"On Being Human as Praxis" was conceived by Elaine Mitchener. The vocal artist invited five different composers-Jason Yarde, Matana Roberts, Laure M. Hiendl, Tansy Davies, and George E. Lewis-to respond to the work of the Jamaican feminist and cultural theorist Sylvia Winter. It was originally commissioned by and set to be premiered at the 2020 edition of the Donaueschinger Musiktage. Knowing a thing or two about improvisation, the vocal artist and her team-the ensemble MAM. Manufaktur für aktuelle Musik and choreographer Dam Van Huynh as well as dancers from his company-recorded it on video after the festival's cancellation, having only had a few days to prepare for it. Its performance at this year's MaerzMusik on the 19th of March can be considered somewhat of a premiere then, or alternatively as another iteration of compositions that were conceived as living, breathing entities. In her interview with field notes editor Kristoffer Cornils, Mitchener talks about how this piece, so concerned with notions of change, has itself changed over time.
Wynter has a fascinating biography. She is a novelist, dramatist, critic, essayist and philosopher. Her work fuses together insights from the humanities, arts, natural sciences and anti-colonial struggles in order to disturb what she refers to as the "over representation of Man." Her core idea of the sociogenic principle is drawn from Frantz Fanon's concept of sociogeny. Sociogeny is the development of a social phenomenon, so something that is socially produced rather than ontologically given. And Wynter's ideas on the concept of sociogenic principle remain relevant now.