NOWs: Festival de l’Union, Tambacounda and The Rhythm of Giving and Taking, Dakar

21 - 28 February 2020 / Nows

Festival de l’Union, Tambacounda and The Rhythm of Giving and Taking, Dakar

Group exhibition, lectures and talks

21 – 23 February
Festival de l’Union, Tambacounda

Centre Culturel Régional

Exhibition
With: Leone Contini, Aliou ‘Badou’ Diack, Binta Diaw, Saliou Diop, Thomas Dirrix, Jeewi Lee, Juan Pablo Macias, Raul Walch

Screening
With: Andreco, Julian Charriere, Kasia Fudakowski, Kahee Jeong, Mikhail Karikis, Raul Walch, Helen Zeru
Curated by Jeewi Lee and Raul Walch
Place de l’Hotel de Ville / city center

Theater Forum
With: Káddu Yaraax (Dakar), Ousmane Sinaré und Sikhou Diaby (Somankidi Coura, Mali)

28 February, 6 pm
Kër Thiossane, Dakar

Lectures and talks
With: Leone Contini, Binta Diaw, Jeewi Lee, Juan Pablo Macias, Negga Dou Tamba

Both collaborations in Tambacounda and Dakar mark the provisional conclusion of the artistic research and exhibition project SEEDS FOR FUTURE MEMORIES. Voicing the two ends of migration. In 2018, thirteen artists travelled to Sinthian, Senegal and Florence, Italy to confront the contemporary realities of colonialism, and to jointly develop an aesthetic and political dialogue. Hosts and partners were Villa Romana in Florence and the Thread Residency in Sinthian. In 2019, artistic works resulting from these researches were presented in three parallel exhibitions in Berlin and at Villa Romana in Florence followed by the symposium TRANSVERSE TRAJECTORIES.

Invited by the Senegalese acitivist, rapper and artist Negga Dou Tamba five artists – Leone Contini, Binta Diaw, Jeewi Lee, Juan Pablo Macias, Raul Walch – are now contributing to the Festival de l’Union in Tambacounda, joined by guests who were part of or whose paths have crossed with the project SEEDS in the past two years. This fifth edition of the festival is dedicated to the subject of environment, its preservation and its valuation. Negga Dou Tamba initiated the festival in 2016 as a big public event to praise the heritage, the common good and the power of imagination in Southeastern Senegal. Dozens of local, regional and international performers will participate in this joyful event.

Subsequently the artists Leone Contini, Binta Diaw, Jeewi Lee, Juan Pablo Macias and Negga Dou Tamba will reflect on the The Rhythm of Giving and Taking at Kër Thiossane in Dakar, a space for Art and Multimedia created in 2002. How do artists navigate in trans-cultural spaces contested with hierarchies of knowledge? What are the formats with which the artists respond to the site, to the issue of migration and to the festival’s major theme, ecology? The audience is invited to discuss collaborative artistic practices in a trans-continental context after a set of lectures and talks and to conclude the evening with a commonly created informal dinner.

www.ker-thiossane.org/
www.facebook.com/pg/festivaldelunion/

The Tambacounda region in Senegal is one of the major hubs of migration to Europe. Together with the Thread Residency in Sinthian, Senegal, the artist house Villa Romana started therefore a transcontinental exchange project in 2018. After exhibitions in Berlin and Florence and a symposium on rural art, the project returned to Tambacounda in February. At the invitation of the activist and rapper Negga Dou Tamba, the artists Binta Diaw, Leone Contini, Jeewi Lee, Juan Pablo Macias, Raul Walch participated in the 5th edition of the Festival de l’Union (21.-23.2.2020). Negga Dou Tamba initiated this hip-hop and cultural festival in 2016 as a major public event to praise the heritage, the common good and the imagination in Southeast Senegal. Curated by Agnes Stillger,”Intersection Tamba” included an exhibition, film screenings and theater. The project addressed the themes migration and ecology, but most importantly, participation was about building alternative relationships and giving international visibility to the region’s wealth and issues.

NOWs: Survival of the Fittest

29 February - 24 May 2020 / Nows ⟶

Survival of the Fittestgroup exhibition with Andreas Greiner et al. Opening 28 February The current discourse on where humankind is heading is increasingly dominated by the danger that environmental destruction in general and climate change in particular pose for the survival of the species. Global political movements gave the issue a new level of urgency by emphasizing the need for an instant ecological paradigm shift at all levels of society. The role that technology can play in the future is being debated controversially. From Artificial Intelligence (AI) to blockchain technology, big data and bioengineering – while optimists praise technological innovation as the key to preserving our habitat, skeptics warn about a naive hope that is fueled by an increased lack of understanding of technology. In a flood of contradictory information it becomes harder and harder to objectively evaluate the current state of the world. Caught in a doomsday atmosphere, feelings swing between euphoria and impotence, departure and demise, decadence and “Weltschmerz”. The international group show features 10 artists that work on the boundaries between nature and high technology and approach their multifaceted relations through photography, computer simulation, video, installations and performances. The exhibition looks at our relation to planet earth and how to shape it in the future – from deconstructive critical perspectives to optimistic views towards the future or fantastic visions of the re-enchantment of nature. Participating artists: Tega Brain (AU) & Julian Oliver (NZ) & Bengt Sjölen (SE), James Bridle (UK), Simon Denny (NZ), Anna Dumitriu (UK) & Alex May (UK), Futurefarmers (International), Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg (UK), Andreas Greiner (DE), Paul Seidler (DE) & Paul Kolling & Max Hampshire (UK), Jonas Staal (NL), und Pinar Yoldas (TR) Survival of the FittestGruppenausstellung mit Andreas Greiner et al. Eröffnung 28. Februar Im aktuellen Diskurs um die Zukunft der Menschheit wird zunehmend die Gefahr ins Zentrum gerückt, die von Umweltzerstörung und insbesondere den Folgen des Klimawandels für das Überleben unserer Spezies ausgeht. Globale politische Bewegungen gaben dem Thema im letzten Jahr eine neue Dringlichkeit. Sie fordern einen sofortigen ökologischen Paradigmenwechsel auf allen Ebenen der Gesellschaft. Die Rolle, die Technologie dabei spielen kann und sollte, wird kontrovers diskutiert. Ob Künstliche Intelligenz, Blockchain-Technologie, Big Data oder Bioengineering – Optimist*innen preisen technologische Innovationen als Schlüssel zur Rettung unserer Umwelt, während Kritiker*innen diese Hoffnung als naiv bezeichnen und auf einen zunehmenden Mangel an Verständnis neuester Technologien zurückführen. In einer Flut von widersprüchlichen Informationen über den Zustand der Welt und angesichts des rasanten technologischen Fortschritts wird es zunehmend schwieriger, den Status Quo zu evaluieren. In eine Endzeitstimmung ähnlich der Zeit vor hundert Jahren mischen sich Gefühle von Aufbruch und Untergang, Euphorie und Ohnmacht, Dekadenz und Weltschmerz. Die internationale Gruppenausstellung im Kunstpalais zeigt 10 künstlerische Positionen, die sich in unterschiedlichen Medien dem komplexen Verhältnis von Natur und Hightech nähern. In Fotografie, Computersimulation, Video, Plastik, Installation und Performance wird das diskursive Feld weit gesteckt. Von dekonstruktiv-kritischen Positionen über optimistische Zukunftsperspektiven bis hin zu phantastischen Visionen einer Wiederverzauberung der Natur wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich unser Verhältnis zur Umwelt in Zukunft gestalten lässt. Die Ausstellung begegnet der wachsenden Komplexität des Themas mit ungewöhnlichen und kreativen Perspektiven, die die Grenzen des Erwartbaren verschieben. Teilnehmende Künstlerinnen und Künstler: Christina Agapakis (US) & Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg (UK) & Sissel Tolaas (NO), Tega Brain (AU) & Julian Oliver (NZ) & Bengt Sjölen (SE), James Bridle (UK), Simon Denny (NZ), Anna Dumitriu (UK) & Alex May (UK), Futurefarmers (International), Páll Ragnar Pálsson (IS) & Andreas Greiner (DE), Paul Seidler (DE) & Paul Kolling (DE) & Max Hampshire (UK), Jonas Staal (NL), Pinar Yoldas (TR)

NOWs: I’m Meeting A Hybrid Of Past And Now

15 February - 01 March 2020 / Nows ⟶

solo exhibition by Dardan Zhegrova Opening 14 February 2020, 7 – 10 pm For his first solo presentation I’m Meeting A Hybrid Of Past And Now in Germany at FRAGILE, Dardan Zhegrova (*1991, in Prishtina, Kosovo) conceived a new body of work, which consists of large-sized puppets based on dolls used in traditional shadow play and a newly recorded sound piece. The show derives from experiences reaching back to the artist’s childhood attending a famous puppet theatre in his home town Prishtina, which in the 1990s, during the wars in Yugoslavia, became an enclave for Albanian life and culture. The immersive installation follows the ongoing occupation of the artist with poetry, auto fiction as well the production of larger than life amorphous dolls. The specific blurry moment in the distinction of the self and the other – inherent in these works – through the notion of self-replication and role playing, is heavily influenced by the internet and reflects upon our contemporary conditions of life. The show reveals a personal encounter of the artist talking about childhood and imagination as a powerful tools in the process of self constitution. About FRAGILE FRAGILE fosters a program of conversation, antagonism, renegotiation, and celebration. FRAGILE is a non-profit project for contemporary artistic practices located in Berlin. It encompasses an exhibition and a residency space. FRAGILE is guided by curations etymology, the practice of caring and was founded on the warmest summerday of 2018 by Maurin Dietrich and Jonas Wendelin. solo exhibition by Dardan Zhegrova Opening 14 February 2020, 7 – 10 pm For his first solo presentation I’m Meeting A Hybrid Of Past And Now in Germany at FRAGILE, Dardan Zhegrova (*1991, in Prishtina, Kosovo) conceived a new body of work, which consists of large-sized puppets based on dolls used in traditional shadow play and a newly recorded sound piece. The show derives from experiences reaching back to the artist’s childhood attending a famous puppet theatre in his home town Prishtina, which in the 1990s, during the wars in Yugoslavia, became an enclave for Albanian life and culture. The immersive installation follows the ongoing occupation of the artist with poetry, auto fiction as well the production of larger than life amorphous dolls. The specific blurry moment in the distinction of the self and the other – inherent in these works – through the notion of self-replication and role playing, is heavily influenced by the internet and reflects upon our contemporary conditions of life. The show reveals a personal encounter of the artist talking about childhood and imagination as a powerful tools in the process of self constitution. About FRAGILE FRAGILE fosters a program of conversation, antagonism, renegotiation, and celebration. FRAGILE is a non-profit project for contemporary artistic practices located in Berlin. It encompasses an exhibition and a residency space. FRAGILE is guided by curations etymology, the practice of caring and was founded on the warmest summerday of 2018 by Maurin Dietrich and Jonas Wendelin.

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NOWs: Festival de l’Union, Tambacounda and The Rhythm of Giving and Taking, Dakar

Festival de l’Union, Tambacounda and The Rhythm of Giving and Taking, Dakar

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