SAVVY Contemporary: Invocations

Lectures and Performances

INVOCATIONS: June 9 – 12, 2016

Speakers & Performers: Nora Adwan, Ayodele Arigbabu, Christian Botale Molebo, Erna Brodber, Shirin Fahimi, Sasha Huber, David Guy Kono, Vladimir Lucien, Percy Mabandu, Olivier Marboeuf, Carlos Martiel, Achille Mbembe, Molemo Moiloa, Leda Martens, Katrien Pype, Greg Tate, Angela Wachuka, Wanda Wyporska, Jason Young

Any deliberation on the 'future' necessitates a reflection on the past and the present. Otherwise, discourses around future(s) are bound to be escapist – intriguing from a far, but indeed far from intriguing.

This project proposes looking at 'witchery', its idioms, proverbs, metaphors, symbols, chants and otherwise expressions as manifestations of cultural, economical, political, historical, medical, technological or scientific infrastructures on which parallel realities are built, and on which futures can be built. It will explore 'witchery' as an epistemological space and a medium of continuities between the African continent and its Diaspora.  The prism of art and discourse will be used to liberate 'witchcraft' from that space of the 'savage slot' in which it has been confined for centuries by ‘science’ and monotheistic religions.

With an exhibition and a series of invocations, artists, practitioners and researchers are invited to reflect on the following threads:

_ Pour en Finir avec le Jugement de Dieu. The Exorcisement of Witchery in Ritual
Artists: Georges Adéagbo, Haris Epaminonda, Georges Senga, Vladimir Lucien, Andrew Tshabangu

_ Beyond Abyssal Thinking. Witchery as Epistemology
Artists: Em’kal-Eyongakpa, Louis Henderson, Marco Montiel-Soto, Emeka Ogboh, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Minette Vari

_ Na who gi you for Nyongo? On Zombification Economies
Artists: Atis Rezistans, Sammy Baloji, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Dil Humphrey-Umezulike

_ we see am fo wata. On Supra-realities and Sociopolitics
Artists: Kiluanji Kia Henda, Patricia Kaersenhout, Ayrson Heráclito, Priscila Rezende, Nassim Rouchiche

THE INCANTATION OF THE DISQUIETING MUSE is part of the African Futures project initiated by the Goethe-Institut. The project is supported by the Goethe-Institut and the TURN Fund of the German Federal Arts Foundation. What might various African futures look like? How do artists and scholars imagine this future? What forms and narratives of science fictions have African artists developed? Who generates knowledge about Africa? And, what are the different languages we use to speak about Africa’s political, technological and cultural tomorrow? These were some of the questions addressed by the festival African Futures, initiated by the Goethe-Institut. Three concurrent interdisciplinary festivals in Johannesburg/South Africa, Lagos/Nigeria and Nairobi/Kenya in October 2015 explored the future, following potential narratives and artistic expression in literature, fine arts, performance, music, film, and digital formats. In 2016, African Futures will be continued in Berlin in partnership with SAVVY Contemporary. goethe.de/africanfutures