Activist Choreographies of Care
Locantion(s)
nGbK, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 11/13, 10178 Berlin
Artists:
Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, Martin Toloku, Sarah Ama Duah, Anthony R. Green & Julius Yaw Quansah, Rüzgâr Buşki & Mawuenya Amudzi, Marcella Nuerkie Akuetteh, Rebecca Korang & Efia Serwah, Akpene Akosua Deku, Chie Marquart-Tabel & Austin Nortey, Angel Maxine, Isabel Kwarteng-Acheampong, Audrey Obuobisa-Darko, Baahwa, Damien Kwadjo, Efua Osei, Kobena Ampofo, Kwame Boateng, Nenyi Ato Bentum, Kwame Brenyah, Bodi Babatola, Otis Mensah and the K++V Performance Swarm
nGbK working group:
Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (crazinisT artisT), hn. lyonga, Sunny Pfalzer, Malte Pieper, Maj Smoszna
Activist Choreographies of Care: perfocraZe International Artist Residency connects Kumasi and Berlin, intertwining queer stories told in, about, and from those locations. Archival and newly produced artistic works, previous performances and new live actions are linked by an event program, bringing together the communal spirit of the residency with the notion of a gathering space provided by an exhibition display and performance set-up.
The project opens a satellite space of the perfocraZe International Artist Residency [pIAR] from Kumasi, Ghana, in Berlin. pIAR is a self-organized safer space for people of the LGBTQIA+ community in Ghana, which is currently under acute threat from a law disguised as “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights And Ghanaian Family Values Bill”. The law, which was passed by Parliament in February 2024 criminalizes the identification as LGBTQIA+ and the promotion of LGBTQIA+ rights, amongst many other activities. While the law has not been signed by the previous parliament, hence suspending its implementation, the new parliament allegedly plans to include the violent and discriminatory content of the law in school curricula.
Through installation, film, textiles, poetry and performance, the artists engage with the search for queer ancestries, dismantling colonial histories inscribed in bodies and spaces, to build different worlds that hold space for connection, daily resistance, and transformation. Kumasi and Berlin-based artists explore circular narrations and speculative queer futures. Looking at pre-colonial histories, the project gathers artists whose work challenges Western notions of binary genders and queerness, to raise international solidarity and build resilience networks.
The exhibition and accompanying public program will all culminate in a publication, which will be available from nGbK‘s publishing house in May.
Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi is supported by the Martin Roth-Initiative, a joint protection program of the ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and the Goethe-Institut, which is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
In cooperation with the DAAD Arts and Media Program.
Events program
Friday, March 28, 7 p.m.
Opening with the performance TIME BOMB by Marcella Nuerkie Akuetteh and a concert performance by Anthony R. Green & Julius Yaw Quansah, among others. In German and English.
Friday, April 18, 12 p.m.
Protest performance by Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi. In Ewe (no language barrier).
Saturday, April 19, 7 p.m.
Performance marathon by K++V Swarm and guests. In German and English.
Tuesday–Friday, April 22–25 April, 2–6 pm
Open studios, screenings, workshops, readings, and discussions with pIAR alumni, Jasmin Rolli, Austin Nortey, Kwame Brenyah, Mawuenya Amudzi, and guests. In German and English.
Tuesday, April 22, 7 pm
Film evening with short films by artists and activists from the pIAR network. In English.
Saturday, April 26, 5 pm
Love fEAST Dinner with Ghanaian food, concert by Angel Maxine, music performance by Kwame Brenyah, DJs. In German and English.
Saturday, May 3, 3 pm (German) and 4 pm (English)
Curatorial tour for Gallery Weekend
Saturday, May 17, 3 pm (German) and 4 pm (English)
Curatorial tour on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia
Sunday, June 1, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Queering Black Church Narratives: Event for BIPOC. Registration at anmeldung@ngbk.de
Sunday, June 1, 3 p.m.
Closing event, performances, protest, and readings in public space from the exhibition space across Alexanderplatz, to open PRIDE Month with Angel Maxine, Damien Kwadjo, and others. lyonga, Isabel Kwarteng-Acheampong, Kwame Boateng, Otis Mensah, and Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi. In English.
Further event
Friday, May 16 – Monday, May 26
Exhibition by iki yos piña, mani tapes, and wat3r mami (“Don’t hit a la negrx”) curated by BARAZANI.berlin
Location: BARAZANI.berlin, Project Space SPREEUFER, Spreeufer 6, 10178 Berlin