Bubblegum Club

Bubblegum Club Bubblegum Club is a cultural intelligence agency.

Our magazine is a compendium of images, news and opinion which presents our perspective on the people and production defining South African youth culture. Its vision is to present an alternative narrative on South African art and society, by showcasing cutting edge creators and their work. The magazine is not based solely on popularity or visibility, but aims to give exposure to individuals and gr

oups who embody passion and innovation. As well as being a showcase, the magazine is a platform for ideas and commentary which frame and advance cultural trends.

Between sand and cement, memory and architecture — Monika Emmanuelle Kazi () reminds us that the past isn’t fixed and th...
04/11/2025

Between sand and cement, memory and architecture — Monika Emmanuelle Kazi () reminds us that the past isn’t fixed and the future isn’t prescribed. In her process of disappearing-and-returning, she frees fate from its constraints and invites us to reimagine what home, time and agency can feel like.

-Written by: Sophie Florence Mullins-Poole ()

Full story on: Bubblegum Club website (link in bio)
📸: Image by Monika Emmanuelle Kazi

We’re excited to share the launch of our redesigned website — a reflection of Bubblegum Club’s evolution as a cultural p...
31/10/2025

We’re excited to share the launch of our redesigned website — a reflection of Bubblegum Club’s evolution as a cultural platform.

Now operating between Johannesburg and Geneva, and transitioning from a for-profit company to a non-profit association, this new chapter is guided by a deeper commitment to supporting cultural production rooted in artistic integrity, and long-term impact.

The redesign, led by (design), .xolo and Ian Owira (development), introduces a more minimal and intuitive interface. While we continue to spotlight emerging creative practitioners, our focus is shifting toward project-based initiatives across publishing, curation, residencies, and events.

Visit the new site: link in bio

When we first launched Glitching the Future with , it came from a shared belief that digital systems — especially those...
09/10/2025

When we first launched Glitching the Future with , it came from a shared belief that digital systems — especially those shaped by Big Tech — are far from neutral. The project reimagines these systems through Afrofuturist and Afrofeminist lenses that challenge exclusionary technologies and propose more inclusive, ethical futures.

This next chapter continues that work at , where sound and speculative practice take centre stage.

At this year’s Fak’ugesi Digital Innovation Festival, we’ll present “Speculative Feasibilities” — a live symposium connecting audiences in Johannesburg and the Netherlands through sound, performance, and dialogue.

Moderated by Heidi Thembeka Sincuba, the panel brings together artists and thinkers including Lindiwe Mngxitama and Natalie Paneng, alongside P_ssy Party, who will present a live demonstration tracing South Africa’s glitched relationship between DJ culture, sound technology, and resistance.

🗓 Saturday, 11 October 2025
📍 Fak’ugesi Festival, Johannesburg
⏰ 14:30 – 16:00 (SAST)

Mahmoud Khattab’s new book The Dog Sat Where We Parted is a photographic and poetic account of his time in service, as a...
10/09/2025

Mahmoud Khattab’s new book The Dog Sat Where We Parted is a photographic and poetic account of his time in service, as a soldier and army doctor. Over the year of conscription he had to deal with what it meant to lose the markers of individuality and the expectation to release one’s own will. He said to me, “it’s a gun that you are asked to carry, but it’s not ours”; ‘it is not my gun’.

-Written by: Sophie Florence Mullins-Poole ()

Full story on:
bubblegum’s website I 📸: Image by Mahmoud Khattab

Le Treize Est Magique was a spectacular creative response to the dominant narratives around football, bringing energy, p...
06/08/2025

Le Treize Est Magique was a spectacular creative response to the dominant narratives around football, bringing energy, passion, community and expression to a space that is frequently ignored or not afforded the same energy and cult that men’s football does.

-Written by: Sophie Florence Mullins-Poole ()

Full story on:
bubblegum’s website I 📸: Image

An update from Glitching the Future 🛰️Get a full overview of the project so far — the ideas, the people behind them, and...
04/08/2025

An update from Glitching the Future 🛰️

Get a full overview of the project so far — the ideas, the people behind them, and how creativity is challenging the digital status quo.Read the article and explore the full project

-Written by:Nabeela Karim ()

Full story on:
bubblegum’s website I 📸: Image courtesy of Glitching the Future

“This initiative positions glitches as a rare source of spectacular repair, challenging the boundaries between control, ...
01/08/2025

“This initiative positions glitches as a rare source of spectacular repair, challenging the boundaries between control, error and creativity. This first iteration rejects techno-universalism, positioning African cultural production as a catalyst for liberatory tech futures.”

The Glitch continues💥
Carry on interacting with our website and contributing to the glitch!

https://www.glitchingthefuture.org


interprets amapiano not just as sound but as political language. Her framing of the genre as a living archive of protes...
25/07/2025

interprets amapiano not just as sound but as political language. Her framing of the genre as a living archive of protest, style, and Black expression speaks to glitch as cultural code—decentralised, resistant, and rooted in collective memory.

Check out her essay via our website: https://www.glitchingthefuture.org/contributions/bana-ba-strata


writes about the youth of South Africa and the bana ba straata alligations which she states all reveal “how layered som...
23/07/2025

writes about the youth of South Africa and the bana ba straata alligations which she states all reveal “how layered something as clichéd as partying is in South Africa. Socioculturally and politically, South Africa’s nightlife, outside-outside in the streets, is textured with histories of struggle.”

👉🏾 Read her essay Bana ba Straata: looking at Focalistic as a milieu for SA youth being outside-outside via our website https://www.glitchingthefuture.org/contributions/bana-ba-strata


Thulile Gamedze offers a conceptual and affective reading of digital life, comparing doomscrolling and TikTok loops to a...
15/07/2025

Thulile Gamedze offers a conceptual and affective reading of digital life, comparing doomscrolling and TikTok loops to altered states. Her writing is particularly relevant for thinking through glitch as an embodied and psycho-social experience in online spaces.📲

👉🏾Check out her essay On Doom Scrolling and Tripping Balls https://www.glitchingthefuture.org/contributions/on-doom-scrolling 🤳🏾


14/07/2025

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87 De Korte Street
Braamfontein
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Our Vision

Based in South Africa, but with a growing international reach, we are inspired by work that is experimental without being restricted to exclusive spaces. And which is populist without pandering to the overhyped vacuity of the dominant celebrity culture.

Our name itself is a homage to the rich legacy of 80s’s Bubblegum Music, which combined cutting edge technology with local and international influences to make electronic music that was both wildly successful and playfully avant garde. Our aim is to update this legacy of popular modernism for a new reality of network culture and hyperstimulation, exposing and championing the treasures that may be lost in the pursuit of the next social media fix.

The post-colonial contradiction of South Africa is that despite deep wells of talent, creators feel a lack of self-confidence about their place in the world. A legacy of isolation has encouraged the distorted sense that culture is something taking place ‘overseas’, in the imagined metropole. Despite the global influence of South African music, dance, art and fashion a self-limiting mentality is still evident. Our goal is to help build the self-belief of the talented minds out there in music, art and fashion, and to consolidate South Africa as a voice in global conversations.