Roots & Branches Record Shop

 

This production at ELL.sf explored the curation, performance, and transaction of culture typically found in record shops and swap meets.

 

Designing a show on art and cultural transaction, became the prompt to reconsider the art gallery as a platform for performance. Through the process of producing an exhibition for Roots and Branches' beats and collages, ELL.sf ultimately decided to co-sign with several Bay Area record shops and Oakland-based hip hop collective, Hieroglyphics, to become a record shop for a 4month period.

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At the center of this production was the work and curation of Nicholas Basta. His work in collage, music and video consider narrative, community and home with the development of motifs and ideas he’s been addressing with the Roots & Branches community art project as well as his own practice.

 

The events are archived in a 4-part film series, shot and edited by Eighty9s, seen below:​​​