OPEN MAD
cinque giornate all'insegna della condivisione
OPENArchival Platform
Black History Month Florence
MAD Murate Art District collabora ogni anno con centinaia di artisti nazionali e internazionali a progetti artistici, performativi, fotografici, rendendo partecipe la cittadinanza e la comunità dell’intenso lavoro di ricerca che viene svolto nella nostra città.
MAD apre le porte per cinque giornate di apertura e presentazione alla cittadinanza, in programma dal 23 al 27 ottobre 2024: incontri, riflessioni, performance, talk e convegni incentrati sul tema della “cura”.
Vuoi scoprire come lavorano gli artisti e i curatori contemporanei? Cinque giornate all’insegna della condivisione tra artisti, curatori, addetti ai lavori e pubblico, per poter compartecipare alla quotidianità di MAD, davanti e dietro le quinte.
MAD Murate Art District collabora ogni anno con centinaia di artisti nazionali e internazionali a progetti artistici, performativi, fotografici, rendendo partecipe la cittadinanza e la comunità dell’intenso lavoro di ricerca che viene svolto nella nostra città.
MAD apre le porte per cinque giornate di apertura e presentazione alla cittadinanza, in programma dal 23 al 27 ottobre 2024: incontri, riflessioni, performance, talk e convegni incentrati sul tema della “cura”.
Vuoi scoprire come lavorano gli artisti e i curatori contemporanei? Cinque giornate all’insegna della condivisione tra artisti, curatori, addetti ai lavori e pubblico, per poter compartecipare alla quotidianità di MAD, davanti e dietro le quinte.
Obbligato è una meditazione sugli obblighi sociali, morali e comunitari.
Attingendo a uno dei principi fondanti del cosmopolitismo, quello di un obbligo morale verso tutti gli umani, questa edizione esamina ciò che Leopold Senghor dichiarò in un discorso a Palazzo Vecchio del 1962 come il ruolo dell’Africa nel mondo del ripristino di una piena umanità affinché il mondo potesse riprendersi dal deficit reso attraverso l’oppressione, lo sfruttamento e l’amnesia storica.
Nel jazz Obbligato è una contro melodia che può avere uguale importanza e dominio come la linea di melodia centrale. In un momento in cui i media e numerosi leader politici hanno spinto la società a temere l’estinzione della storia locale attraverso l’inclusione di prospettive alternative, questi eventi servono a ricordare che quando abbiamo più voci e storie abbiamo una comprensione più completa della storia stessa e un rinnovato senso di umanità per tutti.
Obbligato è una meditazione sugli obblighi sociali, morali e comunitari.
Attingendo a uno dei principi fondanti del cosmopolitismo, quello di un obbligo morale verso tutti gli umani, questa edizione esamina ciò che Leopold Senghor dichiarò in un discorso a Palazzo Vecchio del 1962 come il ruolo dell’Africa nel mondo del ripristino di una piena umanità affinché il mondo potesse riprendersi dal deficit reso attraverso l’oppressione, lo sfruttamento e l’amnesia storica.
Nel jazz Obbligato è una contro melodia che può avere uguale importanza e dominio come la linea di melodia centrale. In un momento in cui i media e numerosi leader politici hanno spinto la società a temere l’estinzione della storia locale attraverso l’inclusione di prospettive alternative, questi eventi servono a ricordare che quando abbiamo più voci e storie abbiamo una comprensione più completa della storia stessa e un rinnovato senso di umanità per tutti.
La sesta edizione di Black History Month Florence sarà organizzata sotto il tema Ostinato. Il tema è simultaneamente un invito e una critica. L’invito è di ostinarsi nel lavoro socio-culturale di cui abbiamo sempre più bisogno. La critica riguarda l’ostinazione della resistenza del riconoscimento della lotta degli afro-discendenti riguardo l’accesso alla cittadinanza, ai diritti dei lavoratori e all’inclusione sociale nella definizione di italianità. Ostinato è una riflessione sull’ostinazione necessaria per affermare strategie proattive di organizzazione culturale su un lungo arco di tempo, come manifestazione di una visione non indifferente ai tempi attuali e alle sfide del presente.
L’edizione del 2021 si collocherà sulla scia delle proteste di lotta contro il razzismo diffuse in tutto il mondo. Nonostante il momento di crisi, riteniamo fondamentale “ostinarsi” in un programma completo e ampliato attraverso il coinvolgimento di nuovi partner, come forma
La sesta edizione di Black History Month Florence sarà organizzata sotto il tema Ostinato. Il tema è simultaneamente un invito e una critica. L’invito è di ostinarsi nel lavoro socio-culturale di cui abbiamo sempre più bisogno. La critica riguarda l’ostinazione della resistenza del riconoscimento della lotta degli afro-discendenti riguardo l’accesso alla cittadinanza, ai diritti dei lavoratori e all’inclusione sociale nella definizione di italianità. Ostinato è una riflessione sull’ostinazione necessaria per affermare strategie proattive di organizzazione culturale su un lungo arco di tempo, come manifestazione di una visione non indifferente ai tempi attuali e alle sfide del presente.
L’edizione del 2021 si collocherà sulla scia delle proteste di lotta contro il razzismo diffuse in tutto il mondo. Nonostante il momento di crisi, riteniamo fondamentale “ostinarsi” in un programma completo e ampliato attraverso il coinvolgimento di nuovi partner, come forma di resistenza attiva.
Dal 2021 al 2024 Black Archive Alliance prende casa al MAD in una residenza di lungo periodo che porterà questo importante archivio, con i progetti di ricerca e la biblioteca tematica di 500 volumi, in residenza al MAD, per continuare e moltiplicare le occasioni di collaborazione e co-progettazione tra MAD e BHMF.
Le tre mostre proposte quest’anno alle Murate sono state co-prodotte e realizzate in una stretta collaborazione tra Murate Art District e BHMF
La VII edizione del Black History Month Florence amplia i propri orizzonti trasformandosi in Black History Fuori le Mura. La portata dell’iniziativa cresce grazie alla sinergia con il lavoro di analoghi collettivi operativi nelle città di Bologna, Torino e Roma, ma anche puntando anche verso nuove collaborazioni all’estero.
Black History Fuori le Mura è il frutto di un’organizzazione collettiva che riunisce associazioni, individui e istituzioni, generando uno spazio condiviso per la co-promozione degli eventi di Black History Month. Questa piattaforma vuole proporsi quale luogo ideale per il rilancio di una riflessione nazionale e internazionale sul recupero della Black History.
Quest’anno MAD presenterà tre diverse mostre co-prodotte con BHFM, articolate all’interno di tutti i suoi spazi. L’inaugurazione delle mostre si svolgerà giovedì 10 febbraio a partire dalle 17.30, con la presentazione dei progetti da parte di Justin Randolph Thompson, co-fon
La VII edizione del Black History Month Florence amplia i propri orizzonti trasformandosi in Black History Fuori le Mura. La portata dell’iniziativa cresce grazie alla sinergia con il lavoro di analoghi collettivi operativi nelle città di Bologna, Torino e Roma, ma anche puntando anche verso nuove collaborazioni all’estero.
Black History Fuori le Mura è il frutto di un’organizzazione collettiva che riunisce associazioni, individui e istituzioni, generando uno spazio condiviso per la co-promozione degli eventi di Black History Month. Questa piattaforma vuole proporsi quale luogo ideale per il rilancio di una riflessione nazionale e internazionale sul recupero della Black History.
Quest’anno MAD presenterà tre diverse mostre co-prodotte con BHFM, articolate all’interno di tutti i suoi spazi. L’inaugurazione delle mostre si svolgerà giovedì 10 febbraio a partire dalle 17.30, con la presentazione dei progetti da parte di Justin Randolph Thompson, co-fondatore e direttore di Black History Month Florence, l’artista Nidhal Chamekh e la ricercatrice Jessica Sartiani. Nell’occasione verrà presentato il nuovo progetto audiovisivo di DeForrest Brown, Jr. e James Hoff HOBO UFO V. (THE NEW WORLD), che esamina la tumultuosa storia geografica della razza in America.
Questa edizione del BHFM presenta come titolo tematico FUGA: una meditazione sulla fugacità del concetto di Blackness (Moten, Harney 2013) e sulla instabilità che permea realtà geo-culturali sfumando i confini tra locale e transnazionale. È anche una riflessione sulla diffidenza che persiste nel contesto italiano riguardo ai popoli e alle culture d’origine africana, che spinge molti alla fuga.
MAD Murate Art District in collaborazione con l’Associazione Culturale Black History Month Florence e The Recovery Plan sono lieti di presentare l’VIII Edizione di Black History Month Florence – Sforzando.
Al settimo anno di collaborazione con MAD Murate Art District la mostra Memory Effect, curata da BHMF in collaborazione con gli studenti del Master IED in Curatorial Practice, prende forma in tutti gli spazi espositivi del complesso dal 2 febbraio al 2 marzo 2023.
Black History Month Florence – Sforzando è il frutto di un’organizzazione collettiva che riunisce associazioni, individui e istituzioni, per il rilancio di una riflessione nazionale e internazionale sul recupero della Black History.
La mostra riunisce i lavori dei quattro artisti Binta Diaw, Nexcyia, Bocar Niang e Lerato Shadi intrecciando performance, sound art e installazioni.
In geologia il Memory effect, l’effetto memoria (ME), è visualizzato come interferenze e anomalie present
MAD Murate Art District in collaborazione con l’Associazione Culturale Black History Month Florence e The Recovery Plan sono lieti di presentare l’VIII Edizione di Black History Month Florence – Sforzando.
Al settimo anno di collaborazione con MAD Murate Art District la mostra Memory Effect, curata da BHMF in collaborazione con gli studenti del Master IED in Curatorial Practice, prende forma in tutti gli spazi espositivi del complesso dal 2 febbraio al 2 marzo 2023.
Black History Month Florence – Sforzando è il frutto di un’organizzazione collettiva che riunisce associazioni, individui e istituzioni, per il rilancio di una riflessione nazionale e internazionale sul recupero della Black History.
La mostra riunisce i lavori dei quattro artisti Binta Diaw, Nexcyia, Bocar Niang e Lerato Shadi intrecciando performance, sound art e installazioni.
In geologia il Memory effect, l’effetto memoria (ME), è visualizzato come interferenze e anomalie presenti in mappature e topografie; è infatti prodotto da errori e imperfezioni generati da attrezzature e tecnologie utilizzate nella raccolta di dati e nella creazione di grafici.
Ciascuna delle opere esposte è realizzata con un approccio site specific ed estende la percezione della capacità sonora di occupare lo spazio. Video, materiali tessili, terra e parti di automobili fanno da sfondo a una serie di conversazioni sfumate sulla documentazione e la memoria come forme di resistenza.
Available in:
“Sono nera, sono bella” (2023) è un docu-film scritto e diretto da Sabrina Onana che racconta l’esperienza delle Donne Nere, sia caraibiche che figlie della diaspora africana, in Francia.
In questo documentario, 12 donne afro-francesi raccontano della loro relazione con i capelli, standard di bellezza, uomini e la rappresentazione nei media. Il loro percorso tra dubbi, crescita, alienazione, riconciliazione, resilienza, e accettazione richiama l’attenzione a questioni sociali e culturali presenti sia nelle società africane che occidentali.
Condividendo pubblicamente le loro esperienze, questo documentario dà a queste donne contemporaneamente la possibilità di parlare, essere viste e ascoltate nonchè di incoraggiare l’ascolto attivo e discussioni oneste sia fuori che al di dentro della comunità nera.
L’evento è di IParticipate in collaborazi
“Sono nera, sono bella” (2023) è un docu-film scritto e diretto da Sabrina Onana che racconta l’esperienza delle Donne Nere, sia caraibiche che figlie della diaspora africana, in Francia.
In questo documentario, 12 donne afro-francesi raccontano della loro relazione con i capelli, standard di bellezza, uomini e la rappresentazione nei media. Il loro percorso tra dubbi, crescita, alienazione, riconciliazione, resilienza, e accettazione richiama l’attenzione a questioni sociali e culturali presenti sia nelle società africane che occidentali.
Condividendo pubblicamente le loro esperienze, questo documentario dà a queste donne contemporaneamente la possibilità di parlare, essere viste e ascoltate nonchè di incoraggiare l’ascolto attivo e discussioni oneste sia fuori che al di dentro della comunità nera.
L’evento è di IParticipate in collaborazione con The Recovery Plan.
Conversation with Eve Tagny
In dialogue with Justin Randolph Thompson
The artist Eve Tagny, one of the artists of the exhibition Repose and Resist will be in dialogue with the director of Black History Month Florence discussing her interdisciplinary practice and her relationship with rest and healing. Tagny’s practice combines embodied movement with videos and sculptural installations, focusing on connections between touch and forms of mourning in relation to nature and the earth.
For more information:
055 2476873
info.mad@musefirenze.it
Conversation with Eve Tagny
In dialogue with Justin Randolph Thompson
The artist Eve Tagny, one of the artists of the exhibition Repose and Resist will be in dialogue with the director of Black History Month Florence discussing her interdisciplinary practice and her relationship with rest and healing. Tagny’s practice combines embodied movement with videos and sculptural installations, focusing on connections between touch and forms of mourning in relation to nature and the earth.
For more information:
055 2476873
info.mad@musefirenze.it
curated by BHMF
Repose and Resist is a group exhibition that examines rest and healing in relation to Black cultural production. The works from these artists look at care for the body and for the spirit as a gesture of recognition of fatigue and exhaustion that is a part of the lives of so many in the cultural scene, where the division between professional and personal life is nearly non existent. The framing of sculptural, video and panting gestures that become forms of collective care take over the spaces of the Murate with its history of Spirituality and reclusion. The works are indicators of practices that we may engage in towards replenished energies and focus akin to the resting of the earth between planting seasons.
This exhibition is expanded through exchange and methodologies that emerged through a retreat, which took place in Giverny, France as a collaboration between The Recovery Plan and the Terra Foundat
curated by BHMF
Repose and Resist is a group exhibition that examines rest and healing in relation to Black cultural production. The works from these artists look at care for the body and for the spirit as a gesture of recognition of fatigue and exhaustion that is a part of the lives of so many in the cultural scene, where the division between professional and personal life is nearly non existent. The framing of sculptural, video and panting gestures that become forms of collective care take over the spaces of the Murate with its history of Spirituality and reclusion. The works are indicators of practices that we may engage in towards replenished energies and focus akin to the resting of the earth between planting seasons.
This exhibition is expanded through exchange and methodologies that emerged through a retreat, which took place in Giverny, France as a collaboration between The Recovery Plan and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
This sharing of the methodologies of the Recovery Plan provides the backdrop for a layered meditation on rest and repose in relation to resistance. The exhibition is an invitation to the viewer to slow down, to rest and to recognize bodily and spiritual needs. The exhibition is accompanied by a public program of talks,
performances and workshops.
The opening will take place on thursday 15th at 6 p.m.
For more information:
055 2476873
info.mad@musefirenze.it
Projection of film
08 FEBBRAIO / 18:00
MURATE ART DISTRICT
America Non C’è (Italy, 2022, 77 min) is a film that tells the daily life and life experiences of a group of young Italians of African descent, the day after the protests
organized in support of the BLM movement in America and the rest of the world.
After the screening there will be a video Q&A with the director Davide Marchesi.
For more information:
055 2476873
info.mad@musefirenze.it
Projection of film
08 FEBBRAIO / 18:00
MURATE ART DISTRICT
America Non C’è (Italy, 2022, 77 min) is a film that tells the daily life and life experiences of a group of young Italians of African descent, the day after the protests
organized in support of the BLM movement in America and the rest of the world.
After the screening there will be a video Q&A with the director Davide Marchesi.
For more information:
055 2476873
info.mad@musefirenze.it
Artist
Born in 1985 in Dahmani, Tunisia, Nidhal Chamekh graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Tunis and the University of Sorbonne in Paris. He continues to work and live between the two cities. Nidhal’s creations reflect on the times we inhabit. His artwork is situated at the intersections of the biographic and the political, the lived and the historical, the event and the archive. From drawing to installations, and from photography to videos, Nidhal Chamekh’s oeuvres dissect the constitution of our contemporary identity.
His artwork has been exhibited at the Venice Biennial, the Aïchi Triennale, the Yinchuan Biennial, the Dakar Biennial and has been shown in Tunis at Politics Collective exhibitions, in Kunsthaus Hamburg, in France at the Museum of contemporary art MAC Lyon, during the 12th edition of Bamako Encounters, in Italy at FM Contemporary Art Center, in London at Drawing Room, in CCA Lagos in Nigeria and Kadist in Paris, in Sao Paulo for Videobrasil Art Biennial and the Ski
Born in 1985 in Dahmani, Tunisia, Nidhal Chamekh graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Tunis and the University of Sorbonne in Paris. He continues to work and live between the two cities. Nidhal’s creations reflect on the times we inhabit. His artwork is situated at the intersections of the biographic and the political, the lived and the historical, the event and the archive. From drawing to installations, and from photography to videos, Nidhal Chamekh’s oeuvres dissect the constitution of our contemporary identity.
His artwork has been exhibited at the Venice Biennial, the Aïchi Triennale, the Yinchuan Biennial, the Dakar Biennial and has been shown in Tunis at Politics Collective exhibitions, in Kunsthaus Hamburg, in France at the Museum of contemporary art MAC Lyon, during the 12th edition of Bamako Encounters, in Italy at FM Contemporary Art Center, in London at Drawing Room, in CCA Lagos in Nigeria and Kadist in Paris, in Sao Paulo for Videobrasil Art Biennial and the Skissernas Museum in Sweden.
Black History Month Florence | VII edizione
After Four Years of development around the research platform Black Archive Alliance as part of a three-year residency at Murate Art District we present the fourth volume. In collaboration with our current research resident, Jessica Sartiani who has been working at MAD since December we present a series of documents and research. The current volume of work includes Research from Roberto Bianchi on the Sciopero della Fame del 1990, a series of documents from the personal archive of Mestre Boca Nua on his work around Capoeira in Florence and fragments from the virtual archive of Jordan Anderson on Black Queerness in Italy. These works are placed in dialogue with the research by Jessica Sartiani that look at the connections between colonial history and coffee production, consumption and marketing.
After Four Years of development around the research platform Black Archive Alliance as part of a three-year residency at Murate Art District we present the fourth volume. In collaboration with our current research resident, Jessica Sartiani who has been working at MAD since December we present a series of documents and research. The current volume of work includes Research from Roberto Bianchi on the Sciopero della Fame del 1990, a series of documents from the personal archive of Mestre Boca Nua on his work around Capoeira in Florence and fragments from the virtual archive of Jordan Anderson on Black Queerness in Italy. These works are placed in dialogue with the research by Jessica Sartiani that look at the connections between colonial history and coffee production, consumption and marketing.
Black History Month Florence | VII edizione
This exhibition brings together two bodies of work that question and provoke notions of the archive as witness, the archive as bystander. The mixed media works seemingly struggling to hold tight accuracy, to shake the ambiguity that is preserved for the empirical lens of zoological anatomy, the classification of mug shots, the precision of mechanical drawings and the personal intimations that hold them together. Chamekh’s childhood in popular districts of Tunis and the persecution of his militant family deeply impact on his art located at the intersection of the biographic and the political, as he draws memories transformed into testimonies.
This exhibition brings together two bodies of work that question and provoke notions of the archive as witness, the archive as bystander. The mixed media works seemingly struggling to hold tight accuracy, to shake the ambiguity that is preserved for the empirical lens of zoological anatomy, the classification of mug shots, the precision of mechanical drawings and the personal intimations that hold them together. Chamekh’s childhood in popular districts of Tunis and the persecution of his militant family deeply impact on his art located at the intersection of the biographic and the political, as he draws memories transformed into testimonies.
Available in:
Black History Month Florence | VII edizione
The solo project Hazel by Kevin Jerome Everson is born from misremembered or misinterpreted memories in relation to the iconic song and album Maggot Brain. The work draws upon the artist’s memory of what inspired the guitar solo that is the song’s focus, the skewed remembering of a lie designed to inspire passionate and mournful playing. The actuality of the tracks history and what was exchanged between bandleader George Clinton and the guitar player become alternative perceptions, insight and imaginings in this work dedicated to guitarist Eddie Hazel and the sonic realm functions as an element that is familiar yet dissonant, remembered but hauntingly distant.
The solo project Hazel by Kevin Jerome Everson is born from misremembered or misinterpreted memories in relation to the iconic song and album Maggot Brain. The work draws upon the artist’s memory of what inspired the guitar solo that is the song’s focus, the skewed remembering of a lie designed to inspire passionate and mournful playing. The actuality of the tracks history and what was exchanged between bandleader George Clinton and the guitar player become alternative perceptions, insight and imaginings in this work dedicated to guitarist Eddie Hazel and the sonic realm functions as an element that is familiar yet dissonant, remembered but hauntingly distant.
Black History Month Florence | VII edizione
The seventh edition of Black History Month Florence has arrived bringing with it a new cultural center The Recovery Plan at SRISA functioning as a hub for information, dialogues, research and exchange throughout the month. This edition also represents an expansion of the program shifting into Black History Fuori le Mura. Extending the reach of the program to collectivize the incredible organizational efforts being carried out in the cities of Bologna, Torino, Roma and Milano, but also pointing towards newly formed collaborations in Paris, Black History Fuori le Mura is the fruit of collective organization that brings together a range of associations, individuals and institutions and is a shared space for the co-promotion of Black History Month events. This platform intends to be generative of a template for a national and international reflection on the recovery of Black History.
This edition is framed through the thematic title FUGA. FUGA is a meditation on the fugitivity of
The seventh edition of Black History Month Florence has arrived bringing with it a new cultural center The Recovery Plan at SRISA functioning as a hub for information, dialogues, research and exchange throughout the month. This edition also represents an expansion of the program shifting into Black History Fuori le Mura. Extending the reach of the program to collectivize the incredible organizational efforts being carried out in the cities of Bologna, Torino, Roma and Milano, but also pointing towards newly formed collaborations in Paris, Black History Fuori le Mura is the fruit of collective organization that brings together a range of associations, individuals and institutions and is a shared space for the co-promotion of Black History Month events. This platform intends to be generative of a template for a national and international reflection on the recovery of Black History.
This edition is framed through the thematic title FUGA. FUGA is a meditation on the fugitivity of Blackness (Moten, Harney 2013) and its non-fixity permeating geo-cultural realities and blurring the lines between the local and the transnational. It is also a reflection on the push back that continues to persist in the Italian context in relation to discourse around peoples and cultures of African descent prompting many towards flight. FUGA in music is a compositional element where a melodic theme is introduced by one voice only to be taken up successively by others. This edition wants to provide the call and response necessary to collectively engage in the work that needs to be done in order to move beyond the conceptions that are too often restricted by the flatness and limited frame of Blackness as reflected in mass media, institutional structures and academic discourse in Italy and beyond. Shifting from BHMF to BHFM is about engaging in a form of frequency modulation needed to listen and be heard.
This content is avaiable only in this archive.
Professor of Sociology at New York University in Florence
Angelica Pesarini is Professor of Sociology at New York University in Florence where she teaches “Black Italia”, a course dedicated to the analysis of the intersections of race, gender and citizenship in Italy. She holds a Ph.d. in Sociology and Gender Studies in England and worked as a professor of Gender, Race and Sexuality at Lancaster University before returning to Italy in 2017. Pesarini’s research focuses on the performativity of race in colonial and post-colonial Italy and the racialisation of contemporary Italian political discourse. Pesarini has previously investigated the relationships between gender identity and economic activities in some Roma communities living in Rome, analyzing risk strategies, survival and opportunity in the context of male child prostitution in Rome. She has published several academic essays and participated in various collective publications.
Angelica Pesarini is Professor of Sociology at New York University in Florence where she teaches “Black Italia”, a course dedicated to the analysis of the intersections of race, gender and citizenship in Italy. She holds a Ph.d. in Sociology and Gender Studies in England and worked as a professor of Gender, Race and Sexuality at Lancaster University before returning to Italy in 2017. Pesarini’s research focuses on the performativity of race in colonial and post-colonial Italy and the racialisation of contemporary Italian political discourse. Pesarini has previously investigated the relationships between gender identity and economic activities in some Roma communities living in Rome, analyzing risk strategies, survival and opportunity in the context of male child prostitution in Rome. She has published several academic essays and participated in various collective publications.
Waiting For Progetto RIVA | Zoom meeting
Speakers: Jems Kokobi with Dia Papa Demba
Moderator: Justin Randolph Thompson
I’ve Known Rivers draws its title from a line in a 1920 poem by Langston Hughes that speaks of diaspora and lineage through the metaphor of rivers. This project looks to the artist Jems Kokobi reworking traditions and connecting his artistic practice to the sustainability of the natural environment through the material of wood and a response to deforestation’s impact on rivers, natural processes that have since been industrialized and a reflection on the reclaiming of the spiritual dimensions of this work. The artist, engaged in Afrocentric meditations on history and the bridging of the contemporary art world to activist tactics, is placed in dialogue with a local representative of the trade unions around tanneries connected to the Arno river and engaged in sustainability through technological processes and the rights of workers. The conversation is an interdisciplinary one placing practice and poetry side by side.
I’ve Known Rivers draws its title from a line in a 1920 poem by Langston Hughes that speaks of diaspora and lineage through the metaphor of rivers. This project looks to the artist Jems Kokobi reworking traditions and connecting his artistic practice to the sustainability of the natural environment through the material of wood and a response to deforestation’s impact on rivers, natural processes that have since been industrialized and a reflection on the reclaiming of the spiritual dimensions of this work. The artist, engaged in Afrocentric meditations on history and the bridging of the contemporary art world to activist tactics, is placed in dialogue with a local representative of the trade unions around tanneries connected to the Arno river and engaged in sustainability through technological processes and the rights of workers. The conversation is an interdisciplinary one placing practice and poetry side by side.
Available in:
Waiting For Progetto RIVA
Intervengono: Jems Kokobi e Dia Papa Demba
Modera: Justin Randolph Thompson
In collaborazione con MAD Murate Art District
This content is avaiable only in this archive.
Volum III
Launched in 2018 Black Archive Alliance is a research and training project that aims to highlight investigations rooted in documents that reflect the realities and histories of African populations, and of the African diaspora and their representation in public and private archives and collections in the Italian context.
The first edition created a virtual map of this archival presence in the city of Florence with a catalog that aims to support future research and provide alternative perspectives. The second edition was also carried out in Florence by international students from various disciplines and institutions, tutored by a group of local researchers and scholars. The third edition, presented as part of BHMF 2021 in this exhibition, was born from a collaboration between five Afro- descendant researchers working in different fields and the artists of the first edition of YGBI Research Residency. Working in pairs, through an experimental approach based on dialogue and exchange, th
Launched in 2018 Black Archive Alliance is a research and training project that aims to highlight investigations rooted in documents that reflect the realities and histories of African populations, and of the African diaspora and their representation in public and private archives and collections in the Italian context.
The first edition created a virtual map of this archival presence in the city of Florence with a catalog that aims to support future research and provide alternative perspectives. The second edition was also carried out in Florence by international students from various disciplines and institutions, tutored by a group of local researchers and scholars. The third edition, presented as part of BHMF 2021 in this exhibition, was born from a collaboration between five Afro- descendant researchers working in different fields and the artists of the first edition of YGBI Research Residency. Working in pairs, through an experimental approach based on dialogue and exchange, they have explored tangible and intangible archives rooted in Italy. Providing contextualization and a wider reflection on the art works produced by the YGBI members, the project is intended to reflect on alternative ways of activating and presenting archive-based research, beyond the academic realm.
The full texts produced by the researchers will be featured in the latest Archive Journal publication, developed in collaboration with Archive Books and launched 24 February at 5pm. As part of this exhibition opening, we are presenting our collaboration with Postcolonial Italy, which introduces their mapping project inserted within our space and exhibition.
Curated by BHMF with Alessandra Ferrini
In collaboration with Archive Books, Museo MA*GA and Villa Romana
MAD Murate Art District _Emeroteca
Researchers: Simao Amista, Jessica Sartiani, Angelica Pesarini, Jordan Anderson, Patrick Joel Tatcheda Yonkeu
Curatorial team
Black History Month Florence was founded in 2016 is a cross institutional network for Black cultural production that celebrates Afro-descendent Cultures in the context of Italy. The initiative is engaged in programming, advising and co-promoting over 50 events annually within the month of February, through a network formed and supported by the Comune, foundations, institutions, cultural associations, museums, schools and venues dedicated to art and to music. BHMF as a curatorial team is headed by Justin Randolph Thompson and Janine Gaelle Dieudji.
Black History Month Florence was founded in 2016 is a cross institutional network for Black cultural production that celebrates Afro-descendent Cultures in the context of Italy. The initiative is engaged in programming, advising and co-promoting over 50 events annually within the month of February, through a network formed and supported by the Comune, foundations, institutions, cultural associations, museums, schools and venues dedicated to art and to music. BHMF as a curatorial team is headed by Justin Randolph Thompson and Janine Gaelle Dieudji.
co-founder and director Black History Month Florence
Janine Gaëlle Dieudji is a bi-national French and Cameroonian graduate of Culture and International Relations from Lyon 3 University in France. She also holds a Master Degree in Political Science from Paris 2 Panthéon Assas University.
She’s been living in Florence, Italy, for the past six years, a city she has since fallen in love with. This is how Florence became home to her and the place where she started to build her career as an art professional. She considers herself as a ‘multilocal’ by believing that we belong to all the places we have lived in. Home is where the mind can create and feel rested at the same time. This is what the life journey is made for, exploring to become the person we decide to be.
Janine Gaëlle Dieudji is a bi-national French and Cameroonian graduate of Culture and International Relations from Lyon 3 University in France. She also holds a Master Degree in Political Science from Paris 2 Panthéon Assas University.
She’s been living in Florence, Italy, for the past six years, a city she has since fallen in love with. This is how Florence became home to her and the place where she started to build her career as an art professional. She considers herself as a ‘multilocal’ by believing that we belong to all the places we have lived in. Home is where the mind can create and feel rested at the same time. This is what the life journey is made for, exploring to become the person we decide to be.
co-founder and director Black History Month Florence
Justin Randolph Thompson is a new media artist, cultural facilitator and educator born in Peekskill, NY in ’79. Living between Italy and the US since 1999, Thompson is Co-Founder and Director of Black History Month Florence, a multi-faceted exploration of African and African Diasporic cultures in the context of Italy founded in 2016.
Thompson is a recipient of a Louise Comfort Tiffany Award, a Franklin Furnace Fund Award, a Visual Artist Grant from the Fundacion Marcelino Botin, two Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants, A Jerome Fellowship from Franconia Sculpture Park and an Emerging Artist Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park. His life and work seek to deepen the discussions around socio-cultural stratification and hierarchical organization by employing fleeting temporary communities as monuments and fostering projects that connect academic discourse social activism and DIY networking strategies in annual and biennial gathering, sharing and gestures of collectivity.
Justin Randolph Thompson is a new media artist, cultural facilitator and educator born in Peekskill, NY in ’79. Living between Italy and the US since 1999, Thompson is Co-Founder and Director of Black History Month Florence, a multi-faceted exploration of African and African Diasporic cultures in the context of Italy founded in 2016.
Thompson is a recipient of a Louise Comfort Tiffany Award, a Franklin Furnace Fund Award, a Visual Artist Grant from the Fundacion Marcelino Botin, two Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants, A Jerome Fellowship from Franconia Sculpture Park and an Emerging Artist Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park. His life and work seek to deepen the discussions around socio-cultural stratification and hierarchical organization by employing fleeting temporary communities as monuments and fostering projects that connect academic discourse social activism and DIY networking strategies in annual and biennial gathering, sharing and gestures of collectivity.
Luanda-Angola, 1979, Kiluanji Kia Henda is an autodidact which a profound springboard into this realm comes from growing up in a household of photography enthusiasts. His conceptual edge was sharpened by immersing himself into music, avant-garde theater and collaborating with a collective of emerging artists in Luanda ́s art scene. Kia Henda participated in several residency programs in cities such as Venice, Cape Town, Paris, Amman and Sharjah, New York and Arles.
Kia Henda´s selected solo exhibitions includes Something Happen on the Way to Heaven, at Museo di Arte di Nuoro (2020), The Isle of Venus at Museum of Leuven in Leuven (2020), A City Called Mirage at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York (2017), In the Days of a Dark Safari at Galeria Filomena Soares in Lisbon and Goodman Gallery in Cape Town (2017) and Self-Portrait As A White Man at Galleria Fonti in Naples (2010).
Kia Henda has participated in group exhibitions at numerous institutions,
Luanda-Angola, 1979, Kiluanji Kia Henda is an autodidact which a profound springboard into this realm comes from growing up in a household of photography enthusiasts. His conceptual edge was sharpened by immersing himself into music, avant-garde theater and collaborating with a collective of emerging artists in Luanda ́s art scene. Kia Henda participated in several residency programs in cities such as Venice, Cape Town, Paris, Amman and Sharjah, New York and Arles.
Kia Henda´s selected solo exhibitions includes Something Happen on the Way to Heaven, at Museo di Arte di Nuoro (2020), The Isle of Venus at Museum of Leuven in Leuven (2020), A City Called Mirage at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York (2017), In the Days of a Dark Safari at Galeria Filomena Soares in Lisbon and Goodman Gallery in Cape Town (2017) and Self-Portrait As A White Man at Galleria Fonti in Naples (2010).
Kia Henda has participated in group exhibitions at numerous institutions, amongst which Barbican Art Center in Lonodon (2020), Migros Museum in Zurich (2020), Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (2020), Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town (2019), Tate Modern in London (2019), MAAT in Lisbon (2018), the National Museum of African Art – Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. (2015) and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (2015).
His work was shown at the Gwangju Biennale (2018), Bergen Assembly (2013), São Paulo Biennale (2010), Venice Biennale (2007) and the Luanda Triennale (2007). In 2017, Kia Henda received the Frieze Artist Award. He presented his work The Fortress in the Somerset House courtyard (London) in 2019. The artist won Angola’s National Culture and Arts Award in 2012. His work can be found in public collections, including Tate Modern (London), the Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw), Centre George Pompidou (Paris), Pérez Art Museum (Miami) and Coleção de Arte Moderna Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon).
Isle of Venus is a meditation on the socio-psycho and self imposed short sightedness produced by the transformation of cities into theme based museum sites, whether anchored in the romanticism of the Renaissance or in the gritty appeal of the medieval.
Isle of Venus is a site specific installation by Kiluanji Kia Henda conceptualized during the artists sojourn in Florence as a reflection on the city, its history and its relationship to transitory people whether tourists or other seemingly impermanent residents.
Island mentality refers to the notion that isolation and lack of consideration for all beyond one’s borders produces a sense of superiority that is insular in its desensitization. This notion is not reserved for those geographically cut off from others but spills over onto those societies so habitually engaged in establishing the terms, norms, canons, borders and values that they thrive on, that they rarely take notice of the labor intensively constructed fiction or the painstakingly preserved facade.
Isle of Venus is a meditation on the socio-psycho and self imposed short sightedness produced by the transformation of cities into theme based museum sites, whether anchored in the romanticism of the Renaissance or in the gr
Isle of Venus is a site specific installation by Kiluanji Kia Henda conceptualized during the artists sojourn in Florence as a reflection on the city, its history and its relationship to transitory people whether tourists or other seemingly impermanent residents.
Island mentality refers to the notion that isolation and lack of consideration for all beyond one’s borders produces a sense of superiority that is insular in its desensitization. This notion is not reserved for those geographically cut off from others but spills over onto those societies so habitually engaged in establishing the terms, norms, canons, borders and values that they thrive on, that they rarely take notice of the labor intensively constructed fiction or the painstakingly preserved facade.
Isle of Venus is a meditation on the socio-psycho and self imposed short sightedness produced by the transformation of cities into theme based museum sites, whether anchored in the romanticism of the Renaissance or in the gritty appeal of the medieval. Part and parcel of this veneer is the distancing of all things unaligned with, or that effectively, evoke the social underpinnings of this consistent barrage.
Curated by BHMF in collaboration with MAD Murate Art District;
MAD Murate Art District, Sala Anna Banti 03/02-28/02/2021
Black History Month Florence.VI Edizione. OSTINATO
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Artist
Victor Fotso Nyie was born in 1990 in Douala, Cameroon and lives and works in Faenza. In 2018 he attended the Biennium of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. He attended the Istituito Tecnico Superiore Tonito Emiliani / Diploma of Superior Technician for the design and prototyping of ceramic products, Faenza, IT in 2015. His artistic research leads him to explore human variety and beauty, without forgetting a spiritual dimension. He creates works that recall his homeland, Africa, which merge with others that metaphorically describe the globalized world in which we live. He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions including The Armory show, New York city 2020, Stand P420 gallery,(2020), III Biennale d’Arte don Franco Patruno, curated by Gianni Ceroli, Museo MAGI ‘900, Pieve di Cento (BO) (2020).To be going to, curated by Francesca Bertazzoni & Davide Ferri, P420, (2019) In 2020 he participated in the project Research Residency for BHMF, OCAD
Victor Fotso Nyie was born in 1990 in Douala, Cameroon and lives and works in Faenza. In 2018 he attended the Biennium of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. He attended the Istituito Tecnico Superiore Tonito Emiliani / Diploma of Superior Technician for the design and prototyping of ceramic products, Faenza, IT in 2015. His artistic research leads him to explore human variety and beauty, without forgetting a spiritual dimension. He creates works that recall his homeland, Africa, which merge with others that metaphorically describe the globalized world in which we live. He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions including The Armory show, New York city 2020, Stand P420 gallery,(2020), III Biennale d’Arte don Franco Patruno, curated by Gianni Ceroli, Museo MAGI ‘900, Pieve di Cento (BO) (2020).To be going to, curated by Francesca Bertazzoni & Davide Ferri, P420, (2019) In 2020 he participated in the project Research Residency for BHMF, OCAD University, (Florence). Winner of various awards including the Roberto Daolio Prize, 2018 the III Art Biennale Don Franco Patruno, Museo MAGI ‘900, Pieve di Cento (BO), (2019). His next exhibitions include Museo MAGI ‘900, Pieve di Cento (BO), IT (only) (2020) and the Biennale del Mediterraneo, Republic of San Marino (2020).
Artist
Francis Offman (b. 1987, Butare) lives and works in Bologna.
In 2021, Offman took part in a workshop project for Valentino’s Autumn/Winter Haute Couture Show 2021-22.
2022 group shows include: Expressions. The Epilogue, Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Italy; YGI-Group show, United States; The 3 ecologies, MACTE, Italy; The Tending of the Otherwise, Italy as well as the second iteration of Throw the Stone and Hide your Hand at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, France. In 2021, Offman had solo exhibitions at P420 Gallery, Italy; Baleno International, Italy; Herald St | Museum St, United Kingdom and MA*GA Museum, Italy. He also had a two-person show with Christian Offman at The Garage Lab, Italy. Previous group exhibitions include The Geological Viens, Palazzo D’Accursio, Italy; Painting in Person, Castello di Rivoli Museum, Italy; Italy at Frieze, Italian Embassy, United Kingdom; MEDITERRANEA 19 Young Artists Biennale: School of Waters, Republic of San Marino; P
Francis Offman (b. 1987, Butare) lives and works in Bologna.
In 2021, Offman took part in a workshop project for Valentino’s Autumn/Winter Haute Couture Show 2021-22.
2022 group shows include: Expressions. The Epilogue, Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Italy; YGI-Group show, United States; The 3 ecologies, MACTE, Italy; The Tending of the Otherwise, Italy as well as the second iteration of Throw the Stone and Hide your Hand at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, France. In 2021, Offman had solo exhibitions at P420 Gallery, Italy; Baleno International, Italy; Herald St | Museum St, United Kingdom and MA*GA Museum, Italy. He also had a two-person show with Christian Offman at The Garage Lab, Italy. Previous group exhibitions include The Geological Viens, Palazzo D’Accursio, Italy; Painting in Person, Castello di Rivoli Museum, Italy; Italy at Frieze, Italian Embassy, United Kingdom; MEDITERRANEA 19 Young Artists Biennale: School of Waters, Republic of San Marino; Painting Stone, Villa Lontana, Italy; Throw the Stone and Hide your Hand, Murate Art District, Italy (2021); Premio Combat Prize 2020, Giovanni Fattori Civic Museum, Italy; Premio Zucchelli 2019, Zucchelli Foundation, Italy (2020); Open Tour 2019, Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy; Rundgang 2019, Art Academy, Germany, Art White Night, Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy (2019); Decoration between history, nature and poetry, Zucchelli Foundation, Italy; Open Tour, Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy; Rambling rides, distractions from a destination, P420, Italy; Art white Night, Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy; Scrap-Collective, Monumental Complex of Baraccano, Italy; Monsters-phenomena, Monumental Complex of Baraccano, Italy (2018).
Awards received include: Agitu Ideo Gudeta Fellowship – Performance Act Award (2021); Emilia-Romagna Region Award in support and dissemination of Contemporary Art; 9th edition of the Francesco Fabbri Award for Contemporary Arts (finalist); Premio Combat Prize (honourable mention) (2020); Eighth edition of the Francesco Fabbri Award for Contemporary Arts; Zucchelli Prize Scholarship; Tree Time workshop with Massimo Bartolini; Contemporary Minds Prize (finalist) (2019); ArtUp Collectibles Award; Switch The Rules, curated by the Elica and the Ermanno Casoli Foundation (finalist) (2018).
Visual artist
Emmanuel Yoro is an Italian visual artist of Ivorian origin working between Vicenza and Milan. Adopting an artistic practice that embraces collage, design, fashion, graphics and photography, he breaks down into images the questions of the multiple facets of his cultural identity and different nuances of queerness.
An Afro-diasporic sensibility and a raw and monochromatic aesthetic characterize his research and recent artistic production, always in the attempt of a wider redefinition of the self that dwells in the symposium between past and present, between memory and imagination.
Emmanuel Yoro is an Italian visual artist of Ivorian origin working between Vicenza and Milan. Adopting an artistic practice that embraces collage, design, fashion, graphics and photography, he breaks down into images the questions of the multiple facets of his cultural identity and different nuances of queerness.
An Afro-diasporic sensibility and a raw and monochromatic aesthetic characterize his research and recent artistic production, always in the attempt of a wider redefinition of the self that dwells in the symposium between past and present, between memory and imagination.
Artist
Raziel Perin was born in 1992 in the Dominican Republic. He received a BFA in Visual Arts at Naba Milano. Drawing upon his personal experience, mental associations and cultural references, Raziel Perin creates mysterious, unexpected and direct works of art that recall precise moments of clarity and dense memories that evoke the complexity of the process of reconciliation of the diasporic identity freed from Western stereotypes. Perin was born in the hinterland of the Dominican Republic, where he lived until the age of four. In 1996 he moved to Northern Italy with his mother. His artistic production takes shape between two very distant realities, rooted in the need to be accepted as “the Other” and at the same time feeling the duty to suppress the sensitive part of his personal history, which constantly re-emerges. The introspection and reconnection with the echoes of those ancestral bonds that seemed to have been severed in this process of ‘whitening’ are the re
Raziel Perin was born in 1992 in the Dominican Republic. He received a BFA in Visual Arts at Naba Milano. Drawing upon his personal experience, mental associations and cultural references, Raziel Perin creates mysterious, unexpected and direct works of art that recall precise moments of clarity and dense memories that evoke the complexity of the process of reconciliation of the diasporic identity freed from Western stereotypes. Perin was born in the hinterland of the Dominican Republic, where he lived until the age of four. In 1996 he moved to Northern Italy with his mother. His artistic production takes shape between two very distant realities, rooted in the need to be accepted as “the Other” and at the same time feeling the duty to suppress the sensitive part of his personal history, which constantly re-emerges. The introspection and reconnection with the echoes of those ancestral bonds that seemed to have been severed in this process of ‘whitening’ are the result and are channeled into drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations that unite and synthesize a series of recurring elements. His body of work conveys a compelling visual metaphor of the layers of personal memory and cultural history that inform and intensify his experience of the present.
Visual artist
Binta Diaw born in1995 is a Senegalese-Italian visual artist based in Milan, Italy.
Her research is aimed at the creation of installations of various dimensions and works commenting social phenomena like migration and immigration, anthropology as well as her body in relationship with nature and notions of identity. Defying the Western gaze through a subverted reality, her practice questions perceptions of Italianness and Africanness in relation to her own cultural heritage and upbringing.
Embracing visual art with a strongly intersectional, afro-diasporic and feminist methodology based on a physical, personal experience, she is ultimately able to explore the multiple layers of her blackness, her self as a social body and her position as a black woman in a Western context. She studied Fine Arts at the Academy of fine arts of Brera in Milan and obtained a MA at ESAD Grenoble-Valence, in France. In 2018 she moved to Germany for an internship at SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin. In 2020 she de
Binta Diaw born in1995 is a Senegalese-Italian visual artist based in Milan, Italy.
Her research is aimed at the creation of installations of various dimensions and works commenting social phenomena like migration and immigration, anthropology as well as her body in relationship with nature and notions of identity. Defying the Western gaze through a subverted reality, her practice questions perceptions of Italianness and Africanness in relation to her own cultural heritage and upbringing.
Embracing visual art with a strongly intersectional, afro-diasporic and feminist methodology based on a physical, personal experience, she is ultimately able to explore the multiple layers of her blackness, her self as a social body and her position as a black woman in a Western context. She studied Fine Arts at the Academy of fine arts of Brera in Milan and obtained a MA at ESAD Grenoble-Valence, in France. In 2018 she moved to Germany for an internship at SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin. In 2020 she debuted with her first solo show at Galleria Giampaolo Abbondio in Milan.
The works form an invitation towards a collective capacity for developing strategies of resistance but also a critique in relation to the shortsightedness of self-aggrandizing individualism.
Gettare il sasso e nascondere la mano is a collective exhibition dedicated to the artists of the first edition of the YGBI Research Residency developed in collaboration with OCAD and The Student Hotel in February 2020 under the mentorship of Andrea Fatona and Leaf Jerlefia. The residence reflected on spaces of non-performativity, collectivity and the notion of diaspora. Bringing together five Afro-descendant artists under 35 and residing in Italy, the resulting exhibition designed for the cells of Murate Art District embraces a series of narratives that link spirituality to education and colonial history and its materiality to historical activism.
The exhibition is rooted in an experimental approach to the collective sharing of space.
The phrase Gettare il sasso e nascondere la mano (throwing a stone and hiding the hand) was voiced by Cécile Kyenge as a description of a futile attempt at not being held accountable for the enactment of blatant and intentional violence. Her
Gettare il sasso e nascondere la mano is a collective exhibition dedicated to the artists of the first edition of the YGBI Research Residency developed in collaboration with OCAD and The Student Hotel in February 2020 under the mentorship of Andrea Fatona and Leaf Jerlefia. The residence reflected on spaces of non-performativity, collectivity and the notion of diaspora. Bringing together five Afro-descendant artists under 35 and residing in Italy, the resulting exhibition designed for the cells of Murate Art District embraces a series of narratives that link spirituality to education and colonial history and its materiality to historical activism.
The exhibition is rooted in an experimental approach to the collective sharing of space.
The phrase Gettare il sasso e nascondere la mano (throwing a stone and hiding the hand) was voiced by Cécile Kyenge as a description of a futile attempt at not being held accountable for the enactment of blatant and intentional violence. Her’s was a response to the hands hidden in plain sight responsible for social damage and the sustenance of fractured values. This exhibition engages the socio-spiritual obstinacy that recognizes the obvious yet is cognizant of each of us as keepers of under-acknowledged agency.
The works form an invitation towards a collective capacity for developing strategies of resistance but also a critique in relation to the shortsightedness of self-aggrandizing individualism. The project comes in the wake of a series of solo exhibitions that were held at the MAGA Museum within the research project The Recovery Plan that was put on pause by the second phase of lockdowns in Fall of 2020 which is accompanied by five monographic online volumes each on dedicated to one of the artists involved.
Curated by Black History Month Florence
In collaboration with Murate Art District
MAD Murate Art District, celle, piano 1
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Anthropologist and doctor
Simao Amista is an anthropologist and doctor of Italian-Afro-Brazilian descent. A scholar of African and Afro-descendent religions and spiritual philosophies, he has been working for years in the field of hospitality and education.
Simao Amista is an anthropologist and doctor of Italian-Afro-Brazilian descent. A scholar of African and Afro-descendent religions and spiritual philosophies, he has been working for years in the field of hospitality and education.
Giornalista di moda e cultura e direttore creativo
Patrick Joël Tatcheda Yonkeu was born in Cameroon in 1985, lives and works in Bologna. He moved to Italy in 2009 where he obtained a scholarship for the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and obtained a Master’s degree in Visual Arts in 2016 with a research project on the theme of Zen in the arts. His interest in metaphysics remains the basis of his practice, which concerns the relationship between human beings and nature and our place in the universe, and he searches for forms of spirituality more suitable for our times. His research is based on the idea of existence as a harmonious flow whose balance must be preserved and often refers to themes of life and death, the visible and the invisible and energy in its infinite forms. He deepens this research through numerous collaborations between Africa and Italy and by creating seminars on intercultural painting with schools and associations in Emilia-Romagna.
Born and raised in Kingston Jamaica, Jordan Anderson is a fashion and cultur
Patrick Joël Tatcheda Yonkeu was born in Cameroon in 1985, lives and works in Bologna. He moved to Italy in 2009 where he obtained a scholarship for the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and obtained a Master’s degree in Visual Arts in 2016 with a research project on the theme of Zen in the arts. His interest in metaphysics remains the basis of his practice, which concerns the relationship between human beings and nature and our place in the universe, and he searches for forms of spirituality more suitable for our times. His research is based on the idea of existence as a harmonious flow whose balance must be preserved and often refers to themes of life and death, the visible and the invisible and energy in its infinite forms. He deepens this research through numerous collaborations between Africa and Italy and by creating seminars on intercultural painting with schools and associations in Emilia-Romagna.
Born and raised in Kingston Jamaica, Jordan Anderson is a fashion and culture journalist & creative director who is currently based in Milan. His work often magnifies & explores political themes in and outside the fashion industry including race, gender, sexuality, identity & cultural ethics. He contributes to a variety of publications including Document Journal, Teen Vogue, Vogue Italia, The Face and is currently online editor & editor-at-large for Twin Magazine and nss magazine respectively.
Coffee trainer and coffee expert
Jessica Sartiani is a Florentine coffee trainer and coffee expert. With an Italian father and a mother who is half Filipino and half African-American, it is from her origins that her journey as a woman of coffee starts. As someone trained, operative and attentive to the recent sub-cultures of coffee, she started her work in one of the pioneer coffee shops of this selected product, Ditta Artigianale, ten years ago, studying and discovering all the work that precedes the service in the coffee shop, giving importance to the producing countries. Her experience evolved with the opening of the first Speciality coffee in Italy, dealing with the training of baristas and customers. She has participated in various competitions such as the Brewers cup, to improve her contact with the public and enrich her background, and has been part of training projects in Honduras, Lithuania and several local coffee start-ups.
Jessica Sartiani is a Florentine coffee trainer and coffee expert. With an Italian father and a mother who is half Filipino and half African-American, it is from her origins that her journey as a woman of coffee starts. As someone trained, operative and attentive to the recent sub-cultures of coffee, she started her work in one of the pioneer coffee shops of this selected product, Ditta Artigianale, ten years ago, studying and discovering all the work that precedes the service in the coffee shop, giving importance to the producing countries. Her experience evolved with the opening of the first Speciality coffee in Italy, dealing with the training of baristas and customers. She has participated in various competitions such as the Brewers cup, to improve her contact with the public and enrich her background, and has been part of training projects in Honduras, Lithuania and several local coffee start-ups.
Artist
Alexis Peskine’s signature works are large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ of the African diaspora, which are rendered by hammering nails of different gauge, with pin-point accuracy, into wood stained with coffee and mud. By applying gold leaf to the nails he creates breathtaking composite images. He depicts figures that portray strength and perseverance, with energy reminiscent of the spiritually charged Minkisi ‘power figures’ of the Congo Basin. He also produces striking photography and video works.
After a 2016 showing at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, Peskine had his first solo exhibition at October Gallery in 2017, with major exposure at international art fairs with the Gallery in the following years. Alongside this in 2016, Institut Francais, Dakar, Senegal held Raft of Medusa: Le retour de la vague, a solo exhibition of Peskine’s works. In 2018, his works were featured in the exhibition In Their Own Form at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Alexis Peskine’s signature works are large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ of the African diaspora, which are rendered by hammering nails of different gauge, with pin-point accuracy, into wood stained with coffee and mud. By applying gold leaf to the nails he creates breathtaking composite images. He depicts figures that portray strength and perseverance, with energy reminiscent of the spiritually charged Minkisi ‘power figures’ of the Congo Basin. He also produces striking photography and video works.
After a 2016 showing at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, Peskine had his first solo exhibition at October Gallery in 2017, with major exposure at international art fairs with the Gallery in the following years. Alongside this in 2016, Institut Francais, Dakar, Senegal held Raft of Medusa: Le retour de la vague, a solo exhibition of Peskine’s works. In 2018, his works were featured in the exhibition In Their Own Form at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and Africa House’s Second Generation exhibition in New York. He has been the recipient of many prestigious prizes including a Fulbright scholarship and Hennessy Black Masters Art Competition award. In the past decade, Peskine has worked with inner-city youth in France, Senegal and Brazil to create a number of monumental pieces, the largest of which was produced in France in 2012. Major museums and collectors including Peggy Cooper Cafritz; Laurence Graff OBE; the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, USA; The Harvard Art Fogg Museum, Cambridge, USA; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA; and Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), Chicago, USA, have collected Peskine’s works.
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A cura di BHMF in collaborazione con BHMBo, MAD, Numeroventi, Villa Romana e October Gallery
In preparazione alla 6a edizione del Black History Month Florence, la residenza e la mostra di Alexis Peskine sono organizzate da BHMF in collaborazione con Murate Art District, Numeroventi, Villa Romana, October Gallery e Black History Month Bologna.
Il progetto supporta l’artista nello sviluppo di una nuova serie di opere in dialogo con la storia afroitaliana. Peskine utilizzerà uno studio presso Murate Art District dal 4 gennaio al 4 febbraio 2020. Le opere risultanti saranno esposte in una mostra a Villa Romana nell’ambito della 6a edizione del Black History Month Florence.
Le opere più emblematiche di Alexis Peskine sono ritratti monumentali a tecnica mista, della diaspora africana, resi attraverso il martellamento di chiodi di diversa misura, con precisione millimetrica, su legno macchiato di caffè e fango. Applicando la foglia d’oro ai chiodi, l’artista crea immagini composite. Ritrae figure di forza e perseveranza, la cui energia ricorda le “figure
In preparazione alla 6a edizione del Black History Month Florence, la residenza e la mostra di Alexis Peskine sono organizzate da BHMF in collaborazione con Murate Art District, Numeroventi, Villa Romana, October Gallery e Black History Month Bologna.
Il progetto supporta l’artista nello sviluppo di una nuova serie di opere in dialogo con la storia afroitaliana. Peskine utilizzerà uno studio presso Murate Art District dal 4 gennaio al 4 febbraio 2020. Le opere risultanti saranno esposte in una mostra a Villa Romana nell’ambito della 6a edizione del Black History Month Florence.
Le opere più emblematiche di Alexis Peskine sono ritratti monumentali a tecnica mista, della diaspora africana, resi attraverso il martellamento di chiodi di diversa misura, con precisione millimetrica, su legno macchiato di caffè e fango. Applicando la foglia d’oro ai chiodi, l’artista crea immagini composite. Ritrae figure di forza e perseveranza, la cui energia ricorda le “figure di potere” di Minkisi del bacino del Congo, con la loro carica spirituale.
Anche le sue opere video e fotografiche sono sorprendenti.
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Photographer
Adji Dieye is an ItaloSenegalese photographer born in Milan in 1991. She graduated in New Technologies for Art at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan. Over the past years she has been traveling between Milan and Dakar, focusing her research on the influence of advertisement in the African visual culture. Her work explores different facets of West African societies; the influence of advertising in the construction of a national identity and the syncretic spirituality that remains central to African communities.
Adji Dieye’s artistic practice pushes the boundaries of photography in an attempt to investigate the archetypes that constitute African visual cultures. In her research, the continent is never considered an end in itself; instead, it represents a bridge towards further investigations into broader social and geopolitical realities.
Adji Dieye is an ItaloSenegalese photographer born in Milan in 1991. She graduated in New Technologies for Art at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan. Over the past years she has been traveling between Milan and Dakar, focusing her research on the influence of advertisement in the African visual culture. Her work explores different facets of West African societies; the influence of advertising in the construction of a national identity and the syncretic spirituality that remains central to African communities.
Adji Dieye’s artistic practice pushes the boundaries of photography in an attempt to investigate the archetypes that constitute African visual cultures. In her research, the continent is never considered an end in itself; instead, it represents a bridge towards further investigations into broader social and geopolitical realities.
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Visual artist
Born in 1975, Akka, Morocco, he lives and works in Tahanaout next to Marrakech where he teaches art. Using painting, sculpture, drawing or even video, M’barek Bouhchichi develops his work through a tentative language grounded on the exploration of the limits between our internal discourse and its extension towards the outer world, the actual, the other. He places his works at the crossroad between the aesthetic and the social, exploring associated fields as possibilities for self-definition.
Recently, his work has been exhibited as a solo show Les mains noires (Kulte, Rabat, Morocco, 2016), as collective exhibition Documents bilingues (MUCEM, Marseille, France, 2017), as well as Le Maroc contemporain (Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France, 2014), Between walls (Le 18, Marrakech, Morocco, 2017).
Born in 1975, Akka, Morocco, he lives and works in Tahanaout next to Marrakech where he teaches art. Using painting, sculpture, drawing or even video, M’barek Bouhchichi develops his work through a tentative language grounded on the exploration of the limits between our internal discourse and its extension towards the outer world, the actual, the other. He places his works at the crossroad between the aesthetic and the social, exploring associated fields as possibilities for self-definition.
Recently, his work has been exhibited as a solo show Les mains noires (Kulte, Rabat, Morocco, 2016), as collective exhibition Documents bilingues (MUCEM, Marseille, France, 2017), as well as Le Maroc contemporain (Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France, 2014), Between walls (Le 18, Marrakech, Morocco, 2017).
Black History Month Florence 2020
An exhibition that examines the implementation of social obligations towards dirty work, the shortcomings of cultural assimilation, the silencing of histories and the politics of respectability.
The artists in the exhibition each draw upon experiences of a periods of permanence in Italy that pushes them to engage the cities of Rome, Umbertide, Milan and Florence as sites for cultural production with the need to engage history while not falling victim to it.
Activist Pape Diaw, in a 2013 interview spoke of “…sporcarsi le mani per fare un lavoro pulito “, literally getting our hands dirty to do a clean job. This contradiction is at the core of a social context where dirty work is engaged in to maintain a status governed by the politics of respectability and social policing.
The exhibition, curated by Black History Month Florence, as part of the 5th edition of BHMF, in collaboration with Villa Romana (Florence), Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Umbertide) and Galleria Continua (San Gim
An exhibition that examines the implementation of social obligations towards dirty work, the shortcomings of cultural assimilation, the silencing of histories and the politics of respectability.
The artists in the exhibition each draw upon experiences of a periods of permanence in Italy that pushes them to engage the cities of Rome, Umbertide, Milan and Florence as sites for cultural production with the need to engage history while not falling victim to it.
Activist Pape Diaw, in a 2013 interview spoke of “…sporcarsi le mani per fare un lavoro pulito “, literally getting our hands dirty to do a clean job. This contradiction is at the core of a social context where dirty work is engaged in to maintain a status governed by the politics of respectability and social policing.
The exhibition, curated by Black History Month Florence, as part of the 5th edition of BHMF, in collaboration with Villa Romana (Florence), Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Umbertide) and Galleria Continua (San Gimignano), presents the work of 6 international artists who have used the Italian context as a place of artistic production. A series of transversal works leads to a reworking of stereotyped notions of Made in Italy that tend to exclude Afro-descendents, revealing colonial attitudes and inviting and breaking preconceptions.
An insistence on personal narratives as an override to the flattened projections of Blackness, the construction of bridges between a colonial past and a neo-colonial contemporary reality and the ethereality of monumentality all infuse these works with a meditation on the past as a marker of what’s to come.
Together they form a harmonic melody that is discordant with the prescribed, centralized, consumed narrative but finds just enough alignment to relay its power to enrich the age-old tune
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Photographer, video artist, performer
Sasha Huber (CH/FI) is a visual artist of Swiss-Haitian heritage, born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1975. She lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. Huber’s work is primarily concerned with the politics of memory and belonging, particularly in relation to colonial residue left in the environment. Sensitive to the subtle threads connecting history and the present, she uses and responds to archival material within a layered creative practice that encompasses performance-based interventions, video, photography, and collaborations. Huber is also claiming the compressed-air staple gun, aware of its symbolic significance as a weapon, while offering the potential to renegotiate unequal power dynamics. She is known for her artistic research contribution to the Demounting Louis Agassiz campaign, aiming at dismantling the glaciologist’s lesser-known but contentious racist heritage. This long-term project (since 2008) has been concerned with unearthing and redressing the little-known history
Sasha Huber (CH/FI) is a visual artist of Swiss-Haitian heritage, born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1975. She lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. Huber’s work is primarily concerned with the politics of memory and belonging, particularly in relation to colonial residue left in the environment. Sensitive to the subtle threads connecting history and the present, she uses and responds to archival material within a layered creative practice that encompasses performance-based interventions, video, photography, and collaborations. Huber is also claiming the compressed-air staple gun, aware of its symbolic significance as a weapon, while offering the potential to renegotiate unequal power dynamics. She is known for her artistic research contribution to the Demounting Louis Agassiz campaign, aiming at dismantling the glaciologist’s lesser-known but contentious racist heritage. This long-term project (since 2008) has been concerned with unearthing and redressing the little-known history and cultural legacies of the Swiss-born naturalist and glaciologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), an influential proponent of “scientific” racism who advocated for segregation and “racial hygiene”. Huber has had solo exhibitions such as at the Hasselblad Foundation (Project Room) in Gothenburg and participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the 56th la Biennale di Venezia in 2015 (collateral exhibition: Frontier Reimagined), the 19th Biennale of Sydney in 2014, and in the 29th Biennial of São Paulo in 2010.
Photographer
Delio Jasse was born in 1980 in Luanda, Angola and lives and works in Milan. In his photographic work, he often interweaves found images with clues from past lives (found passport photos, family albums) to draw links between photography – in particular the concept of the ‘latent image’ – and memory.
Jasse is also known for experimenting with analogue photographic printing processes, including cyanotype, platinum and early printing processes such as ‘Van Dyke Brown’, as well as developing his own printing techniques.
Recent exhibitions include: MAXXI, Rome (2018); Villa Romana, Florence (2018); Biennale dell’immagine, Lugano (solo, 2017); Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm (2017); SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2017); Bamako Encounters, Bamako (2017); Lagos Biennial, Lagos (2017); Tiwani Contemporary, London (solo, 2016); Walther Collection Project Space, NY (2016); Dak’art Biennale international exhibition (2016); and the Angolan Pavilion, 56th Venice
Delio Jasse was born in 1980 in Luanda, Angola and lives and works in Milan. In his photographic work, he often interweaves found images with clues from past lives (found passport photos, family albums) to draw links between photography – in particular the concept of the ‘latent image’ – and memory.
Jasse is also known for experimenting with analogue photographic printing processes, including cyanotype, platinum and early printing processes such as ‘Van Dyke Brown’, as well as developing his own printing techniques.
Recent exhibitions include: MAXXI, Rome (2018); Villa Romana, Florence (2018); Biennale dell’immagine, Lugano (solo, 2017); Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm (2017); SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2017); Bamako Encounters, Bamako (2017); Lagos Biennial, Lagos (2017); Tiwani Contemporary, London (solo, 2016); Walther Collection Project Space, NY (2016); Dak’art Biennale international exhibition (2016); and the Angolan Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale (2015). He was one of three finalists in the BES Photo Prize (2014) and won the Iwalewa Art Award in 2015.
Video artist, director
Amelia Umuhire, born 1991 in Kigali Rwanda, lives as an artist and filmmaker in Berlin. In 2015 she wrote and filmed her first web series, Polyglot, in which she follows young deracinated London- and Berlin-based Rwandese artists with her camera. The series has been shown at numerous festivals, including the Festival D’Angers, the Tribeca Film Festival and the Geneva International Film Festival, where it was named Best International Web Series in 2015. Her short film Mugabo is an experimental short film set in Kigali. It explores the question of how to return to one´s homeland and how to deal with the past. In 2017 it was awarded Best Experimental Film at the Blackstar Film Festival and is currently touring festivals in North America and amongst others screened at MOCA Los Angeles, the MCA Chicago, the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Smithsonian African American Film Festival. In 2018 Amelia Umuhire produced the radio feature Vaterland for the German radio station Deutschlandfun
Amelia Umuhire, born 1991 in Kigali Rwanda, lives as an artist and filmmaker in Berlin. In 2015 she wrote and filmed her first web series, Polyglot, in which she follows young deracinated London- and Berlin-based Rwandese artists with her camera. The series has been shown at numerous festivals, including the Festival D’Angers, the Tribeca Film Festival and the Geneva International Film Festival, where it was named Best International Web Series in 2015. Her short film Mugabo is an experimental short film set in Kigali. It explores the question of how to return to one´s homeland and how to deal with the past. In 2017 it was awarded Best Experimental Film at the Blackstar Film Festival and is currently touring festivals in North America and amongst others screened at MOCA Los Angeles, the MCA Chicago, the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Smithsonian African American Film Festival. In 2018 Amelia Umuhire produced the radio feature Vaterland for the German radio station Deutschlandfunk Kultur. It tells the story of her father Innocent Seminega as a young student, teacher, husband and father until his death at the hands of the Hutu extremists. In February this year Umuhire had her first solo exhibition at Decad Berlin.
Fotografo, video artista, scultore
Nari Ward (nato nel 1963 a St. Andrew, Giamaica; vive e lavora a New York) è noto per le sue installazioni scultoree composte da materiale di scarto trovato e raccolto nel suo quartiere. Ha riutilizzato oggetti come passeggini, carrelli della spesa, bottiglie, porte, televisori, registratori di cassa e lacci delle scarpe.
Ward ricontestualizza questi oggetti trovati in giustapposizioni stimolanti che creano significati metaforici complessi per affrontare questioni sociali e politiche che circondano la razza, la povertà e la cultura del consumo. Lascia intenzionalmente aperto il significato del suo lavoro, consentendo allo spettatore di fornire la propria interpretazione.
Mostre personali del suo lavoro sono state organizzate presso l’Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2017); SocratesSculpture Park, New York (2017); The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (2016); Pérez Art Museum Miami (2015); Savannah College of Art e Design Museum of Art, Savannah, GA (2015); Museo d’ar
Nari Ward (nato nel 1963 a St. Andrew, Giamaica; vive e lavora a New York) è noto per le sue installazioni scultoree composte da materiale di scarto trovato e raccolto nel suo quartiere. Ha riutilizzato oggetti come passeggini, carrelli della spesa, bottiglie, porte, televisori, registratori di cassa e lacci delle scarpe.
Ward ricontestualizza questi oggetti trovati in giustapposizioni stimolanti che creano significati metaforici complessi per affrontare questioni sociali e politiche che circondano la razza, la povertà e la cultura del consumo. Lascia intenzionalmente aperto il significato del suo lavoro, consentendo allo spettatore di fornire la propria interpretazione.
Mostre personali del suo lavoro sono state organizzate presso l’Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2017); SocratesSculpture Park, New York (2017); The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (2016); Pérez Art Museum Miami (2015); Savannah College of Art e Design Museum of Art, Savannah, GA (2015); Museo d’arte della Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (2014); The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (2011); Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA (2011); Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2002); e Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2001, 2000).
Artista e Direttore Black History Month Florence | Residenza d'artista e Mostra 2020
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Justin Randolph Thompson, co-founder and director Black History Month Florence
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Justin Randolph Thompson, co-founder and director Black History Month Florence
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Justin Randolph Thompson, co-founder and director Black History Month Florence
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Justin Randolph Thompson, co-founder and director Black History Month Florence
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Justin Randolph Thompson, co-founder and director Black History Month Florence
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Janine Gaëlle Dieudji su M'Barek Bouhchichi
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Janine Gaelle Dieudji about Adji Dieye
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Janine Gaelle Dieudji about Delio Jasse
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Black History Month Florence 2020
A Villa Romana project in collaboration with Black History Month Florence
Black Archive Alliance brings an unusual perspective to Florence: that of nine students searching for signs of an African presence in the city. The project, which resulted from the collaboration between the Villa Romana and Black History Month Florence and which is now in its second edition, interweaves different areas and time periods. The narratives that emerged from this excavation exercise are fragments of a little-known, if not completely unknown Florence and its political, social and economic entanglements with Africa, Africans and the Diaspora since the 15th century.
The work ranges from research centres par excellence, such as the Biblioteca Laurenziana and the Archivio del Risorgimento, to study centres known mainly to specialists, such as the Istituto Agronomico dell’Oltremare (now one of the headquarters of the Italian Agency for International Cooperation) and the Istituto Geografico Militare, to pri
A Villa Romana project in collaboration with Black History Month Florence
Black Archive Alliance brings an unusual perspective to Florence: that of nine students searching for signs of an African presence in the city. The project, which resulted from the collaboration between the Villa Romana and Black History Month Florence and which is now in its second edition, interweaves different areas and time periods. The narratives that emerged from this excavation exercise are fragments of a little-known, if not completely unknown Florence and its political, social and economic entanglements with Africa, Africans and the Diaspora since the 15th century.
The work ranges from research centres par excellence, such as the Biblioteca Laurenziana and the Archivio del Risorgimento, to study centres known mainly to specialists, such as the Istituto Agronomico dell’Oltremare (now one of the headquarters of the Italian Agency for International Cooperation) and the Istituto Geografico Militare, to private collections in Palazzo Pitti with the treasure of the Grand Dukes. The second edition of Black Archive Alliance was carried out as a tutoring format with teachers and scholars in tandem with students, guiding their research. The project collaborated with scholars from Università degli Studi Firenze, Studio Arts College International, NYU Florence, Villa I Tatti, Syracuse University Florence, Santa Reparata International School of Art and ISI Florence.
The exhibition at Murate Art District presents a selection of the research results and links to the exhibition format of Black Archive Alliance’s first edition, which used information stands at various locations and institutions in the city to reveal the unknown or forgotten stories of moments of contact and encounters between Florence and Africa.
Curated by Justin Randolph Thompson, BHMF and Agnes Stillger, Villa Romana
Musicista
Dudù Kouate – percussionista, musicista e mediatore culturale – nasce in Senegal da famiglia di Griot, cantori incaricati di portare avanti le storie del loro popolo, conservatori della tradizione culturale e musicale africana. Musicista polistrumentista, interpreta la tradizione in chiave moderna e multiculturale. Vive a Bergamo dove insegna percussioni africane; tiene seminari sulla storia degli strumenti tradizionali africani cercando di tracciare i confini territoriali delle popolazioni; incontra le scuole con interventi di divulgazione della tradizione culturale africana attraverso racconti di fiabe musicate ed esperienze musicali trasversali. Musicista versatile ed eclettico, conduce una ricerca costante sul suono (sound of elements) per esperienze sempre nuove nel mondo della musica.
Dudù Kouate – percussionista, musicista e mediatore culturale – nasce in Senegal da famiglia di Griot, cantori incaricati di portare avanti le storie del loro popolo, conservatori della tradizione culturale e musicale africana. Musicista polistrumentista, interpreta la tradizione in chiave moderna e multiculturale. Vive a Bergamo dove insegna percussioni africane; tiene seminari sulla storia degli strumenti tradizionali africani cercando di tracciare i confini territoriali delle popolazioni; incontra le scuole con interventi di divulgazione della tradizione culturale africana attraverso racconti di fiabe musicate ed esperienze musicali trasversali. Musicista versatile ed eclettico, conduce una ricerca costante sul suono (sound of elements) per esperienze sempre nuove nel mondo della musica.
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Black History Month Florence 2019
Murate Artlab
Liuteria selvaggia. La scoperta degli oggetti abbandonati
Uno strumento musicale è un oggetto che produce suoni, tesi a esprimere sensazioni, pensieri, sentimenti; e proprio per questo l’essere umano non ha mai smesso di percuotere, strofinare, pizzicare e soffiare in oggetti trovati o inventati. Con le finalità di proporre la musica come un terreno in cui tutte le culture si fondono, di stimolare la creatività e l’intuizione, ma anche di sensibilizzare al recupero e degli oggetti abbandonati in un’ottica di sostenibilità per l’ambiente e per il futuro, il nuovo appuntamento firmato da Dudù Kouate ha proposto ai ragazzi di dare vita a strumenti musicali nuovi, generati da materiali non concepiti per tale scopo, e di suonarli insieme andando a costruire un’inedita sinfonia collettiva.
Il laboratorio, proposto da MUS.E e MAD Murate Art District sabato 2 marzo 2019 nell’ambito del Black History Month Firenze 2019, ha offerto così l’occasione di esplorare come co
Liuteria selvaggia. La scoperta degli oggetti abbandonati
Uno strumento musicale è un oggetto che produce suoni, tesi a esprimere sensazioni, pensieri, sentimenti; e proprio per questo l’essere umano non ha mai smesso di percuotere, strofinare, pizzicare e soffiare in oggetti trovati o inventati. Con le finalità di proporre la musica come un terreno in cui tutte le culture si fondono, di stimolare la creatività e l’intuizione, ma anche di sensibilizzare al recupero e degli oggetti abbandonati in un’ottica di sostenibilità per l’ambiente e per il futuro, il nuovo appuntamento firmato da Dudù Kouate ha proposto ai ragazzi di dare vita a strumenti musicali nuovi, generati da materiali non concepiti per tale scopo, e di suonarli insieme andando a costruire un’inedita sinfonia collettiva.
Il laboratorio, proposto da MUS.E e MAD Murate Art District sabato 2 marzo 2019 nell’ambito del Black History Month Firenze 2019, ha offerto così l’occasione di esplorare come convenzioni e canoni possano essere superati offrendo una seconda vita a oggetti di scarto, avvicinandosi nello stesso tempo a tecniche, approcci e formati di una musica creativa che guarda al jazz, all’improvvisazione e alla percussione. Dopo aver individuato gli opportuni materiali, quindi, questi sono stati trasformati per diventare veri e propri strumenti musicali, indagandone le sonorità possibili e definendo quelle più adeguate. Gli strumenti hanno permesso poi di lavorare su una composizione musicale collettiva, costruendo insieme ai partecipanti un’esperienza di creatività polidisciplinare e multiculturale.
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Installation artist
Olivier is known for large-scale installations which provoke a disruption of public and private spaces. Familiar forms, altered in function and medium, create uncanny meditations on stagnancy, division and the weight of materiality. Her installations explore the poetics of space and the role of the viewers in shaping their own experience and engagement.
Olivier is known for large-scale installations which provoke a disruption of public and private spaces. Familiar forms, altered in function and medium, create uncanny meditations on stagnancy, division and the weight of materiality. Her installations explore the poetics of space and the role of the viewers in shaping their own experience and engagement.
Because time in this place does not obey an order - Black History Month Florence 2019
Curated by BHMF With the partnership of MAD Murate Art District
In collaboration with: Boomker Sound Studios Syracuse University Florence SRISA Vivaio Il Giardiniere Antonella Bundu Chris Norcross
And we can no longer breathe And we can no longer see But, in the escape compagno In the fear, compagno Like in the fight, compagno I will be forever by your side
Collettivo Victor Jara, Le Murate
These were the words written and sung by the musical collective Victor Jara days after the 1974 revolt at le Murate jails. Protest against unfit living conditions and oppressive forces are frequent in sites which separate, either willingly or by force, social groups from the world that surrounds them. The socio-spiritual nature of what is just and human worth is at the root of contemplation in isolation. These feelings originated from the artist’s encounter with Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea, they led the project. For the occasion of the fourth edition of Black History Month Florence
Curated by BHMF With the partnership of MAD Murate Art District
In collaboration with: Boomker Sound Studios Syracuse University Florence SRISA Vivaio Il Giardiniere Antonella Bundu Chris Norcross
And we can no longer breathe And we can no longer see But, in the escape compagno In the fear, compagno Like in the fight, compagno I will be forever by your side
Collettivo Victor Jara, Le Murate
These were the words written and sung by the musical collective Victor Jara days after the 1974 revolt at le Murate jails. Protest against unfit living conditions and oppressive forces are frequent in sites which separate, either willingly or by force, social groups from the world that surrounds them. The socio-spiritual nature of what is just and human worth is at the root of contemplation in isolation. These feelings originated from the artist’s encounter with Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea, they led the project. For the occasion of the fourth edition of Black History Month Florence current Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome Karyn Olivier presents Because Time In This Place Does Not Obey An Order, a series of site specific installations that grapple with the relationship between justice and spirituality. The works engage the history of Le Murate and its transition from a site of spiritual recluse to a carceral space sifting through the continuity and contrast that these histories evoke. Mental health, social critique, isolation, the closeting of history and the conflation of senses set cloistered gardens in dialogue with the steady words of Martin Luther King Jr. writing from a jail cell and reveal traces of life behind closed doors which claims universal rights.
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Artista e Direttore Black History Month Florence | Residenza d'artista e Mostra 2019
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Fumettista e scrittore
Lucio Ruvidotti, is a young author active in the world of self-productions and on the page of the weekly Pagina99, his recent book portrays “The Prince of Darkness” in a biographical novel full of rhythms, colors and experimentation that gives natural evolution to an icon of the BD Rock necklace.
Lucio Ruvidotti, is a young author active in the world of self-productions and on the page of the weekly Pagina99, his recent book portrays “The Prince of Darkness” in a biographical novel full of rhythms, colors and experimentation that gives natural evolution to an icon of the BD Rock necklace.
Miles. Assolo a fumetti - Black History Month Florence 2019
Miles Davis is one of the most iconic figures of Jazz history. His biography is one of complex evolution and artistic persistance. In many ways jazz is often far removed from the appreciation of younger generations and the magic of its expansion of sound and cultural impact are hence too frequently lost. This exhibition takes on the form of the comic book in order to narrate the life and times of Davis and the impulses behind some of his compositions which have gone on to become jazz standards. Lucio Ruvidotti transformed a love for jazz into a comic book that invites the viewer to an intimate look at this artist and celebrates the impact that he has had on the world of music. These works engage an audience that spans generations bringing this figure to the forefront, as Ruvidotti explains himself:
“I tried to tell story of this figure, the prince of darkness, the great artist, taking advantage of some episodes of his exuberant exaggerated life. But above all the goal was to show, th
Miles Davis is one of the most iconic figures of Jazz history. His biography is one of complex evolution and artistic persistance. In many ways jazz is often far removed from the appreciation of younger generations and the magic of its expansion of sound and cultural impact are hence too frequently lost. This exhibition takes on the form of the comic book in order to narrate the life and times of Davis and the impulses behind some of his compositions which have gone on to become jazz standards. Lucio Ruvidotti transformed a love for jazz into a comic book that invites the viewer to an intimate look at this artist and celebrates the impact that he has had on the world of music. These works engage an audience that spans generations bringing this figure to the forefront, as Ruvidotti explains himself:
“I tried to tell story of this figure, the prince of darkness, the great artist, taking advantage of some episodes of his exuberant exaggerated life. But above all the goal was to show, through the language of comics, his music, incredibly evolved from the forties to the nineties.”
The comic strip released in 2018 by Edizioni BD tells the story through eight chapters entitled with the names of some of his most important compositions. Each part of the book is also distinguished by a different use of the color and composition of the table. Alongside the original drawings made by the artist, the exhibition shows a series of cartoon prints, accompanied by the music of Miles Davis that pervades the Emeroteca delle Murate room.
Mira a fornire la scintilla fondamentale per la ricerca futura in questo campo per rimediare allo stato di amnesia che isola la presenza diasporica africana nella città e nel paese come fenomeno esclusivamente contemporaneo
Black Archive Alliance
Villa Romana in the context of Cantiere Toscana, in collaboration with BHMF
Objectives
Present archival materials in sites throughout the city broadening the access to the findings Highlight histories that have frequently been omitted from local memory Provide the foundational spark for future research in this field Remedy the state of amnesia that isolates African and African Diasporic presence in the city and country as an exclusively contemporary phenomenon Highlight the research and researchers who have already been doing this work Produce texts and photographic exhibition materials that can later be re-installed as educational resources.
Colonial Postcards and Landscape architecture
MAD Murate Art District (Emeroteca) 5:30 pm Presentation of the project dedicated to Colonial Postcards from Italian editors and Stamps from the Poste Italiane with the research of the Students of Angelica Pesarini’s Black Italia class at New York University Florence togethe
Black Archive Alliance
Villa Romana in the context of Cantiere Toscana, in collaboration with BHMF
Objectives
Present archival materials in sites throughout the city broadening the access to the findings Highlight histories that have frequently been omitted from local memory Provide the foundational spark for future research in this field Remedy the state of amnesia that isolates African and African Diasporic presence in the city and country as an exclusively contemporary phenomenon Highlight the research and researchers who have already been doing this work Produce texts and photographic exhibition materials that can later be re-installed as educational resources.
Colonial Postcards and Landscape architecture
MAD Murate Art District (Emeroteca) 5:30 pm Presentation of the project dedicated to Colonial Postcards from Italian editors and Stamps from the Poste Italiane with the research of the Students of Angelica Pesarini’s Black Italia class at New York University Florence together with the presentation of an artistic project dedicated to Colonial Botanical Gardens by Michele Dantini.
Landscape architecture. African city parks and botanical gardens by Michele Dantini
For Black Archive Alliance Michele Dantini presents a research rooted in various international archives that investigates African botanical gardens, their colonial conception and their meaning today. The history of African city parks and botanical gardens is interwoven with State political or social vicissitudes, colonization and de-colonization processes, the establishment of new nations, and, in varying ways, with the history of agriculture and the forest. Above all, it is interwoven with a fantasy that is deeply inscribed in the European colonial imagination, that of an African Eden designed for hunting and timeless emotions, and – with the norms, demarcations and prohibitions that led to the creation of natural parks and protected areas – made inaccessible to local populations.
Preparing a Recovery Plan
MAD Murate Art District6 pm
Preparing a Recovery Plan_Artist Screening of artists working with the archive as form and context with videos by: Lerato Shadi, Kevin Jerome Everson e Alessandra Ferrini (with presence of artists)
Sites/Sources/Projects
Biblioteca Marucelliana, Via Camillo Cavour, 43, 50129 Florence; 8.30 am – 6.30 pm
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Piazza San Lorenzo 9, 50123 Florence; 9.30 am -1.30 pm
British Institute of Florence/ Harold Acton Library, Lungarno Guicciardini 9, 50125 Florence; 10 am – 6 pm
Mediateca Toscana, Via San Gallo 25, 50129 Florence; 10 am – 1 pm / 2 – 7 pm
Centro Studi La Pira, Via dei Pescioni 3, 50123 Florence, 9 am – 7 pm
Fondazione Santa Maria Nuova, Piazza Santa Maria Nuova 1, 50122 Florence; 10 am-1 pm / 3 – 7 pm
SACI/ Worthington Library, Palazzo dei Cartelloni, Via Sant Antonio 11, 50123 Florence; 9 am – 9 pm
Syracuse University Florence/ Syracuse Florence Library, Piazza Fra’ Girolamo Savonarola 15, 50132 Florence; 9 am -1.30 pm / 3 – 8 pm
The other spaces are visitable in their opening hours. We invite the public to pass by the sites to see the shows and collect the pages of the catalogue dedicated to each individual archive free of charge.
Villa Romana, as part of the Cantiere Toscana project, supported by the Region of Tuscany – Toscanaincontemporanea2018 and in collaboration with BHMF, is organizing a series of mini-exhibitions, tours and presentations based on private and public archives, collections and libraries throughout Florence with holdings that reflect the realities and histories of African and African Diasporic people and their representation. This series of shows from the 27th-29th of November creates a virtual map of this archival presence in the city. A resulting catalogue intends to assist future research while providing insight to people who visit the range of spaces dislocated throughout Florence and beyond with which we are in collaboration.
Artist, researcher, educator
Alessandra Ferrini is a London-based artist, researcher and educator. Her practice is rooted in lens-based media, postcolonial theory, memory and critical whiteness studies, historiographical and archival practices. Experimenting with the expansion and hybridization of the documentary film, she interrogates the enduring legacies of colonialism and Fascism with a specific interest in the past and present network of relations between Italy, the Mediterranean region and the African continent. She has exhibited internationally, including at: Casablanca Biennal (2021); Manifesta 13 Paralléles du Sud Marseille (2020); Villa Romana (solo show 2019); Depo Istanbul Biennal Collaterale (2019); Lagos Biennal (2019); Sharjah Foundation Film Platform (2019); Manifesta 12 Film Programme (2018).
Alessandra Ferrini is a London-based artist, researcher and educator. Her practice is rooted in lens-based media, postcolonial theory, memory and critical whiteness studies, historiographical and archival practices. Experimenting with the expansion and hybridization of the documentary film, she interrogates the enduring legacies of colonialism and Fascism with a specific interest in the past and present network of relations between Italy, the Mediterranean region and the African continent. She has exhibited internationally, including at: Casablanca Biennal (2021); Manifesta 13 Paralléles du Sud Marseille (2020); Villa Romana (solo show 2019); Depo Istanbul Biennal Collaterale (2019); Lagos Biennal (2019); Sharjah Foundation Film Platform (2019); Manifesta 12 Film Programme (2018).
Storico dell’arte contemporanea, critico e saggista
Michele Dantini è uno storico dell’arte contemporanea, critico e saggista, insegna all’Università del Piemonte orientale ed è visiting professor presso università nazionali e internazionali. Laureatosi e perfezionatosi (Ph.D.) in storia della filosofia e storia dell’arte presso la Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa; Eberhard Karls Universität, Tubinga; The Courtauld Institute, Londra; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, collabora con i principali musei di arte contemporanea italiani ed è responsabile del Master MAED al Castello di Rivoli. Scrive di arte contemporanea, politiche culturali e dell’innovazione, tecnologia, Rete e digitale. Tra le pubblicazioni recenti Geopolitiche dell’arte italiana. Arte e critica d’arte nel contesto internazionale (Milano 2012); Arte contemporanea, ecologia e sfera pubblica (Roma 2012); Humanities e innovazione sociale (Milano 2012); Apple cosmica. Come le narrazioni fantascientifiche modellano il design e il marketing della Me
Michele Dantini è uno storico dell’arte contemporanea, critico e saggista, insegna all’Università del Piemonte orientale ed è visiting professor presso università nazionali e internazionali. Laureatosi e perfezionatosi (Ph.D.) in storia della filosofia e storia dell’arte presso la Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa; Eberhard Karls Universität, Tubinga; The Courtauld Institute, Londra; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, collabora con i principali musei di arte contemporanea italiani ed è responsabile del Master MAED al Castello di Rivoli. Scrive di arte contemporanea, politiche culturali e dell’innovazione, tecnologia, Rete e digitale. Tra le pubblicazioni recenti Geopolitiche dell’arte italiana. Arte e critica d’arte nel contesto internazionale (Milano 2012); Arte contemporanea, ecologia e sfera pubblica (Roma 2012); Humanities e innovazione sociale (Milano 2012); Apple cosmica. Come le narrazioni fantascientifiche modellano il design e il marketing della Mela (Milano 2012); Horses and other herbivores (Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem 2010). Coautore dei manifesti TQ “università e ricerca” e “patrimonio storico-artistico e ambientale”, è interessato ai temi della diversità culturale e del cosmopolitismo postcoloniale. Il suo Diario Namibiano (e/o, Milano 2003), inchiesta sulle trasformazioni delle abilità tradizionali in Africa australe all’ingresso nel mercato globale condotta in collaborazione con la National Gallery di Windhoek, è stato finalista del premio Paola Biocca|Società Italo Calvino nel 2002. Suoi reportage e fieldworks sono stati presentati alla Fondazione Merz, Torino; CCCS Strozzina, Firenze; Centro di arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato; Centre de la Photographie, Ginevra; MAO, Torino. Collabora a L’Huffington, Alfabeta2, Doppiozero, ROARS, Il giornale dell’arte, il manifesto. Lista degli istituzioni/archivi: Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo, Archivio Enrico Romero, Archivio Leonard Bundu/ David Weiss, Archivio Storico Fratelli Alinari, Biblioteca Marucelliana, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, British Institute of Florence/ Harold Acton Library, Cineteca di Firenze, Collezione Palli, Fondazione La Pira, Fondazione Santa Maria Nuova, Gli Uffizi, Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz, Le Murate Progetti Arte Contemporanea/ MUS.E, New York University Florence/ Villa La Pietra Poste Italiane, SACI/ Worthington Library, Sahara Desert, Syracuse University Florence/ Syracuse Florence Library
Visual Artist
Lerato Shadi lives and works in Berlin. She earned a M.A. (Space Strategies) from Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee in 2018 and she received a B.A. (Visual Art) from University of Johannesburg in 2006. From 2010 to 2012 Shadi was a member of the ‘Bag Factory artist studios’ in Johannesburg. Her work was featured at the Dak’art Biennale and in the III Moscow International Biennale in 2012. She is a fellow of Sommerakademie 2013 (Zentrum Paul Klee). Shadi was awarded with the mart stam studio grant, Berlin in 2014 and received the Alumni Dignitas Award of the University of Johannesburg in 2016. She presented her solo show Noka Ya Bokamoso at the South African National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2016. Shadi participated in The Parliament of Bodies, the Public Programs of documenta 14 and was awarded with the AFRICA’SOUT! residency program (Brooklyn, NY) in 2017. Shadi is fellow of the German Villa Romana Prize in Florence (Italy) for 2018.
Lerato Shadi lives and works in Berlin. She earned a M.A. (Space Strategies) from Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee in 2018 and she received a B.A. (Visual Art) from University of Johannesburg in 2006. From 2010 to 2012 Shadi was a member of the ‘Bag Factory artist studios’ in Johannesburg. Her work was featured at the Dak’art Biennale and in the III Moscow International Biennale in 2012. She is a fellow of Sommerakademie 2013 (Zentrum Paul Klee). Shadi was awarded with the mart stam studio grant, Berlin in 2014 and received the Alumni Dignitas Award of the University of Johannesburg in 2016. She presented her solo show Noka Ya Bokamoso at the South African National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2016. Shadi participated in The Parliament of Bodies, the Public Programs of documenta 14 and was awarded with the AFRICA’SOUT! residency program (Brooklyn, NY) in 2017. Shadi is fellow of the German Villa Romana Prize in Florence (Italy) for 2018.
Artist-filmmaker
Kevin Jerome Everson (born 1965) is an artist working in film, painting, sculpture, and photography. He was born in Mansfield, Ohio and currently resides in Virginia. He holds an MFA from Ohio University, and a BFA from the University of Akron, and is Professor of Art at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Everson’s films frequently depict people working and living in working-class communities. Many of his works focus on the migration of African American communities and individuals from the American South northward in search of work.[1] “Everson rejects the role of cultural explainer in his work, opting instead to place the burden of understanding on the audience and its own labor. In this way, he has carved a place for himself outside both the typical expectations of documentary and the conventions of representational fiction, attempting to work from the materials of the worlds he encounters to create something else.”[2]
Everson frequently empl
Kevin Jerome Everson (born 1965) is an artist working in film, painting, sculpture, and photography. He was born in Mansfield, Ohio and currently resides in Virginia. He holds an MFA from Ohio University, and a BFA from the University of Akron, and is Professor of Art at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Everson’s films frequently depict people working and living in working-class communities. Many of his works focus on the migration of African American communities and individuals from the American South northward in search of work.[1] “Everson rejects the role of cultural explainer in his work, opting instead to place the burden of understanding on the audience and its own labor. In this way, he has carved a place for himself outside both the typical expectations of documentary and the conventions of representational fiction, attempting to work from the materials of the worlds he encounters to create something else.”[2]
Everson frequently employs hand-held camerawork and uses 16mm to create many of his films. His work has been the subject of retrospective screenings at Media City Film Festival (2011), Tate Modern (2017), online at Mubi (2018), and Cinéma du Réel at the Centre Pompidou (2019)
Everson has directed nearly a dozen feature-length films and over 100 short films.
Exhibitions
Everson’s films have been the subject of mid-career retrospectives at the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, Korea (February 2017); Viennale (2014); Visions du Reel, Nyon, Switzerland (2012), The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY and Media City Film Festival (2011) and Centre Pompidou, Paris in 2009. His work has been featured at the 2008, 2012, and 2017 Whitney Biennials, the 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Media City Film Festivals, and the 2013 Sharjah Biennial.
Black History Month Florence 2018
Murate Artlab
Mountaintops is an artistic workshop designed for elementary school children that celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. while pushing participants to dream beyond what they can see and to aspire for what appears out of reach. Drawing upon the 1968 speech in which King states, ”I’ve been to the Mountaintop” the workshop has three intertwined activities that take on the language of sculptural installation and the performance qualities. The workshop involves the creation of a painted 360° mountain landscape, a series of topographic mountains atop wooden posts and the creation of a climbing surface. Reflecting upon Martin Luther King’s legacy, the three elements examine the meaning of dreams and ambition, the importance of leadership and techniques for overcoming obstacles.
From where I stand: Investigating the ideas of creating our own hurdles the first element of the workshop is dedicated to the realization of the freestanding 360 landscape painting. A freestanding series of
Mountaintops is an artistic workshop designed for elementary school children that celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. while pushing participants to dream beyond what they can see and to aspire for what appears out of reach. Drawing upon the 1968 speech in which King states, ”I’ve been to the Mountaintop” the workshop has three intertwined activities that take on the language of sculptural installation and the performance qualities. The workshop involves the creation of a painted 360° mountain landscape, a series of topographic mountains atop wooden posts and the creation of a climbing surface. Reflecting upon Martin Luther King’s legacy, the three elements examine the meaning of dreams and ambition, the importance of leadership and techniques for overcoming obstacles.
From where I stand: Investigating the ideas of creating our own hurdles the first element of the workshop is dedicated to the realization of the freestanding 360 landscape painting. A freestanding series of posts will support a cardboard range of mountaintops cut out and painted by the participants of the workshop. This range will be attached to the top of the supporting posts placing the participants in the center of a small space surrounded by mountains of their own creation. A range of colors will imagine the cool sunrise on one side and the warm sunset on the other. It takes a village: Examining the form of topographic maps, and the symbolic power of staffs this work involves the casting of a small mountain range in plaster that is mounted atop a wooden post to create a staff. Only when all staffs are placed together do we have a mountain range. This element emphasizes the importance of leadership and the simultaneous importance of collaboration and community. The Climb: The last element of the workshop is about overcoming obstacles. It involves the affixing of a series of custom rock climbing holds to a wooden mountain shaped wall and the exploration of climbing this form. A series of rock climbing holds created by the artist are attached to the surface of the mountain each one placed based on the choices of the participants. Once assembled participants climb this wall learning some of the tricks and techniques of rock climbing.
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Artist
Barthélémy Toguo è nato in Camerun nel 1967 e ha studiato Belle Arti ad Abidjan, in Costa d’Avorio. Si è trasferito in Europa nel 1993 e ha iniziato a esibirsi e fare performance mentre terminava i suoi studi a Grenoble (Francia), poi a Dusseldorf (Germania).
La geografia politica e i confini personali sono stati un argomento implicito nel suo lavoro in studio e esplicito nelle sue performance. Da un lato, i suoi acquerelli forniscono un forte impatto visivo, utilizzando un repertorio limitato di immagini e colori per rappresentare un mondo onirico di metamorfosi umane, animali e vegetali. D’altra parte, la realizzazione delle sue installazioni su larga scala è generalmente approssimativa e rapida e sottolinea i conflitti, i paradossi e l’estremismo dell’uomo. Le sue installazioni possono essere visti come un’inversione metaforica dello storico saccheggio dell’Africa subita durante il periodo coloniale.
Toguo ha recentemente tenuto una mostra pe
Barthélémy Toguo è nato in Camerun nel 1967 e ha studiato Belle Arti ad Abidjan, in Costa d’Avorio. Si è trasferito in Europa nel 1993 e ha iniziato a esibirsi e fare performance mentre terminava i suoi studi a Grenoble (Francia), poi a Dusseldorf (Germania).
La geografia politica e i confini personali sono stati un argomento implicito nel suo lavoro in studio e esplicito nelle sue performance. Da un lato, i suoi acquerelli forniscono un forte impatto visivo, utilizzando un repertorio limitato di immagini e colori per rappresentare un mondo onirico di metamorfosi umane, animali e vegetali. D’altra parte, la realizzazione delle sue installazioni su larga scala è generalmente approssimativa e rapida e sottolinea i conflitti, i paradossi e l’estremismo dell’uomo. Le sue installazioni possono essere visti come un’inversione metaforica dello storico saccheggio dell’Africa subita durante il periodo coloniale.
Toguo ha recentemente tenuto una mostra personale, “The Sick Opera”, al Palais de Tokyo di Parigi. La mostra ha incluso il suo lavoro dal 1999 al 2004. Ha esposto in molti altri prestigiosi musei, gallerie e Biennali a livello internazionale come il Bass Museum of Art di Miami, il Centre George Pompidou di Parigi, lo Houston Museum of Art, il Guangdong Museum of Art , Il Museo Migros di Zurigo e il Palazzo Strozzi di Firenze da quattro anni. Test di prova per mostre personali e collettive selezionate.
Barthélémy Toguo
Nell’ambito di un semestre dedicato alla tematica del post coloniale Murate Art District ha prodotto una mostra inedita dal titolo Il viaggio immaginario di Barthélémy Toguo a cura di Janine Gaelle Dieudji e Justin Randolph Thompson, realizzata in collaborazione con Black History Month Florence e Institut Francais Italia.
Il progetto monografico racconta l’attitudine politica dell’artista, che interpreterà un Paese dalla forte volontà di riscatto: l’Africa di Toguo è un’Africa che rifiuta la ghettizzazione dei suoi artisti nel mercato dell’arte globale, e che altresì rifiuta di accettare una lettura coloniale della propria terra: “L’Africa non è una discarica!” gridano opere come Dustbin presentata per la prima volta in Italia.
Nell’ambito di un semestre dedicato alla tematica del post coloniale Murate Art District ha prodotto una mostra inedita dal titolo Il viaggio immaginario di Barthélémy Toguo a cura di Janine Gaelle Dieudji e Justin Randolph Thompson, realizzata in collaborazione con Black History Month Florence e Institut Francais Italia.
Il progetto monografico racconta l’attitudine politica dell’artista, che interpreterà un Paese dalla forte volontà di riscatto: l’Africa di Toguo è un’Africa che rifiuta la ghettizzazione dei suoi artisti nel mercato dell’arte globale, e che altresì rifiuta di accettare una lettura coloniale della propria terra: “L’Africa non è una discarica!” gridano opere come Dustbin presentata per la prima volta in Italia.
Artista e Direttore Black History Month Florence | Residenza d'artista e Mostra 2018
Multidisciplinary artist
Born in 1975, Nirveda Alleck is a multidisciplinary artist living and practicing in Mauritius. She undertook her studies at Michaelis School of Fine Art in South Africa (BAFA 1997), and did her MFA at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland in 2001. Formerly a lecturer in Art Education in Mauritius, Alleck worked as an Art Consultant at the Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Site in Mauritius, and is currently lecturing part time for the Master of Visual Arts course at the University of Mauritius.
Born in 1975, Nirveda Alleck is a multidisciplinary artist living and practicing in Mauritius. She undertook her studies at Michaelis School of Fine Art in South Africa (BAFA 1997), and did her MFA at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland in 2001. Formerly a lecturer in Art Education in Mauritius, Alleck worked as an Art Consultant at the Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Site in Mauritius, and is currently lecturing part time for the Master of Visual Arts course at the University of Mauritius.
Conceptual artist
Bikoro is a conceptual artist from the region of Woleu-Ntem in North Gabon and is presently based in Berlin. A 10 year long battle with Leukaemia Cancer during their youth transposed her into different environments and languages in the Netherlands, France, UK, Brazil and Germany inevitably challenging her political positions, citizenship and feeding into her transdisciplinary practice as a visual activist, writer and teacher. The artist merges archeology, sonic radio, writing, textiles, sculpture, live art performances, film & archives for immersive installations. The work analyses processes of power & science fictions in historical archives critically engaging in migrational struggles and colonial memory. The artist creates environments for alternative narratives and future speculations of colonial resistance movements led by African women of the German, British and French diaspora and indigenous communities. Sedimented in narratives of testimonial Black queer experiences of s
Bikoro is a conceptual artist from the region of Woleu-Ntem in North Gabon and is presently based in Berlin. A 10 year long battle with Leukaemia Cancer during their youth transposed her into different environments and languages in the Netherlands, France, UK, Brazil and Germany inevitably challenging her political positions, citizenship and feeding into her transdisciplinary practice as a visual activist, writer and teacher. The artist merges archeology, sonic radio, writing, textiles, sculpture, live art performances, film & archives for immersive installations. The work analyses processes of power & science fictions in historical archives critically engaging in migrational struggles and colonial memory. The artist creates environments for alternative narratives and future speculations of colonial resistance movements led by African women of the German, British and French diaspora and indigenous communities. Sedimented in narratives of testimonial Black queer experiences of sonic nature archives, revolt, queering ecologies and postcolonial feminist experiences towards new monuments which reacts to the different tones of societies shared between delusions & ritual. The work offers complex non-binary readings pushing new investigations about the architectures of racisms in cities, the archeologies of urban spaces & economies of traditional systems by exposing the limitations of technologies as functional memory records.
Photographer, video artist, performer
Rehema Chachage is a visual artist whose practice can be viewed as a performative archive which untraditionally collects stories, rituals and other oral traditions in different media (performance, photography, video, text as well as physical installations); which traces hi/stories directly tied to women in the Swahili region; and, which employs written texts, oral and aural stories, melodies, and relics from several re-enacted/performed rituals as source of research.
She holds a BA in Fine Art (2009) from Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town; and an MA Contemporary Art Theory (2018) from Goldsmiths, University of London. Currently she is pursuing her PhD in Practice from the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna where her research focus is on the archive and its methodologies, specifically observing ways of doing the archive differently through one’s practice as an artist.
Rehema Chachage is a visual artist whose practice can be viewed as a performative archive which untraditionally collects stories, rituals and other oral traditions in different media (performance, photography, video, text as well as physical installations); which traces hi/stories directly tied to women in the Swahili region; and, which employs written texts, oral and aural stories, melodies, and relics from several re-enacted/performed rituals as source of research.
She holds a BA in Fine Art (2009) from Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town; and an MA Contemporary Art Theory (2018) from Goldsmiths, University of London. Currently she is pursuing her PhD in Practice from the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna where her research focus is on the archive and its methodologies, specifically observing ways of doing the archive differently through one’s practice as an artist.
Video artist, performer, writer
Wanja Kimani is a visual artist and writer based in Cambridgeshire, UK. Through film, textiles and installation, her work explores memory, trauma and the fluidity within social structures that are designed to care and protect, but mutate into coercive forces within society. She imposes elements of her own life into public spaces, creating a personal narrative where she is both author and character. Her work has been exhibited internationally. In 2018, her performance, ‘Expectations’ was included in the Laboratoire Agit’Art presentation during Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art. In 2019, she presented her work at Art Dubai and as part of a group show, ‘Yesterday is Today’s Memory’ at Espace Commines, Paris, France.
Wanja Kimani is a visual artist and writer based in Cambridgeshire, UK. Through film, textiles and installation, her work explores memory, trauma and the fluidity within social structures that are designed to care and protect, but mutate into coercive forces within society. She imposes elements of her own life into public spaces, creating a personal narrative where she is both author and character. Her work has been exhibited internationally. In 2018, her performance, ‘Expectations’ was included in the Laboratoire Agit’Art presentation during Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art. In 2019, she presented her work at Art Dubai and as part of a group show, ‘Yesterday is Today’s Memory’ at Espace Commines, Paris, France.
Photographer, video artist, performer
Michèle Magema, born in Kinshasa in 1977, is a Congolese-French video, performance, and photography artist. She was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo in 1977. She emigrated to Paris, France in 1984, and currently resides in Nevers.
Michèle Magema, born in Kinshasa in 1977, is a Congolese-French video, performance, and photography artist. She was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo in 1977. She emigrated to Paris, France in 1984, and currently resides in Nevers.
Photographer
Fatima Mazmouz Nata il 2 maggio 1974 a Casablanca, in Marocco, è un fotografo, artista visivo, concettuale. La sua produzione artistica, LES VENTRES DU SILENCE, Pouvoirs et contre Powers, si occupa principalmente delle varie lotte di potere implicite e invisibili radicate nelle nostre società giudaico-cristiane e arabo-musulmane. Il suo lavoro traduce così la storia dell’emancipazione attraverso un profondo impegno per le libertà individuali. Con il progetto Super Oum e The Broken Body, l’artista si inserisce in una lotta femminista in un contesto post-coloniale per una lotta alla discriminazione razziale e per i diritti delle donne (Diritto all’aborto per tutti).
Fatima Mazmouz Nata il 2 maggio 1974 a Casablanca, in Marocco, è un fotografo, artista visivo, concettuale. La sua produzione artistica, LES VENTRES DU SILENCE, Pouvoirs et contre Powers, si occupa principalmente delle varie lotte di potere implicite e invisibili radicate nelle nostre società giudaico-cristiane e arabo-musulmane. Il suo lavoro traduce così la storia dell’emancipazione attraverso un profondo impegno per le libertà individuali. Con il progetto Super Oum e The Broken Body, l’artista si inserisce in una lotta femminista in un contesto post-coloniale per una lotta alla discriminazione razziale e per i diritti delle donne (Diritto all’aborto per tutti).
Photographer, video artist, performer
Myriam Mihindou grew up in Gabon with a French mother and a Gabonese father, before going into exile in France in the late 1980s. After a degree in architecture, she joined the school of fine arts in Bordeaux. Suffering from aphasia, a disorder of spoken and written language, she was at the time looking for a means of expression. Working initially on sculpture and forging, Joseph Beuys and Ana Mendieta encouraged her to direct her plastic exploration in nature through ritualized actions with organic materials (earth, water, sun, paraffin, kaolin and tea). She graduated in 1993, developing a multidisciplinary plastic language, working as well in photography as in performance, video, drawing and sculpture. Her experience of travelling many countries including from Gabon to Reunion Island, from Egypt to Morocco, her works was nourished by these geographical and cultural encounters. Highly autobiographical, her creative processes probes memory, identity, the social, political and sexual bo
Myriam Mihindou grew up in Gabon with a French mother and a Gabonese father, before going into exile in France in the late 1980s. After a degree in architecture, she joined the school of fine arts in Bordeaux. Suffering from aphasia, a disorder of spoken and written language, she was at the time looking for a means of expression. Working initially on sculpture and forging, Joseph Beuys and Ana Mendieta encouraged her to direct her plastic exploration in nature through ritualized actions with organic materials (earth, water, sun, paraffin, kaolin and tea). She graduated in 1993, developing a multidisciplinary plastic language, working as well in photography as in performance, video, drawing and sculpture. Her experience of travelling many countries including from Gabon to Reunion Island, from Egypt to Morocco, her works was nourished by these geographical and cultural encounters. Highly autobiographical, her creative processes probes memory, identity, the social, political and sexual body themes.
Sound artist
Rezaire defines as “Franco-Guyano-Danish”. She grew up in Paris and studied there, as well as in Copenhagen and London, where she did a master’s degree at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. She then lived in Paris, Mozambique and Johannesburg from 2014. In 2017, she was welcomed in residence by MeetFactory in Prague, where she began working on sound.
Rezaire defines as “Franco-Guyano-Danish”. She grew up in Paris and studied there, as well as in Copenhagen and London, where she did a master’s degree at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. She then lived in Paris, Mozambique and Johannesburg from 2014. In 2017, she was welcomed in residence by MeetFactory in Prague, where she began working on sound.
Installation and visual artist
Born in 1970 in Lomé, Togo. He lives and works in both Aubervilliers and Lomé.
Clay Apenouvon participated in painting, graphic arts and screen-printing workshops in Togo before moving to Paris where he continued his initiation with the artists Claude Viallat and Mounir Fatmi.
After exploring cardboard as a material, he developed the concept ‘Plastic Attack’ to raise public awareness of the harmfulness of plastic. More recently with the Film noir de Lampedusa (2015), he denounced the indifference of Europe faced with the tragedy of illegal immigration. He used black stretch film to create an exceptionally powerful and evocative in situ installation.
Clay Apenouvon exhibited his work at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London (2015) and in the collective work Visibles / Invisibles, l’Afrique urbaine et ses marges at the Fondation Blachère, France (2015). For The Day That Comes, he will create an original work in situ.
Born in 1970 in Lomé, Togo. He lives and works in both Aubervilliers and Lomé.
Clay Apenouvon participated in painting, graphic arts and screen-printing workshops in Togo before moving to Paris where he continued his initiation with the artists Claude Viallat and Mounir Fatmi.
After exploring cardboard as a material, he developed the concept ‘Plastic Attack’ to raise public awareness of the harmfulness of plastic. More recently with the Film noir de Lampedusa (2015), he denounced the indifference of Europe faced with the tragedy of illegal immigration. He used black stretch film to create an exceptionally powerful and evocative in situ installation.
Clay Apenouvon exhibited his work at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London (2015) and in the collective work Visibles / Invisibles, l’Afrique urbaine et ses marges at the Fondation Blachère, France (2015). For The Day That Comes, he will create an original work in situ.
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Black History Month Florence 2017
Ispirato al Black History Month celebrato negli Stati Uniti e nel Regno Unito, l’evento fiorentino mette in risalto i contributi culturali della diaspora africana che hanno influenzato la cultura popolare Italiana.
Conferenze, proiezioni di film, letture di libri, mostre d’arte, eventi enogastronomici, concerti e spettacoli ricordano i più importanti passaggi della storia africana ponendola in relazione con il panorama contemporaneo fiorentino.
All’interno di questa iniziativa si inserisce la XV edizione della rassegna Videozoom curata da Antonella Pisilli che quest’anno presenta opere di 8 video artiste africane dal titolo “Africana womanism” e l’installazione “Film noir per Lampedusa” di Clay Apenouvon.
Videozoom: Africana Womanism è un progetto video “work in progress”: in mostra opere di video-arte contemporanea, presentate tenendo conto delle specificità culturali delle diverse realtà del mondo. Il progetto vuole proporre una visione nuova della do
Ispirato al Black History Month celebrato negli Stati Uniti e nel Regno Unito, l’evento fiorentino mette in risalto i contributi culturali della diaspora africana che hanno influenzato la cultura popolare Italiana.
Conferenze, proiezioni di film, letture di libri, mostre d’arte, eventi enogastronomici, concerti e spettacoli ricordano i più importanti passaggi della storia africana ponendola in relazione con il panorama contemporaneo fiorentino.
All’interno di questa iniziativa si inserisce la XV edizione della rassegna Videozoom curata da Antonella Pisilli che quest’anno presenta opere di 8 video artiste africane dal titolo “Africana womanism” e l’installazione “Film noir per Lampedusa” di Clay Apenouvon.
Videozoom: Africana Womanism è un progetto video “work in progress”: in mostra opere di video-arte contemporanea, presentate tenendo conto delle specificità culturali delle diverse realtà del mondo. Il progetto vuole proporre una visione nuova della donna africana attraverso l’occhio dell’artista; Africana Womanism, nello specifico, porta alla ribalta il ruolo di madri africane come leader nella lotta per ritrovare, ricostruire e creare un’integrità culturale che abbraccia gli antichi principi di reciprocità, equilibrio, armonia, giustizia, verità e ordine.
Fanno parte delle artiste di Africana Womanism: Nirdeva Alleck (Mauritius), Nathalie Mba Bikoro (Gabon), Rehema Chachage (Tanzania), Wanja Kimani (Kenia), Michèle Magema (RDC), Fatima Mazmouz (Marocco), Myriam Mihindou (Gabon), Tabita Rezaire (Francia-Guyana/Danese)
Film noir per Lampedusa, di Clay Apenouvon (Togo), interpreta una Lampedusa contemporanea, luogo di migrazioni; attraverso un’installazione site-specific, realizzata dall’artista per Murate Art District, si esplora la capacità dei materiali di essere supporto fisico e medium artistico per trasmettere il messaggio socio-politico dell’artista.
Non nuovo a questo tipo ti incursioni artistiche, Clay Apenouvon lavora con materiali plastici di colore nero, che evocano la liquida vischiosità del petrolio.
I due progetti sono stati inaugurati venerdì 3 febbraio 2017 alle ore 17.30 presso MAD Murate Art District.
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Artista e Direttore Black History Month Florence | Residenza d'artista e Mostra
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