"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
CONVERSATION
STUDIO GEGENWART
11:15–12:45
Sunday Artist Talk
With Sungi Mlengeya (Dar es Salaam), Meleko Mokgosi (Massachusetts), Joy Labinjo (London)
Artists of the exhibition consider the function and significance of painting and art in the Pan-African context as well as the artistic and social challenges with which they currently see themselves confronted. Costs: CHF 10/5 (+ Optional: Entry CHF 13).
FÜHRUNG
GEGENWART
15:00–16:00
Guided tour of the exhibition «When We See Us. A Century of Black Figuration in Painting»
Costs: Admission + CHF 5.
STUDIO GEGENWART
18:00–21:00
Everyday Blackness
The Kunstmuseum Basel invites you to a joint evening with the OKRA Collective of Black multidisciplinary artists, with a performance of the new production “Everyday Blackness”. The performance will be framed by a discussion of the work. The video work by OKRA is a meditation on Black subjectivity consisting of poetry, dance, movement and music. Costs: CHF 10/5.
FÜHRUNG
GEGENWART
15:00–16:00
Führung in der Ausstellung «When We See Us. Hundert Jahre panafrikanische figurative Malerei»
In German. Kosten: Eintritt + CHF 5.
CURATOR'S TOUR
GEGENWART
18:30–19:30
Guided tour of the exhibition «When We See Us. A Century of Black Figuration in Painting»
With the curator Daniel Kurjakovic. Costs: Admission + CHF 5.
FÜHRUNG
GEGENWART
15:00–16:00
Führung in der Ausstellung «When We See Us. Hundert Jahre panafrikanische figurative Malerei»
In German. Kosten: Eintritt + CHF 5.
FÜHRUNG
GEGENWART
15:00–16:00
Führung in der Ausstellung «When We See Us. Hundert Jahre panafrikanische figurative Malerei»
In German. Kosten: Eintritt + CHF 5.
FÜHRUNG
GEGENWART
15:00–16:00
Visite guidée de l'exposition « When We See Us. Un siècle de peinture figurative panafricaine ».
In French. Coût : entrée + CHF 5.
WORKSHOP
STUDIO GEGENWART
15:00–16:30
Dialogue Session
The Role of Art in Shaping Historical Narratives. Mit Marilyn Umurungi
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: 5 CHF.
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? In this open studio, we will use various monuments to reflect on our own thoughts on these questions. Become a sculpture for a monument or design your own monument for a liberating moment in your life! Open to all: families, friends, children, young people and adults are welcome. Free participation without registration.
