In this tactile, engineering experience, we’ll explore the soundscape of Benin City using Arduinos, microphones, speakers, and other sensors to create a reimagined auditory world. By using materials like Play-Doh, trees, and even our bodies as conductors, each circuit will produce unique sounds based on the material completing it—creating an ethereal sonic experience. As we build these interactive sculptures, participants will develop an understanding of basic circuit principles in a fun, immersive environment. Beyond the engineering participants will be transported to a place where co-creating with nature. Participants will have the opportunity to experiment and modify their sound sculptures, encouraging trial, error, and discovery. There will also be an exhibit of the physical artifacts of previous participants who have made this journey into the past.

About Cam Mbayo

Camille-Louise “Cam” Kouba Mbayo (she, they, we) is a queer Congolese-born Brooklyn-based abolitionist, abortion doula, nerd-artist, daughter, sister, friend, process becoming.
Cam is committed to living fully in the present moment and believes there is an artistry in that. With the engineering tools they’ve acquired through academia and their Indigenous knowledge systems Cam works at the intersection of art, tech, culture, and education.
Living themselves at the intersection of many identities, as they continue to figure out their place in the world and their relationship to land, belonging, and being good kin, they are learning how to build communities rooted in love, care, and right relationships. In the making of those communities, Cam is interested in exploring art as a portal to different futures.
In between napping, Cam can be found in trees, on wheels, reading books, engineering, dancing, meditating, adventuring, talking about colonialism and the white christian supremacists, painting, playing board games, and loving and laughing with community.

About Culture Push + Show Don’t Tell:

Culture Push is an arts organization that supports artists and creative thinkers using imaginative, participatory methods to address social and civic challenges. Operating at the intersection of art, social justice, and public engagement, Culture Push fosters collaboration, experimentation, and new ways of thinking through hands-on, community-driven projects.

The Show Don’t Tell Symposium is Culture Push’s annual gathering of artists and creative changemakers who share works-in-progress developed through Fellowship-supported civic experiments. Through interactive installations, performances, and participatory workshops, the Symposium invites the public into imaginative acts of collective learning, care, and resistance—spotlighting practices that push the boundaries of how art can move in the world.