The realignment of the world after the Second World War is not recounted here with regard to the confrontation between the Cold War blocs, but with a focus on the interweaving of European and African history in the process of decolonization.

The installations and videos by artists such as John Akomfrah, Jihan El-Tahri, or Kader Attia reflect an engagement with Western modernism and its universally posited values. In addition, a conference will focus on “geographies of collaboration.”

In his new work, John Akomfrah traces the relation between the African liberation movements’ language and current political realities of the former colonies. “The Unfinished Conversation” (2012) is devoted to the cultural theorist Stuart Hall and his vision of a post-racial society.

Kader Attia investigates cultural practices of mutual appropriation and representation between Africa and Europe. He researches African colonial history and its interconnection with the Christian mission, taking on the topic of the Vatican’s vast collection of African art and cult objects.

Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi’s new installation, based on years of research, gives visual expression to the rapid rise of fascism after World War I. Documents from the period shed light on Fascist Italy’s imperial war in Ethiopia, as well as the psychology of “fascist man.”

The Otolith Group reflects on the Pan-African aspirations in the course of decolonization, zooming in on Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah who struggled against neocolonialism and led Ghana to independence in 1957.

The question of power and its influence on the people who possess it runs throughout the films of Jihan El-Tahri. She has compiled archive material and in-depth interviews from the era of decolonization that highlight the historical and contemporary role of Egypt.

A conference takes up “Geographies of Collaboration” with a view to the first Asian-African conference, which was held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955 and gave rise to the Non-Aligned Movement.

Curated by Anselm Franke and Annett Busch in cooperation with the artists of the exhibition and research curator Heidi Ballet

EXHIBITION OPENING & ARTIST TALKS WITH JOHN AKOMFRAH, KADER ATTIA, JIHAN EL-TAHRI AND THE OTOLITH GROUP
Wendsday 18. September 2013 | 6 pm | Free admission
8.30 p.m. Welcoming remarks followed by: music and bar

Read the whole program here

www.hkw.de