Mikrokosmos LP 'Another time, this time, one time' as a continuation of exhibition at Western Front

Jacob Korczynski's essay for Afterall examines the LP 'Another time, this time, one time' (2019) by Mikrokosmos, the collaborative duo of composer Justin Hicks and artist Steffani Jemison. The record is considered a continuation of their 2017 exhibition of the same name at Western Front in Vancouver, curated by Pablo de Ocampo. Mikrokosmos, named after Béla Bartók's piano pieces, began in 2016 and has taken multiple formats including workshops, study sessions, and concerts. The LP features collaborators Jonathan Hoard, Allison Loggins-Hull, Alexis Marcelo, Anaïs Maviel, Kenita Miller-Hicks, Tim Darden, Quincy Flowers, Ayesha Jordan, Kara Lynch, Okwui Okpokwasili, and David Hamilton Thomson. The work engages with Brian Jackson and Gil Scott-Heron's 1977 song 'We Almost Lost Detroit', exploring Black American music and the technique of melisma. The essay contextualizes the LP within the history of artists' records, referencing Germano Celant's 1977-78 exhibition 'The Record As Artwork' and Michael Glasmeier's 1989 'Broken Music'. Korczynski draws on James A. Snead's 1981 essay 'On Repetition in Black Culture' to analyze the LP's use of repetition and 'cuts'. The sleeve design by Preston Thompson uses color-coded letters of 'Mikrokosmos' without recurring sequences. The LP was co-commissioned by Nottingham Contemporary and Western Front in 2018.