Ré-imaginer le passé
Exhibition at the KINDL — Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin
24.3.24 – 28.7.24
Opening: 23.3.24, 18:00 – 21:00
Artists: Elsa M'Bala, Fatou Kandé Senghor, Caroline Gueye, Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Ibrahima Thiam, Viyé Diba, Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, Uriel Orlow, Baobab Création, C& Center of Unfinished Business
Curatorial Team: Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Isabel Raabe, Ibou C. Diop, Malick Ndiaye
What futures are possible from our shared history? Which pasts deserve to be told? How can knowledge be questioned today? And why is knowledge a construction of world orders? These are the initial questions of the Ré-imaginer le passé project.
Ré-imaginer le passé is more than just an exhibition — it is an ambitious research journey spanning several months, a collaboration between curators, thinkers and artists from the African continent, the diaspora, Germany and India. The aim of this participatory project is to reinterpret our past and develop alternative narratives for the future. The central question: Can a different understanding of our stories lead to a new ethics of relationship between the global South and the global North?
The imaginary serves as a creative starting point for questioning and transforming existing realities. The project focuses on the effects of colonial history and looks at the past from a perspective that questions and breaks up traditional narratives. The aim is to create space for new ways of thinking, knowledge (re)forms and narratives.
The exhibition is based on a series of workshops, the LABoratoires, which took place in Dakar in May 2023. Many of the artworks in this exhibition, which was previously on display in Dakar, were created in a dialogical process, while others were created specifically for this context. The works are characterized by a reconsideration of objects, a retelling of history and the rediscovery of knowledge, thus building a bridge between different times, spaces and realities.
Ré-imaginer le passé is part of the artistic research project TALKING OBJECTS LAB - Decolonizing Knowledge, which unfolds in a series of events, artist residencies and exhibitions taking place in Germany, Senegal and Kenya since 2020. Further information can be found at www.talkingobjectslab.org.
Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, and Pro Helvetia.