Richie Culver (born Hull) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist working in painting, music, performance and photography. Culver’s practice is difficult to pin down, he employs a myriad of processes that seem to act in criticism of one another, providing layers of discourse - a heavy, schizophrenic internal monologue concerned only with the eternal deconstruction of itself.
For the latest edition of Kuboraum’s Digital Sound Residency, Culver continues his uncompromising exploration of sound as a form of autobiography—gritty, fragmented, and unapologetically real. Set against a backdrop of atmospheric textures and lo-fi distortion, Culver delivers stark, spoken-word verses that drift between confession and confrontation, exploring the binary systems that define many social, cultural, and professional frameworks: the A side and the B side. While the “A side” typically represents dominance, visibility, or primary value - be it in relationships, media, or institutions - The “B side” still exists in relation to the A side and is understood within the same system of value. But what does it mean to exist as the “C side”?
To be the C side is to occupy a space outside the expected dualism. It suggests not merely a lower rank but a fundamental displacement from the core narrative structure. The C side may not even be recognized within the system that defines A and B; it may be emergent, marginal, or subversive. This position challenges the very architecture of categorization, asserting value not through comparison, but through divergence.
In academic discourse, embracing the C side could mean rejecting mainstream paradigms in favor of alternative methodologies or epistemologies. It could involve advocating for perspectives that are not just underrepresented, but structurally excluded. The C side, therefore, becomes not a concession to lesser status but a conscious position of resistance and redefinition—an assertion that value and identity can exist outside inherited hierarchies.
Ultimately, to be the C side is to critique the system that assigns letters in the first place. It is a form of intellectual and existential autonomy—disruptive, overlooked, and yet essential for the evolution of discourse. (Richie Culver)
Mastering by Giuseppe Tillieci at EnissLab
Comment by BALF
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