BE.BOP 2016: “BLACK EUROPE BODY POLITICS—CALL & RESPONSE”
BE.BOP 2016: “BLACK EUROPE BODY POLITICS—CALL & RESPONSE” is a project by Art Labour Archives, curated by Alanna Lockward in cooperation with Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz and AfricAvenir. The event, which combines a series of discussions, screenings, installations and performances will take place on June 1-3, 2016 at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Linienstraße 227, Berlin, Germany). See schedule below.
A similar event will be held in on June 5-7, 2016, at Trampoline House (Thoravej 7, 2400 København NV) and at the University of Copenhagen (Nørregade 10) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Description: An extensive and varied 3-day programme with eight panel discussions, accompanied by exciting commissioned performances, films and site-specific installations.
The fourth edition of BE.BOP, a production of Art Labour Archives, brings together this year artistic practices and scientific contributions under the thematic framework of CALL & RESPONSE. The designation CALL & RESPONSE describes the antiphony effect, characteristic to African musical legacies in which the audience responds to a leading voice at systematic intervals. BE.BOP also operates as a safe space, a quintessential maroon category, and as such has become an utterly rewarding collective experience.
BE.BOP brings into focus once again, a historical perspective on the racialized inequalities during the periods of imperial expansion and colonization. Access to social and physical mobility was firmly organized, similar to the Apartheid in South Africa. Mobility – who is mobile and how, who is permitted to go where, and who is considered a migrant, ‘expat’ or ‘tourist’ etc. – is still founded on a structural coloniality that is evident in citizenship statuses of various migration regimes. The event fosters a discussion of the possibilities to overcome currently enduring colonial inequalities and “uneven mobilities” (Mimi Sheller), as well as new forms of conviviality in the societies of our globalized world. In view of the current crisis of European societies, this is an evident and pressing issue.
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS, GUESTS
BE.BOP 2016 presents in this context for the first time the video-art “Napulis Tree” by Yoel Diaz Vazquez, which shows the symbolic tree at the Oranienplatz in Berlin to which the refugee and activist Napuli Langa climbed in April 2014, remaining for four days without food and drink and setting an impressive precedent against the racist asylum politics in Germany.
BE.BOP 2016 introduces international guests, artists, activists and scholars: Sandra Abd’Allah-Alvarez Ramírez, Laura Alegre, Dalida María Benfield, Gurminder K. Bhambra, Manuela Boatca, Erna Brodber, Lesley–Ann Brown, Artwell Cain, Kjell Caminha, Augustus Casely-Hayford, Mathias Danbolt, Teresa María Díaz Nerio, Yoel Díaz Vázquez, Frank Dragtenstein, Rebecca Drammeh, Simmi Dullay, Jeannette Ehlers, Fatima El Tayeb, Quinsy Gario, Cristel Gbaguidi, Pedro Pablo Gómez, Gillion Grantsaan, Adler Guerrier, Ylva Habel, Sasha Huber, Malcolm Momodou Jallow, Jane Jin Kaisen, Patricia Kaersenhout, Nazila Kivi, Krudas Cubensi, Napuli Langa, Mette Moestrup, Mwangi Hutter, Patrice Naimbana, Tone O. Nielsen, Tanja Ostojic, Zulma Palermo, Malena Pestellini, Anne Ring Petersen, Tuleka Prah, Rod Sachs, Moritz Schramm, Robbie Shilliam, Helle Stenum, Javier Tapia, Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, and Rolando Vázquez.
1-3 June 2016
Volksbühne at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
Berlin
Wednesday, June 1, the program begins with the presentation of the volume “BE.BOP 2012-2014: El Cuerpo en el Continente de la Conciencia Negra” (“The body in the Continent of Black Consciousness”, Ediciones del Signo) including the first Spanish translation of Erna Brodber and Fatima El Tayeb, followed by the Berlin premiere of the film “Ori” by Raquel Gerber. In the afternoon, Jeannette Ehlers’ installation opens on the forecourt of the Volksbühne, followed by the first of eight panel discussions on the theme “Marronage and Border Thinking”. Next is the second panel discussion entitled “Maroonage, (De)coloniality and Intercultural Education” and a performance by Teresa María Díaz Nerio entitled “Areíto Indestructible”.
Thursday June 2, begins with the third panel discussion “Contemporary Marronage and Collective Healing”. An inspiring performance by the artist Quinsy Gario and the fourth panel discussion “Enslavement, Genocide and the Coloniality of Memory” are also on the schedule. The day will conclude with the Berlin premiere of the monologue “Perception Gap” by Patrice Naiambana.
Friday June 3, opens with the fifth discussion format entitled “Spiritual Liberations and Pan-Africanism” followed by the world premiere of the film “Allen Report. Retracing Transnational African Methodism” (2013-2016) by Alanna Lockward, which resonates with the campaign “No Amnesty on Genocide” and won a Production Award of the Dirección General de Cine de República Dominicana. The program continues with the sixth discussion session “Free Women of Color in Europe and Abya Yala”. This is followed by the seventh panel discussion “The Haitian Revolution as universal Maroon Legacy”. The eighth and final public discussion is called “(De)coloniality and Scandinavian Exceptionalism”. After the final discussion the event ends with the world premiere of the performance “A History of Grief” by Patricia Kaersenhout.
Curated by Alanna Lockward
Walter Mignolo, Advisor
Julia Roth, Commissioned Works Coordinator
Elena Quintarelli, Curatorial Assistant
In English with simultaneous translation into German and Spanish
Festival Ticket 21 € / 15 € Reduced
Day Ticket: 8 € / 5 € Reduced
Wednesday June 1
10:00-10:30 Introduction
10:30-11:30 Presentation of Ediciones del Signo’s volume: BE.BOP 2012-2014: El Cuerpo en el Continente de la Conciencia Negra (The Body in the Continent of Black Consciousness). Edited by Alanna Lockward for the collection “El Desprendimiento” (De-linking), directed by Walter Mignolo. Translated by Laura Alegre and revised by Teresa María Díaz Nerio. With contributions by: Manuela Boatca, Erna Brodber, Lesley-Ann Brown, Artwell Cain, Teresa María Díaz Nerio, Yoel Díaz Vázquez, Simmi Dullay, Jeannette Ehlers, Fatima El Tayeb, Patricia Kaersenhout, Walter Mignolo, Quinsy Gario, Julia Roth, Robbie Shilliam and Rolando Vázquez.
Laura Alegre, Alanna Lockward, Walter Mignolo, Artwell Cain, Teresa María Díaz Nerio, Julia Roth
Moderated by Rolando Vázquez
11:30-13:30 Screening of Orí by Raquel Gerber. Berlin Premiere, Moderated by Artwell Cain
13:30-14:30 BREAK
14:30-15:-30 Parade by Jeannette Ehlers
15:00-15:30 BREAK
SESSION I: MARRONAGE AND BORDER THINKING
15:30 -17:15 Roter Salon, Walter Mignolo, Robbie Shilliam, Augustus Casely-Hayford, Jeannette Ehlers
Moderated by Quinsy Gario
17:15-17:45 BREAK
17:45-19:00 SESSION II: MARRONAGE, (DE)COLONIALITY AND INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION
Pedro Pablo Gómez, Rolando Vázquez, Simmi Dullay, Rod Sachs
Moderated by Ovidiu Tichindeleanu
19:00-19:30 Screening of My African Food Map by Tuleka Prah
20:00-22:00 Teresa María Díaz Nerio. Areíto Indestructible, performance. World Premiere
Q & A Moderated by Alanna Lockward
Thursday June 2
SESSION II: CONTEMPORARY MARRONAGE AND COLLECTIVE HEALING
11:00-1:00 pm Roter Salon
Yoel Díaz Vázquez’ Napuli’s Tree. World Premiere
Yoel Díaz Vázquez, Cristel Gbaguidi, Napuli Langa, Tanja Ostojic, Julia Roth
Moderated by Robbie Shilliam
13:00-14:00 Performance by Quinsy Gario, World Premiere
14:00-15:00 BREAK
SESSION IV: ENSLAVEMENT, GENOCIDE AND THE COLONIALITY OF MEMORY
15:00-17:00
Roter Salon
Manuela Boatca, Artwell Cain, Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, Patrice Naiambana
Moderated by Walter Mignolo
17:00-17:15 BREAK
17:15-19:00
Roter Salon
Dalida María Benfield, Jeannette Ehlers, Teresa María Díaz Nerio
Moderated by Alanna Lockward
19:00-20:00 BREAK
20:00-22:00
Patrice Naiambana, Perception Gap, monologue. German premiere.
Friday June 3
SESSION V: SPIRITUAL LIBERATIONS AND PANAFRICANISM
11:00-13:00
Screening of Allen Report. Retracing Transnational African Methodism (2016) by Alanna Lockward, 75 min.
World premiere
Moderated by Julia Roth
13:00-13:30 BREAK
SESSION VI: FREE WOMEN OF COLOR IN EUROPE AND ABYA YALA
13:30-15:00
Frank Dragtenstein, Sandra Abd’Allah-Alvarez Ramírez, Krudas Cubensi, Patricia Kaersenhout
Moderated by Teresa María Díaz Nerio
SESSION VII: THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION AS UNIVERSAL MAROON LEGACY
15:00-16:30
Adler Guerrier, Alanna Lockward, Quinsy Gario
Moderated by Walter Mignolo