Viktor l. Ewing-Givens Houston TX native- now Global
resident is the Middle child of three sons, born the fall
of 87’ ( Virgo sun -Sagittarius moon -Gemini rising) his
curiosities and imaginings are fed by a lineage of spirit
workers, teachers, makers and civic leaders
descending from the ancient Edo tribe of Benin..
Holding degrees from Fisk University and Columbia
College Chicago M.A/MFA , Viktor is the founding
creative director of Southern Android Productions, an
ongoing cultural research project that explores the
healing and creative powers of ancestral archives.
Lover of dance, corn bread and black eyed peas,
Givens is currently restoring rural estate properties to
establish a lofi cultural arts residency program on land
belonging to his ancestors since 1872. Givens is a
found object installation performance artist whose
practice centers around the gathering and
arrangement of ancestral objects to activate spaces
for site specific public rituals. By connecting the
material culture of his ancestors with pre and post
modern spiritual theologies, le. Givens hopes to
extend and re-imagine the folk customs of his family . His material archive is comprised of the
forgotten and discarded household items found during excavations of East Texas, Louisiana,
Havana Cuba and Mexico City. Through the accumulation of these rich cultural artifacts , le.
Givens. seeks to create spaces that inspire the activation of cultural and spiritual (re) memory.
Currently Viktor’s practice is exploring the creative potential in reinterpreting the archive to
produce interdisciplinary new works. His installation and performance practice has been
featured during the 13th havana biennale, Fisk Spring arts festival-- the Afrofuturism conference
in New York, Chicago Jazz festival among a host of other formal and informal cultural arts
spaces.