"When We See Us": Everyday Blackness with Okra Collective
Thursday, September 5, 6–9 p.m., Gegenwart, Costs: CHF 10/5, in English
Film screening and talk with the Okra Collective, including pop-up bar
The audiovisual production Everyday Blackness by Okra, a collective of Black multidisciplinary artists, is a mesmerizing combination of sounds, voices and polyrhythmic music. Inspired by the exhibition When We See Us, the video work was developed especially for the opening Saturday of the exhibition in Basel, and will be presented again on the extended Thursday evening at Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart.
Based on a joint residency with Anti-Mass, a collective and label from Kampala/Uganda, Everyday Blackness is an attempt to bring conversations, sounds and images of everyday life of specifically black subjectivity into a form. Katie Omole and Glenn Akwasi, members of the collective, emphasize that the collaborative process was about consciously evading permanent attention and surveillance in public space: the new production is “coming from the point that we never have rest” and from the desire to "just exist". The images created for Everyday Blackness tell of collective experiences and Black subjectivity from an Afro-diasporic perspective, without being oriented towards fixed terms or conditions.
On September 5, Okra members Katie Omole, Anouchka Gwen, FONCÉ, Glenn Akwasi and Abdulmalik Abdi will host a collaborative evening where visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the artistic process and narratives of Everyday Blackness through conversation and insight. Including a screening of Everyday Blackness.
The exhibition When We See Us is open and freely accessible during the extended Thursday evenings at Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart from 6 to 9 pm.
On the first Thursday evening of every month, Studio Gegenwart will host a screening of the exhibition When We See Us. One Hundred Years of Pan-African Figurative Painting, special musical, performative, discursive and participatory programs take place in the Studio Gegenwart. With local and international guests.
September
WORKSHOP
STUDIO GEGENWART
15:00–16:30
The Role of Art in Shaping Historical Narratives. Mit Marilyn Umurungi
CANCELLED
In German. In dieser Veranstaltung wird eine intersektionale, afrofeministische Sichtweise auf BIPoC-Gruppen und -Bewegungen vorgestellt, die für die Sichtbarkeit von Gemeinschaften in der Diaspora entscheidend geworden sind. Kosten: CHF 5.
WORKSHOP
STUDIO GEGENWART
11:00–17:00
Offenes Studio Gegenwart: Jetzt komm ich!
Who gets to speak in public and who doesn't? Who writes history and about whom is history written? Open to all: families, friends, children, young people and adults are welcome. Participation free of charge, no registration recquired.
October
STUDIO GEGENWART
18:00–21:00
When You Meet Us – A Collective Speed Dating
«When You Meet Us – A Collective Speed Dating» is an invitation to continue, with persistent questions raised by the exhibition and accompanying program at the Kunstmuseum Basel, in an open space and with different voices. Costs: CHF 10/5.
Treffpunkt: Gegenwart EG, Information
CONVERSATION
STUDIO GEGENWART
18:00–21:00
Where do we go from here. Critical outlook with guests as part of "When We See Us"
The Critical Friends of the Basel station of «When we see us» - historian Lorena Rizzo, curator Kadiatou Diallo and researcher Sindi-Leigh McBride - invite you to an evening with guests. Costs: CHF 10 / 5.
FULLY BOOKED!
STUDIO GEGENWART
12:30–14:30
Serving Questions
FULLY BOOKED
Discursive menu and installation by the Hybrid Project Space collective and chef Olivier Bur. Participation free of charge, Ticket via ticket link. Limited number of participants.
GUIDED TOUR
GEGENWART
15:00–16:00
Führung in der Ausstellung «When We See Us. Hundert Jahre panafrikanische figurative Malerei»
In German. Kosten: Eintritt + CHF 5.
WORKSHOP
STUDIO GEGENWART
15:00–16:30
Dialogue Session: The Functional Art Within Community. With Kwaku Dapaah Opoku
Artist and designer Kwaku Opoku leads a conversation centered around the intersection of art and community. Costs: 5 CHF.
GUIDED TOUR
GEGENWART
15:00–16:00
Führung in der Ausstellung «When We See Us. Hundert Jahre panafrikanische figurative Malerei»
In German. Kosten: Eintritt + CHF 5.
