BLUEPRINT When there is Nowhere to go, Where is Home? - CAT Cologne
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BLUEPRINT
When there is
Nowhere to go,
Where is Home?
1
CONTENTS
04 Contributors
06 Introducing BLUEPRINT
08 Curator’s Note (Khanyisile Mbongwa)
18 Zwoisy Mears-Clarke
24 Public Interventions
28 Reut Shemesh
32 Zwoisy Mears-Clarke
36 Hermes Villena
43 Reflections
3
Contributors
Khanyisile Mbongwa (b. South Africa) Zwoisy Mears-Clarke (b. Jamaica) Reut Shemesh (b. Israel) studied Hermes Villena (b. Bolivia) works and
is a Cape Town-based curator. Focusing achieved a BA in Engineering and dance and choreography at the ArtEZ lives in Cologne, Germany. Where he
on performance-based practice, her Dance from Oberlin College, USA, as Institute of the Arts in Arnhem and studies Art at the Academy of Media
work engages with the re-imagining well as a BS in Biomedical Engineering completed a Masters degree at the Arts. His works mainly deal with the
of psychological and physical spaces – from Columbia University, USA. He is a Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. complex connections of identity, the
using photomontage, sound and video. choreographer and Live Art artist. Alongside her artistic work, she teaches visual representation of politics in a pop
She just completed her Masters degree choreography in several institutes such cultural context and the links between
in Interdisciplinary Art, public art and as the Heinrich Heine University in nature and industrialism. Since 2014
public sphere at the Institute of Creative Düsseldorf and the University of Cologne. Villena has been curating the space UNG
Art/University of Cape Town (UCT) Shemesh’s artistic spectrum ranges from 5 together with Vincent Schneider. Since
and researches on iRhanga (township contemporary dance and choreography 2016 he has been releasing artists under
alleyways) as public spaces that provide through experimental film to poetry. Her his Tape Label “Propositions”. Once a
another entry or exit point for thinking works were presented at national and month he runs the radio show “Arbitrary
about blackness and self. Mbongwa has international festivals and have been Orbit Club” on the radio streaming
a strong passion for youth development, nominated for numerous awards. For her platform Dublab.de.
which has formed a focus in her work. latest work LEVIAH, Shemesh received
the Cologne Dance and Theater Prize
Photo by Tatyana Levana 2016. The film LEVIAH was presented in
2017, among others, at the Oberhausen
Short Film Festival and Art Cologne. From
August 2018 Shemesh is invited to be the
next season’s choreographer in residence
at K3|Tanzplan Hamburg.
4 5
Introducing
BLUEPRINT
When there is
Nowhere to go,
Where is Home?
BLUEPRINT is conceptualized as a sound and movement. Through these
curatorial research project that engages mediums, we examine and explore the
with historical legacies and future emotional response of the physical body
possibilities of public space, asking as it navigates complex and nuanced
questions: What is public space? Who ideas of Self and Other, immigrant and
is the public? How do we create public nationhood, colonial and decolonial.
space?
We draw on love as a strategy and as a
Place/Space making is about identity political space to foster new imaginaries,
formation, and as Robert Parks elaborates global identities and diasporic identities
“man’s most consistent and on the that exist in contested and precarious
whole, his most successful attempt is to bodies that have sailed through the ocean
remake the world he lives in more after either as slaves or immigrants. We thus
his heart’s desire. As such, in making the return to our questions: What is public
city man has remade himself.” In this space? Who is the public? How do we
sense, to speak about space (place) is to create public space?
speak about history making. And as Karl
Marx would articulate “men make their During the course of the project we will
own history, but they do not make it as explore African sounds and music, and its
they please; they do not make it under influences on the contemporary rhythms
self-selected circumstances, but under of the everyday. BLUEPRINT draws from
circumstances existing already, given and the archive of the International Library of
transmitted from the past.” African Music at Rhodes University, but
is shaped by local artists and the specifics
The aim of BLUEPRINT, is to draw of the sites and public places with which
intersecting lines across continents as we they engage.
study human flow both as a historic and
contemporary happening in how public The project is interrelated with
space can be imagined and created Khanyisile Mbongwa’s curatorial
residency (May-June, 2018) and Zwoisy
We use music and performance art as Mears-Clarke’s residency (February-April,
public interventions to engage with 2018).
public space as an archive of memory,
6
Curator’s Public space and Ebertplatz
Note The relationship between public space because the Brutalist architecture5
and immigrants is imaginary yet presents aesthetic limitation. This place
Without a doubt, there is a colonial of home. As the West tightens its tactile because it is part of the social can be a multicultural, inter-generational
persistence in post-colonial discourse. borders and describe this moment as a imagination that either opens up or and intersection meeting point because
The colonizer has not left, but has migration crisis, alternative routes of closes down when there are new arrivals. here you already have people who want
transformed into what the current entry are formulated which can lead to Just like there is a sense of ‘arrival’3 in something to happen. What we already
conditions in the world require. Because black bodies and P.O.C. bodies floating the possible life in a new location, there have here with the project spaces/
we now understand that colonization has in the Mediterranean. So, what kind of is also a sense of ‘arrival’ one searches galleries, bars, non-functional water
always been about power relations, this BLUEPRINT’s do we need to formulate for in public space. This ‘arrival’ happens fountain is a unique space where culture
question about Home plagued my psyche. for navigating mobility hierarchies and through integration and acceptance in makes a transfer of space but we could
their new border legislations? And what public space which gives an immigrant imagine it anew for festivals, picnics,
Intention does it mean to be a transnational body, without citizenship a sense of home etc and make it a place to stay, a place
an immigrant, or to be framed as an between their reality and their lived where people want to come to”. This
My intention with BLUEPRINT was to illegality? imagination as they reach out for the conversation was on 4 June 2018, while we
search for navigation strategies for possible life. In this way, public space stood at Ebertplatz and witnessed street
borders that are increasingly tightening. Through BLUEPRINT I am trying to forms part of image practice through a drug dealers going about their business,
I was interested in how public space1 understand the global and transnational transitional aesthetic. In a conversation reaching for their stash and serving their
can facilitate place-making, emerging context, dynamics, complexities and with André Sauer he described customers as if we were two invisible yet
identities2 in Europe, and the question nuances of public space and place- Ebertplatz4 as a “classic off-space that echoing voices.
making. needs to be made more welcoming
8 9
Recapping on my thoughts
Whenever I thought of home while When people travel – as tourist,
in Köln, Arjun Appadurai’s concept of immigrants, refugees, exiles, guest
ethnoscapes7 would dance in my head workers, etc. they are seeking the
like lost lovers: possible life they have seen in a post card,
an old film, a magazine, an Instagram
“As groups migrate, regroup in or Facebook post because somebody
new locations, reconstruct their somewhere told them there is another
histories, and reconfigure their life they could live. But Appadurai is
ethnic “projects”, the “ethno” quick to warn us that,
in ethnography takes on a
slippery, nonlocalized quality, to “what [this] implies is that even
which the descriptive practices the meanest and most hopeless
of anthropology will have to of lives, the most brutal and
respond. The landscapes of dehumanizing of circumstances,
group identity – the ethnoscapes the harshest of lived inequalities
– around the world are no is now open to the law of
longer familiar anthropological imagination. Prisoners of What kind of new politics, collectives from the past. But Marx forgets that
objects, insofar as groups are conscience, child laborers, womxn and expressions do we then encounter our dreams are often bigger than our
no longer tightly territorialized, who toil in the fields and factories in our search for public space? Or do we circumstance, and through vitalizing
spatially bounded, historically of the world, and now others ultimately encounter these migrations our imagination we counter the existing
unselfconscious, or culturally whose lot is harsh no longer see as small displacements? What does the circumstances. Gloria Anzaldía reminds
homogeneous” their lives as mere outcomes of public space give us? us that, “nothing happens in the real
givenness of things, but often as world unless it happens in the image of
The lived imagination of the immigrant the ironic compromise between What I always seem to get in a public our heads”. But it has to be very clear
creates a new or shifting identity for what they could imagine and space is that we are all putting our lives that the imagined community of the
public space and place-making. As the what social life will permit” together, fabricating our own characters immigrant and the imagined community
world is shifting, be it through the in our lived imagination, using the social of Europe is different, it is always marked
economy, technology, migration laws – So how indeed do we imagine new materials at our disposal to create home. by a specific kind of nationalism – a
the moving groups continue to imagine. geographies of collaboration? How do we And home, is complex and nuanced but nationalism built on colonial conquest.
It is a lived imagination of possibilities draw intersecting lines across continents we retain some form of agency for living And until there’s a complete undoing
– the possibility and potentiality of a life and study the human flow? out our possible lives where we negotiate of this type of violence our imagined
beyond one’s birthplace. our dreams of wealth, love, respectability, communities will remain distinguished
material, autonomy. by the colonial mark that thrives in the
post-colonial reality. And if we take into
The production of borders interject account Anibal Quijano’s understanding
our ethnoscapes, their laws choke of colonialism as an
our imagination and thus forces us
to constantly imagine anew. But this “Articulation of race and labor
imagination does not happen under in the colonial period that is
self-selected circumstances as Karl condensed into a power structure,
Marx warns us, but under existing continues in modern and
circumstances, given and transmitted contemporary times, and operates
10 11
through control: of the economy Europe is indebted to the world – in fact and exterior, belonging and the country that welcomes
(through land appropriation, to Africa, for its wealth and prosperity otherness, is providing a silent him or expels him / The
exploitation of labor, control of came through its violent expansion of accompaniment” Foreigner, whose name we
natural resources); of authority exploration, conquest and colonization ignore, whose is coming from
and institutions; of gender and – the ever so beautiful story of Which reminds me of a music somewhere we do not know, is
sexuality; and of knowledge, globalization. We can no longer speak of intervention I attended at SAVVY going to contest the authority
epistemology, education, and the Europe as if its story is not linked to the Contemporary in Berlin June 2018, of hospitality’s power. Power
formation of subjectivity”. violent exploitation of Africa and other HOSTIPITALITY SUITE by Jacques to no longer send back to
parts of the world. As Stuart Hall reminds Coursil and Marque Gilmore. The text/ nothingness, power to open
And so I find it quite interesting that this us, statements they projected (written in the gender of the other, power
current migration climate is defined by French and English) were provocations of the difference / the question
Europe as a migration crisis. That the “That this tells us more about that examined the notion of the other; could only be asked from
aftermath of colonialism dictates who how cultural identities are another place, a margin, a
can and cannot move across the borders, constructed, as imagined "WHAT ARE THEY HERE periphery."
expose that fundamentally we have communities through – VIOLENT, SAVAGES,
different rights as political beings and the marking of difference LAWLESS? OR FRIENDLY TO This moment pushed my understanding
bodies – “as a differentiated class; as lives with others – than it does STRANGERS, GOD-FEARING of public space for critical artistic
pushed toward illegality without the right about the actual relations PEOPLE? / I only have one practices and for the everyday. In the
to move or to work, of being imprisoned of unequal exchange and language, it is not mine / The sense Chantal Mouffee speaks of public
without having committed a crime or uneven development through Foreigner looks like someone art not as art in a public space but rather
who can expect to join the long list of which a common European who does not speak like an art that institutes a public space, a
dead migrants at the internal, external identity was forged. Now everyone, who speaks an odd space of common action among people.
and outsourced borders of the European that a new Europe is taking language. He has to ask for I had traveled to Germany many times
Union” (Caceres). It is the liberal paradox shape, the same contradictory hospitality in a language that before, but this was the first time I felt a
of our time, where Europe opens its process of marking symbolic is not his own /The foreigner sense of arrival – I had finally arrived in
borders to African resources but closes it, boundaries and constructing ill-equipped to speak the Germany, because here I had found my
to its people. When borders close, what symbolic frontiers between language, always risks being community – my tribe!
does it mean for the institution of family? inside and outside, interior defenseless before the law of
12 13
marginalized subject there There is a relational distance in public
Conversations with is no coming home, no space, which creates boundaries between
Aurora Rodonò arrival into the dominant public and transitional space. The Guest
society; you need to have Workers that went to Germany as early
I spoke to Aurora Rodonò at length about On the other hand it is a community, which for as 1955 - brought traditions from home;
the migration of Eastern Europeans also true that from the sure is not a homogeneous such as kiosk, ice café and standing
into Germany who were invited as Guest beginning, there was community. The train on a street – which demonstrates how
Workers in the 1960s as I was wondering friendship and solidarity station has always been a migrants engaged in place-making
what kind of strategies did they use for between the migrants and place of gathering, a place mechanism by occupying space to (re)
place-making and ultimately carving out the so called dominant where you could meet create a sense of home.
parts of Germany as places they can call German society. It seems to other migrants living the
home. When did they know that they had me that the media discourse same situation, a place of
arrived in Germany? and a racist rhetoric are yearning where you could
producing segregation buy a newspaper in your
"If the migrants, the so- where there is encounter mother tongue."
called guest workers who - which for sure does not
came to Germany in the mean that there is no
1960s are still here, it is real racism, but there is
because they organized also a common history of
themselves and supported democratization. Crucial
each other and not because moments are the labor
the German government disputes and strikes in
made them feel at home. the 1970s, when migrants,
The labor migration system German workers and
related to the recruitment students were struggling
agreements with Italy (1955), and striking together,
Spain, Greece (1960), Turkey for example at Ford,
(1961), Morocco (1963), Pierburg (Neuss) and other
Portugal (1964), Tunisia factories. If the migrants
(1965) and Yugoslavia (1968) didn’t come, the public
was following the rotation spaces and the centers in
principle, which means that our cities would not be
the migrants were supposed so vibrant; the migrants
to stay in Germany only for are the ones who have
a couple of years. Actually contributed to the inner city
a lot of migrants went development, for example
back home because of the by opening up stores, shops
bad working and living and restaurants since the
conditions. 1970s, while the dominant
society was moving to the
periphery. In essence I think
home is where you have
the right to have rights,
the right to work, to study,
to create a family. For the
14 15
June 16, 1976 was triggered amongst It is only the oppressed who seek
June 16: Remembrance, other things by the introduction of the freedom, who seek love, for where there
Commemoration, Bantu Education Act of 1953, which was is no freedom, there is no love. There can
Mourning South Africa 1976 designed to train and fit black people for be no justice without love, for violence
their role in the newly (1948) evolving is a dehumanizing act. You know, bell
In 1976 the South African Government The first boy to die during the peaceful Apartheid society. These roles were hooks says “a love ethic presupposes
declared a of State of Emergency and for demonstration in Soweto, was a 13 laborer, worker and servant only. H.F. that everyone has the right to be free, to
the next 13 years black school children year old boy called Hector Peterson Verwoed, the architect of the Bantu live fully and well. In The Art of Loving
adopted a campaign of resistance against whose violent death at the hands of the Education Act of 1953 declared: Erich Fromm affirms that “important
Bantu Education6 . Over 750 were killed, Apartheid regime became the symbol of and radical change and necessary, if love
over 10,000 arrested, and many more resilience, sacrifice and self-love. "There is no place for the African is to become a social and not a highly
tortured and assaulted. in the European community individualistic, marginal phenomenon”.
It’s June 16, 2018 and I am in Köln. I decide above the level of certain forms of The Fight for Freedom in South Africa,
The story of June 16, 1976 is a story about to screen SARAFINA, a South African labor. It is of no avail for him to and anywhere for that matter is the
love and freedom, and the consequence feature film that came out in 1992, just receive a training, which has at its process of affirming our self worth,
and backlash that follows when black 2 years before our first democratic aim absorption in the European within a system that denies us that
kids stood firm for their basic right for elections. The film is based on the community." right. Love is important to me because
humanity – placing their lives on the 1976 Soweto Uprising where black kids colonization, slavery, Apartheid denied
line for 13 years thereafter. We must fight back against the introduction of So today, I want to touch on Freedom & black and P.O.C. love. When you are
remember that June 16, 1976 is not a Afrikaans as the language of instruction. Love, not as a concept or theory – but enslaved, the master not only owns your
single story of violent oppression but The film showcases the complexities as my quest for relevance. Because for labor but owns all that comes with your
forms part of the multilateral and and nuances of negotiating Apartheid as long as I can remember, I have been body.
intergenerational story about racist regime and its structural violence. Before fighting for my freedom, fighting TO BE
violence in South Africa. screening the film I give a brief talk to FREE!
contextualize it.
My mother is the youth of 1976…
16 17
Zwoisy Mears-Clarke
How do we form community,
a new sense of one when the
old one has been lost?
BLUEPRINT I At the start of each work, Zwoisy Mears- Mears-Clarke invite Cologne residents
Clarke remains in wonder and thereby to discover and share what troubles
tied to the question of how ‘community’ them or they are concerned about when
is formed, always attempting to it comes to living in Cologne. The final
go at this question from a new and task was then to translate their answers
embodied/physical angle. In the course into slogans of wit, irony, empowerment,
of his project in Cologne, he looked love and laughter. Cologne residents
at the manifestation of ‘nationhood’ were again invited to discuss over dinner
culminating in the creation of a new which 3 slogans they would want to be
performance. Central to this performance visible in the public space. With the help
is the people of Germany. of Bocklemünd-based Mode Kollektiv,
T-shirts with the 3 most-voted slogans
When you are in room with your were designed and made. These T-shirts
community, “What is there to talk were later handed out by Zwoisy and the
about with one another?” Through CAT Cologne Team for free to the people
guided discussions over brunch, Zwoisy of Cologne.
18 19Red Cologne
Bridges: A Performative
Expedition
As the culmination to Zwoisy Mears-
Clarke’s residency at CAT Cologne, he
presented the work-in-progress “RED
COLOGNE BRIDGES: A Performative
Expedition” on April 14, 2018. It was an
interactive, performative, collective
procession activating significant colonial
sites throughout Cologne, specifically
Kölner Zoo and Flora Köln.
In the face of the current class-action
lawsuit against Germany launched by the
Ovaherero and Nama people, indigenous
groups from Namibia who were the
victims of genocide, forced expulsion,
and concentration camp imprisonment
while under German colonial rule—this
system of extermination continued
to be developed by the German
government and was reused roughly
30 years later to exterminate the Nazi-
classified ‘unwanted’—, “RED COLOGNE
BRIDGES: A Performative Expedition”
is wholly dedicated to the Ovaherero
20 21and Nama people and Otjiserandu*. To be more specific, storytelling, eggs, a
By their example and with love as a red (the color of the Herero) cloth, dance,
strategy, the members of the procession Tombola, balloons, and social media
creatively engage each of their ability were the elements that were a part of the
to give support, resist, and empower journey.
and ultimately celebrate those abilities
together as they explore their own city Like any parade, we attracted attention
and its colonial past. from passersby who wanted to ask
what’s the occasion or where are we
In the development of this piece, one of going. We each made posts on the social
the questions posed was “What does it media pages of Kölner Zoo and Flora
mean to be standing on German land, Köln around how they hide and thereby
especially when considering both the attempt to erase their colonial past. For
Ovaherero and Nama genocide and the example, despite having a page detailing
German government’s present-day its history, Kölner Zoo makes no remark
response to the lawsuit?” It is from this as to the extensive number of years it
question that the decision to create a was hosting not only animals native to
site-specific piece was formed. Central various parts of the African continent,
to choosing the sites was the book by but also humans. We also lost an egg—
Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst and Anne- representing the wisdom from the past,
Kathrin Horstmann titled “Köln und each of us were caring one throughout
der deutsche Kolonialismus: Eine the entire procession. We lost a balloon
Spurensuche.” Eventually, the previous on the way making what first spelled
question became “What can be said by a #Herero turn into #H. These were the
group of German, Cologne residents at moments that gave our parade character,
these sites?” Facilitated by Zwoisy, the and a great one at that.
language that was chosen to answer this *Otjiserandu (also known as Red Flag day) is a gathering
question was a Karneval-like parade and of the Herero people to commemorate their deceased
smartphones, two instruments central chieftains, including Chief Samuel Maharero who was
a Paramount Chief of the Herero people during their
to the contemporary Cologne culture. rebellions against German colonial rule and in connection
with the events surrounding the Herero genocide.
Watch the entire performance at http://bit.ly/redcolognebridges
22 23BLUEPRINT —
Public Interventions curated
by Khanyisile Mbongwa
Watch the entire performance at:
http://bit.ly/blueprintperformance
24 25Photo by Hermes Villena Photo by Hermes Villena 26 27
Reut Shemesh & Team —
GOLA first movement at
BLUEPRINT
28 29Dance and Creation - Kelvin Kilonzo, Petr Exposing the work in an outdoor-non
Hastik, Elia Kraus artistic-defined space gave us the chance
Reflections:
Flags Illustration - Shany Shemesh to distribute the work outside of the GOLA first movement
Costume - Andres Santiago Alvarez safe theatre box and by doing so allow
Rodriguez a meeting of different people from There was a power struggle between To be honest I enjoyed it, some really
different backgrounds to get to know our those who frequently occupy the space nice magical moments. And of cause we
During the 15 minute performance, of artistic interest and concerns. and ourselves the temporal interveners: cannot choreograph that - what does
"GOLA first movement" massive flags what Reut called positive tension on its own for instance when we made
were used as a musical instrument, While working with the archive we between us and them. The fascinating the first sound and all the birds flew
a weapon, a symbol for home and where experimenting with how a few aspect for me about working in public towards the sky and suddenly the sun
belonging, intervening and dominating singular tracks can be embodied and space has to do with time and space, appeared behind the clouds...I felt that
the public space in Ebertplatz. The use translated into body percussion or as where you cannot locate the start point they appreciated the work, that somehow
of the flags created a low sound and a music which actions can take place at and end point of the piece and how the this expression - the way they were
potential risk, cause of the possibility to the same time and affect one another. intervention continues in a literal way. talking endlessly while we were doing the
come too close. The sound and noise that The rhythmics of the music we worked For instance we invited those present to work was for me a sign of appreciation,
was created by the flags and the body in with were not equal or regular, as I share Nigerian Jollof with us at African I don’t know that’s how I read it. And the
effort intervened, merged and dominated expected it to be. We found out how Drum while Hermes played tunes. The ambiguity somehow of where is the space
the sound of everyday life in Ebertplatz. challenging and unpredictable the space between performative and the and where is the performance space and
The result of it felt powerful. rhythms are. That would be interesting real started negotiating space through how the audience melted into the space.
to further research and work with; the the intervention. The formalities of the We expect different things when we set
The format (performing in public space) translation of rhythmical patterns from work as art or performance shift into the work in a theater or gallery, then
allow a certain elasticity: one cannot the archive to movement vocabulary. choreographed action or happenings when we set it outside. And actually I
choreograph or control the fluidity that The aesthetic relation of the music sets that serve as an intervention into space was afraid that outside the sound would
naturally exist in a public space. As a and the flags corresponded with the and time where it is cognizant about disappear; the music, the flags, the
result of the intervention, unexpected choreography formed another meaning the surroundings as the work envelopes stomping or the kids speech.
relations came about. Such as the birds which was obviously related to the origin itself into the site. It is also how the
reacting to the massive sound of the of the music. The main instrument, the intervention itself showing how co- — Reut Shemesh
flags, and the sun appearing behind the drum contributed to the narration and existence can work in practice as a
flags right at the end of the performance. associated the work with ceremonies, negotiation of power without having
importance and the relation of drums to to adopt the culture of erasure or
The pedestrians walking around the body in effort. dominance.
Ebertplatz at the same time as the
performance took place ‘joined’ the The ecology created by the use of the — Khanyisile Mbongwa
choreography just by the nature of flags, intervention in public space, a
sharing space. An ecology of performers, diverse cast of dancers from different
audience, local pedestrians and our background nationalities and age, the use
environment was created and affected of music from the ILAM Audio archive
one another. The tension between were telling a story that was created
the audience, performers, and the while performing it. Each dancer raises
pedestrians laid to power position a flag is telling something about his/
during the 15 minute performance her past, and the relationship to his/her
and raised questions such as who has present moment.
the control over the public space, and
whose BLUEPRINT is being performed. —Reut Shemesh
30 31Zwoisy Mears-Clarke —
RED COLOGNE BRIDGES at
BLUEPRINT
32 33As part of the public intervention that the makers and performers of the music.
was titled BLUEPRINT, I presented the It was funny (not in the haha sense
Reflections:
performance RED COLOGNE BRIDGES. but the awkward one) to reproduce the RED COLOGNE BRIDGES
mechanism of appropriation within
This performance is a development a context (art) and culture (German) It was very interesting that Zwoisy Zwoisy’s attempt to carve out space for
of RED COLOGNE BRIDGES: A that has practiced and continues in brought up generic Africa, appropriation, the Herero Genocide on German land as
PERFORMATIVE EXHIBITION, a part to practice that mechanism. It was ally-ship and respect when reflecting on an act of claiming space for the historic
development which was guided by the a problematic that entered my bones the ILAM archive. My general discomfort and contemporary narrative in the
curator of BLUEPRINT, Khanyisile even as I performed a piece interested with archives at home are always native land of those who enacted the
Mbongwa. AT the beginning of the in giving acknowledgment to German around erasure, that the perspective of genocide. An act of place-making for this
collaboration, Khanyisile invited me colonialism and the Herero resistance the archive demonstrate racial power narrative for public engagement. He had
to engage with the archive of the and honoring the Herero in the space of dynamics and the culture of erasure. to negotiate physical space and space
International Library of African Music Cologne on German soil on German time. How does one work with an archive of in time, to demonstrate the German
(ILAM) at Rhodes University. I was erasure? And highly problematic and colonial violence and its upkeep in a
excited by this offer, up until I saw the It was beautiful to be in Germany and troublesome is how erasure continues contemporary context. In our discussion
archive. Having previously researched tell the story of the Herero genocide and through appropriation, and how due to with Zwoisy we spoke about how his
for the performance Herero folk dance call out the tribe’s name verbally and in lack of institutional respect there’s a piece also allowed him to negotiate space
and songs, I was hoping when I clicked writing. This bridge back to land was felt consistent displacement that reproduces and search within the audience his tribe,
on the category of 'Namibia’ to find for me in the first moment of the piece generic African sounds. for his arrival.
recordings of them, because up until where I take off my sandals to become
then I had only heard excerpts. What I barefoot. The space felt very expansive — Khanyisile Mbongwa — Khanyisile Mbongwa
did find was recordings with numbered as I was on Ebertplatz but talking about
titles, without any information of who and thinking about a place and people So generic Africa still lives, the music And so for the intervention, I thought
was singing, what cultural context these 12,000 km away from me. To have their of generic Africa is archived and this a lot about how placing the work in
songs are associated with, what language stories find a granted, temporary place helps no one out to say that’s completely Ebertplatz is disassociating from the
they are singing in, etc. There was no in Cologne (and I refer here both to okay. The archive doesn’t give you details actual sites, then I thought about what
information that would aid me provided my body, the red cloth, and Ebertplatz about the recorded sounds. There is if I want to carve out space for this story
by the archivists to engage with their itself) was something I felt to be quite no interruption from the archive to on German land. And so, that was my
preserved material in an knowledgeable satisfying. Working with the idea of an resist the perspective of generic Africa entrance into public space, that public
and appropriative way. oracle in the piece, it felt as if I was a or appropriation of African sound. For space is up for grabs and I am going to
medium exploring how to have these instance information about who the take some, I'm going to activate that
Choosing songs based purely on their three particular stories of the Herero (the people were, the context which the music space and the whole point is that for
rhythmic texture invited a great sense genocide, the lawsuit, and their strength is played, the region they are from – that amount of time to keep my territory
of discomfort since as a result of what that led them from one to the other), just the basic information. You could – the drunk people are still drunk and
I would consider a severely incomplete find residence in Cologne because for choose something from Nigeria and its as long as they are aggressive they will
archive, I wasn’t able to give any me these stories belong just as much in just generic Nigeria played in whatever claim a certain radius of space and so my
information about the music, use the Namibia as they do on German soil. context you want. That’s not ally-ship, job is to do something similar, I’m going
music within the conceptual framework respecting each others efforts. to claim my space, set up my territory
of the piece and simply not even credit — Zwoisy Mears-Clarke and for a lack of a better term – guard
— Zwoisy Mears-Clarke it! And what was fascinating every time
I did the piece, I was able to expand my
territory which was really lovely that I
got to stretch it out.
— Zwoisy Mears-Clarke
34 35Hermes Villena —
A Gazelle Once Told Me at
BLUEPRINT
36 37There will always be some questions probably a DJ would, to create something a place to call home. In all these kinds
when it comes to any form of that corresponds and communicates of homes, the aim was always to find
Reflections:
documentation or archival work. What universally - forwards and backwards. through communication a good way to A Gazelle Once Told Me
purpose does it serve, under which coexist with one another. So taking in
circumstances was it archived, the If there is no where to go, where is home? count that home can be defined as a place The idea of spiritual colonization
politics of the time and if the material like the house of my grandmother where which Hermes referred to a lot in our
is represented in context, to name a Some thoughts on the performance different people lived, a relationship or a conversations, had me thinking about
few. When we were given the chance and happening that took place at the public space like a plaza where I used to how public space in Europe (specifically
to create a composition using material Ebertplatz on the 23rd of June, 2018. skate with my friends for years, I realized Köln) critically engage or not with public
from the ILTA archive of Hugh Tracey, we that the formula for the concept behind art collections and how that reflects how
were faced with an exorbitant amount It took me a while to write about how home is quite simple: no coexistence, no they engage with the everyday reality and
of field recorded music from all corners I experienced the whole Happening at home. trauma of tightening borders. I suppose
of western Africa, mostly recorded by the Ebertplatz. Mainly it took me so placing the African music archive in a
Tracey himself. Though we were really long because I was way too busy with From this point of view, I see the public space in Europe, one had to be
enthusiastic while listening, again my freshly backed small collective happening at the Ebertplatz as a success. cognizant of the colonial complexity,
and again there were some moments and learning how to balance with it And I call it happening since I count the marked by colonial violence and what it
with bad connotations. Mainly while between working on different projects, whole process, from the moment we brings to surface about public space and
listening to Christian recordings, no money struggles and sharing daily arrived at the place with our equipment borders. The music archive highlights the
matter how deeply beautiful they were. tasks concerning our baby. Now while till the moment we ended it with a stretching of time and its non-linearity
From all the forms of colonization, we I´m on vacation, camping with a bus dinner at the African Drum. While I was as it fragments that belong to a historic
agreed that the spiritual Colonization on the Atlantic in the south of France playing I had different people coming to tradition, yet has a texture that’s so
is a self perpetuating system that somewhere near the Spanish boarder me. Some asking me for uplifting music contemporary and futuristic. And so
attempts to maintain the exploitation. I find the right time to concretize my others asking for the track ID. Though at Ebertplatz it was intervening across
Wrapped up in white supremacy, thoughts on the Happening and on the I think for the majority of pedestrians time, the past, present and future were
colorism, and overall racism, arguably question raised by Khanyisile which was our purpose was not clear and our in critical dialogue with one another -
the most lethal of all weapons to the base for the whole project. appearance with the flags were certainly and this is the African perspective of
subjugate has been Christianity because a spectacle, that maybe for some of the time and space. What Hermes speak
of the unquestionability of religion, First some thoughts on the concept of people lurking around, couldn’t quite of in essence is how the music from
instrumentalized to replace cultural and home: Due to my personal history, home grasp but nevertheless there was a form this archive is contemporaneous. So
spiritual identity of the autochthones. and therefore also some part of my idea of coexistence alive. think of Sun Ra and how their music
So the first decision while confronting of identity has been in constant change. negated the European gaze (science,
the archive was to exclude songs with Until now home took place in different — Hermes Villena religion, knowledge) and they negotiated
Christian context (as far as we could tell). places and in the form of different and determined space and time as a
The second was to dig for songs that constellations. Surely home was for dimension outside spiritual colonization.
had some kind of primordial approach, me, since I never lived alone, always a
avoiding guitars and songs in a Jazz place to learn how to coexist in different — Khanyisile Mbongwa
context. And then, while looking for the habitats and along different beliefs and
“primordial” we discovered that most of positions towards life. The variety is not There was something quite disturbing
the pieces sounded very contemporary only due to the fact that I lived in many about the men who recorded the music
and had a timeless quality. For this countries and on different continents archive, I watched a video online where
track we decided to deal with the source or with all kinds of relatives. I also see takes someone in front of the camera to
material in a sample and loop-based way in some of my partnerships along the show the difference between Africans and
mixing recordings from all corners of years the attempt to build a certain type Europeans - those whole attitude. I also
western Africa, melting and mixing as of collective, to build a micro habitat, find the archive sad, when I listen to this
38 39Christian music - spiritual colonization. universes can be evoked. Once, when I
Which is the worst kind of colonization, performed with Kakraba Lobi, a kogiti
Last Thoughts
and there’s a lot of Christian music player from Ghana, he said to me – “why
I really like Stuart Hall’s notion of and institutions; of gender and
in this archive. As soon as you have do Westerners need to have so many
a globalization where everyone is sexuality; and of knowledge ,
implemented the concept of a Western instruments? I can play so much music
discovering their ethnicity: epistemology, education, and the
God, people cannot to say you wrong with just this drum”. Musicians who are
formation of subjectivity"
because all of a sudden they believe in focused inward understand this very
"Not as the purity of their origins
this God too. This idea of a Western god clearly. But if one continues to play
where in a migrating world its — Anibal Quijano
is completely dominant. On the one with one’s energy focused outward,
impossible to discover but rather
hand I’m happy this archive exist but I’m one will sooner or later feel a sense of
a simple fact that we come from Hall’s notion made me think critically
cognizant of its colonizing context. But deprivation. This made clear the spiritual
particular places, with particular about Emerging Identities as a concept. I
it’s good that it’s there and for me it was a colonization I spoke of earlier
languages, that we inhabit wondered about the ethics of the term in
luxury to have access to such an archive.
distinctive cultural traditions, we its attempt to read the people negotiating
And it’s also about the conversation we — Hermes Villena
belong to particular landscapes the closing of the Western borders from
been having about Time, how African
and we share with many others within. And whether the term gives room
time is parallel and never linear. When
who are not the same as us, for construction of identities outside
you play contemporary music or minimal
particular histories. Living with, terms such as immigrant, illegal migrant,
music with the music from the archive,
rather than simply forgetting, asylum seeker, exiled, guest worker? And
there comes a point where you couldn’t
‘difference’. This is preferable whether the term is sensitive to hold
really tell what is what - it just fitted
to the endless forgetting – the space while wait for our true ‘arrival’ in
super good. So the African music archive
historical amnesia – coupled with the new space. And as I noted earlier with
keeps contemporary, not primitive at all
a vapid postmodern nostalgia, Rodonó:
which is how European would normally
which is globalization’s stock-in-
describe any archival sound from
trade." "For the marginalized subject
Africa. I think Midori Takada speaks so
there is no coming home, no
beautifully about how music relates to
Our identities are always in a state of arrival into the dominant
the politics of the time when she talks
becoming, always under construction! To society; you need to have a
about her shift in direction and says:
undertake Hall’s notion of globalization community, which for sure is not
Don’t you think that classical music
as discovering our ethnicity, doesn’t a homogeneous community. The
epitomizes an era of the struggle for
mean we negate the violent colonial train station has always been a
overseas supremacy? It uses its energy
and racist history of oppression that place of gathering, a place where
and spirit towards in – and a course of
formulate itself within our contemporary you could meet other migrants
domination, not a self. In the late 1970s,
through forms of control. living the same situation, a place
as I become more seriously involved in
of yearning where you could
African and Asian music, I discovered
"Colonialism (and racism) as an buy a newspaper in your mother
that these forms of music were directed
articulation of race and labour tongue. "
inward. As a performer, this music asked
in the colonial period that is
you to personally examine your own
condensed into a power structure, But I do think the concept of Emerging
physical transformation and to confirm
continues in modern and Identities is not concerned with the
and share this transformation with your
contemporary times, and operates ‘correct’ identity but rather to think
counterpart, group or tribe. The music
through control: of the economy of itself as collages and patchwork of
stops short of imposing sovereignty or
(through land appropriation, images in the similar way Lucy R. Lippard
nationality. When you listen to African
exploitation of labour, control of thinks about the history of Galisteo,
music, even with just one drum, several
natural resources); of authority New Mexico – as an overlay of different
40 41world views, without subjecting them back to talk about the global citizen,
to dominant cultural overview which who do we imagine as the ‘public’ of the
Reflections
amounts for forcible assimilation. geographical locations that make up the
global village. Because asking ourselves BLUEPRINT holds a special significance as Staging a public intervention is an
As identities emerge while the West these kind of questions will help us it marks central features of process-based experiment. It was captivating to see
tightens its borders, we see a clear understand and act on the urgency and collaborative practices that are at the the code-switching and reactions to a
relationship between the border and and agency of having to dismantle core of CAT’s program. Conversations and powerful, robust performance like Reut’s,
public space. Public institutions as the colonial thinking and power reflections on the concept with Khanyisile an intimate and reflective action like
decolonial strategies mean that they can that continues to guide how borders have been starting as early as January Zwoisy’s, and an engaging, interactive DJ
use their power of cultural currency to determine who may cross and who will 2017 and will go on after this project is set like Hermes’. Questions of visitorship
take a stand against colonial legacies. For die trying. finished. What has been produced and and audience kept cropping up as the
instance, museums can do much more became visible during her residency is evening went on, disrupting the mundane
than rethink their colonial collections, if Because we have learned that our clearly informed by her encounters and timeline of a city. What happens when art
they truly want to engage in decolonial continued present is very much tied the local context. Imagining the project enters the public sphere and gallery walls
strategies it will have to be in practice to our past and future, and it is this in a different setting would allow for a fall away? How does the unexpected affect
beyond rehanging work. They ought to understanding that those who choose to quite different shape and demonstrates the precise measures of something like
use their cultural and social currency leave, cross the border. the interdependence of artistic practices choreography? How do people react based
to mobilize by calling for public press in direct relation to public discourse. In on context? In a recap with an audience
conferences and announce their stand — Khanyisile Mbongwa this context, the meaning of public space, member afterwards, we talked about
against the militarization of migratory with its potential for random encounters migration, movement, and community,
systems. In similar ways a lecturer Endnotes becomes apparent. Encounters which are themes that the works certainly describe,
from Wabash College, Professor Agata risky endeavors because they are real, and the idea of interaction came up. They
1 Public space: referring to public institutions and outdoor
Szczeszak-Brewer organized a letter- open space created for communal sharing.
both mentally and physically. Ideally asked why Khanyisile chose a public plaza
writing party, where they would be 2 Emerging identities: a term I coined to refer to public space is where there are no fake instead of a closed performance space. We
peoples considered first generation, as they negotiate an
writing to the U.S. government about intercultural identity of their parents birthplace and where
news, no selected truth and where all talked about how the plaza lends itself to
the government abduction of children they have migrated to. participants have developed their own being a stage not only for performers but
from their parents at the U.S. – Mexican 3 To have found your community, is when you have arrived. strategies to navigate through. These for everyday people that shuttle through
4 Ebertplatz is a major underground station on the Cologne
border and the policies leading to what Stadtbahn lines 12, 15,16 and 18, located in Cologne. The range from indifference to engagement, Ebertplatz, and the unexpectedness of
they now call ‘Deleted Family Units’. station lines at Ebertplatz on the Cologne Ring in the from rejective attitudes over self- true intervening in such a transitional
district of Innenstadt.
While Professor Szczeszak-Brewer also 5 Brutalist architecture: It flourished from 1951 to 1975,
protection to politeness. The more diverse space. We didn’t think we’d have an artist
indicated that the turn-up would also having descended from the modernist architectural our physical context becomes, the more performing under garlands of oranges or
movement of the early 20thcentury. The name comes from
collect money to donate to the American the French word béton brut (raw concrete), used by Le
important it will be for us to define have a simultaneous concert by a South
Civil Liberties Union, which has been Corbusier to describe his choice of material, adapted by our strategy on how to move through African opera singer, but neither could
fighting a tireless legal battle to reunite British architectural critic Reyner Banham into “Brutalism” and contribute to this public sphere. have happened in a closed performance
to identify the emerging style.
the families. 6 The Bantu Education Act, 1953 (Act No.47 of 1953) was Given the challenges of migration and space. There’s a stimulus that happens
a South African segregation law that legalized several transformation of our population, public when we enter the public space and bring
aspect of the apartheid system, which enforced racially
Since we are now aware of the separated education and educational facilities. And insisted
space at the same time becomes a sphere the community into the work through
hierarchies of mobility, we have to be on Afrikaans as a mandatory instruction language. Blacks of hope and opportunity. Depending on the cross-pollination of diverse ideas. It’s
were not to aspire to certain positions in society and so
mindful as to whom we are referring to education for such positions was not deemed necessary.
what role we have been given or define for a theme of CAT’s work and microcosm
when we speak of ‘the public’ – asking 7 By ethnoscapes Appadurai means the “landscapes of ourselves, it is a place that we can make, that reminds us to carry the idea with
ourselves critically whether this term persons who make up the shifting world in which we live: take, share or defend – but it will no us through today’s political and social
tourist, immigrants, refugees, exiles, guest workers, and
refers to the homogeneous nationalized other moving groups or persons constitute and essential longer be a neutral sphere of transition. climate.
feature of the world and appear to affect the politics of and
identities or acknowledges everyone between nations to a hitherto unprecedented degree”
as citizen. And furthermore take a step — Julia Haarmann — Pema Domingo-Barker
42 43Credits
As an intern during the stay of curator, through Ebertplatz. In all, BLUEPRINT
Khanyisile Mbongwa, during BLUEPRINT, quite literally moved me into new spaces
I had the privilege to be in conversations of Cologne and moved me emotionally— CAT Cologne Main Partner:
about race, gender, public space, planting different templates of thought
neocolonialism, capitalism, love and and appreciation for cross-cultural
time. These chats often occurred on perspectives.
the move, walking through Cologne—
observing park-goers, discovering a flea — Nicole Huizinga
market, discussing a museum exhibition,
considering intentions and histories
of spaces, questioning inclusiveness or CAT Cologne is supported by:
exclusiveness of areas and connecting
these topics to race and movement of
migrants. I felt Khanyisile’s energy as she
commented on space in Cologne, recalled
how space functions in her home country,
South Africa, and pushed the limits of
my and her own thought processes. This
energy influenced me as I started moving
through spaces with more awareness.
When I think about BLUEPRINT, my mind Die Oberbürgermeisterin
lingers on Khanyisile’s curated event,
“Public Interventions”, largely because of Kulturamt
its accessibility. “Public Interventions”
occurred in Ebertplatz, which hugs and
feeds into the underground transit,
BLUEPRINT is supported by:
making it a pedestrian-heavy zone.
Ebertplatz, surrounded by galleries, a
print shop, and a restaurant/bar blends
the lines of being inside and outside,
as one can stand in the shadow under a
thick concrete ceiling but reach an arm
into sunlight without stepping through
a door. The performances of “Public
Interventions”, visible to both planned
attendees and spontaneous viewers,
invited unpredictable movements and
reactions from the crowd. To me, this
created, even if only temporarily, a new
public space within a preexisting one
and spread a mix of intense emotions
44 45Thank You CAT Cologne
Our special thanks goes first of all to Ebertplatz, African Drum as well as CAT is a shortcut for ‘Community Art
the curator and the artists involved Tiefgarage/Maria Wildeis for supporting Team’. The artist residency CAT Cologne
in the project, Khanyisile Mbongwa, the final performance. Thank you to was founded in 2010 as a non-profit
Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, Reut Shemesh & the artists Fernanda Rueda and Conrad organization.
Team (Kelvin Kilonzo, Petr Hastik and Müller and Bruch & Dallas gallery.
Elia Kraus, Shany Shemesh for the flags CAT Cologne supports international
illustration and Andres Santiago Alvarez Thanks for having their hands on and emerging artists working in the field of
Rodriguez for the costumes), Hermes the great team-work throughout the social practice and community engaged
Villena and Sascha Hohn. project to Pema Domingo-Barker for work. During a working grant to spend
organizing the whole communication 1-3 months in Cologne, artists are
We would also like to thank the people and editing materials, Nicole Huizinga invited to realize a process-oriented
who engaged with the resident artists for volunteering and Ralf Tietz for project that picks up issues that are
and contributed important insights to the documenting the project events. specific to context and engages with
projects, especially Timm Therre, André local communities. Each project closes
Sauer, Aurora Rodonò, Aneta Rostkowska Last but not least, the project would not with a small publication and a final
and Regina Barunke for organizing a have been possible without the financial presentation. A number of social events
Curatorial Breakfast with Khanyisile support of CAT Cologne’s main sponsor such as Dinner Parties and Brunches are
Mbongwa and Mode Kollektiv/Dominik Bayer Arts & Culture, the City of Cologne, part of the framing program.
Siebel. As hosting institutions we would RheinEnergie Stiftung Kultur and the
like to thank Sankt Gertrud for opening Ministry for Families, Children, Youth, The project’s task is to support the
their doors for the commemoration Culture and Sports of the State of North dialogue between diverse communities
of Youth Day and the initiative Unser Rhine-Westphalia - thank you. and engage them to their own
constructive actionism by providing
clever and creative ways of participation.
46 47You can also read
