FIBER Podcast 38 - Fenna Fiction

FIBER Podcast number 38 is part of a triptych of three podcasts that will be released shortly after each other. With this, FIBER celebrates almost 10 years of sets and live recordings. We end this series at #40 and prepare for something new. Thanks to all artists, followers and listeners.

Fenna Fiction is a DJ and graphic designer. To her those practices are similar, they only entail different senses. Below you can find the interview we did with Fenna about the mix and the accompanying artwork.

Thank you so much for your mix. Could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us about your approach for this mix?

I am Fenna, an artist/graphic designer and DJ living and working in Amsterdam. My mixes are always a collection of music I recently found and been listening to, this one included. It’s a mix to listen to on your headphones.

Could you tell us about who/what influenced you in becoming a DJ?

Since I was a teenager I was always listening or dancing to music and I’ve always unconsciously surrounded myself with people who did the same. A lot of those people eventually started working in music but it never occurred to me that I could do that too. The younger me thought there was only one way of doing the DJ game: knowing every release in the record store and perfect beat matching. I was experiencing music in a more emotional and intuitive way so I didn’t think DJing was something for me. It was when Job (Oceanic) introduced me to Lena Willikens her radio show ‘Sentimental Flashback’ that I heard mixes that evolved around listening to music for the first time. When I moved to Gent to study I started doing some radio shows at stroom.tv with exactly this intention, creating mixes for listening at home. Because of these radio shows some people trusted me to play music at their venues, and that pushed me to invest time in learning to DJ. It was never part of the plan, but I’m happy it happened.

Apart from DJing you also work as an artist focusing on collage, can you tell us a bit about your influences in the visual spectrum?

Creating a collage and a mix is the same process, but with the use of different senses. Like with a music mix, I start with material I recently bought. I roam a lot of thrift stores for books full of photographs and if I like the colours and shapes I buy them. It is the same with music, I find it hard to describe what i’m playing or why. I find music or photographs which I think are beautiful, and then I’ll put it together in my own way. If I have to name one artist who inspired me since I started making collage work it is definitely Malin Gabriella Nordin.

Thinking about a visual representation of the mix could you choose an artwork that can function as a companion piece and tell us why?

I chose this little piece because it is exactly what this mix is made of: a reference to nature, some morphed moments, a hint of sweet fruit, some colour, songs with a lot of detail, a contemporary interpretation of a familiar feeling.

Interview by Fabian van Sluijs | Podcast curation by Luuk Meuffels