We Do Not Yet Know What ‘Toto – Africa (playing in an empty mall)’ Can Do is a personal and political myth, a conversational essay that explores the internet phenomenon of musical empty mall memes on YouTube, in which pop songs are digitally processed to sound as-if played in an empty mall. Mateo Vega reads these videos as a sonic mourning and questioning of Western consumerism’s failed promises, drawing from their personal experience as well as theoretical sources.

Written by Mateo Vega, with an introduction by Jan-Pieter ‘t Hart

Mateo Vega (Lima, 1994) is a filmmaker and artist from Peru raised in Amsterdam, and a graduate of Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam University College and The New School. The starting point of their work is the subjective experience of (urban) space, and the politics, histories and futurities embedded in landscapes, architecture and infrastructure.

Size: 27,5*19 cm
Page run: 32
Edition: 150
Published: April 2023
Editor: Jan-Pieter 't Hart
Design: Tjobo Kho