the blog, she is a certified yoga instructor, wife, dog mama and is a natural hair enthusiast that’s passionate about health, wellness, and beauty. You can follow her on Instagram @itsshawnadavis.