Emilene Wopana Mudimu
Ferat Ali Koçak
Yasmin Ayhan
Zuher Jazmati
Opening
02/26/21
Curated by
Lewamm Ghebremariam
Exhibition
02/18/21 – 03/28/21
(extended)
Outdoor installation,
commissioned by Erkan Affan, within the framework of the »Open Sesame:
A Photophobic Experiment« programme.
Funded by the Draussenstadt initiative of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
»The show is over«
A phrase that most people associate with a previously great show. The warm feeling of satisfaction that spreads within us when the experiences of art, music, dance, theater or film have exceeded our expectations.
Some people may even feel disappointment.
Disappointment that what was seen, heard and felt came to an abrupt end.
Desire for more as it is in our nature.
»The show is over«
But how do we feel when these exhibitions are about the repeated, undesired display of >our< culture and life?
Flags
Four points,
marked out like a frame,
Kennel,
cramped,
conquered?
Marked out like the colonial borders, that even today
press, restrict and injure
BIPoC people.
Marked out like the bear’s kennel …
and the colonial legacy,
that the Germans still do not honor to this day.
»The show is over.«
Thoughts by
Lewamm Ghebremariam
Click here for audio (EN)
The project »The Show is Over« shows the continuity of Germany’s problematic display of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPoC) and uses the exhibitionistic nature imminent in the Bärenzwinger to give the artists space for their creative engagement with the socio-historical heritage of museums, zoo facilities and public exhibition spaces in Germany and throughout Europe.
In their works, the artists – Emilene Wopana Mudimu, Ferat Ali Koςak, Yasmin Ayhan and Zuher Jazmati – reflect the critical view of the white majority society and, based on their own experiences, partly reflect the local reality of BIPoC.
The curatorial decision to display the artists’ works on flags symbolizes the socially constructed boundaries that BIPoC people encounter here every day.
Placed in the open, outside, in front of the exhibition space, the flagpoles set a series of public interventions in motion in textual, visual and auditory form. Parallel to the opening of the exhibition »Open Sesame: A Photophobic Experiment«, the two artistic interventions will be made virtually accessible on March 1st, 2021 on the website of the Bärenzwinger.
»The Show is Over« takes an intersectional look at the various dimensions of discrimination and deconstructs Eurocentric perspectives. Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPoC) thus create accountability, accessibility and security for themselves.
The artistic positions waving on the flagpoles transforms the outdoor area of the Bärenzwinger into a publicly accessible exhibition space and at the same time directly involves the surrounding neighborhood in the intervention. Cultural education is fruitfully interwoven here with the critical examination of the coloniality of one’s own environment.
Emilene Wopana Mudimu
Artistic Contribution
»
Flags.
For me, an expression of nationalities. Between which we moved. And still do. We. The children of the diaspora. Those who learned early. What it means not to be free but to be trapped. In the imagination of a white majority society. That doesn’t make it. To be a home. For all of us*. But as in these narrow lines. In which I share my thoughts, We create new strength and courage from the circumstances. In order to triumph over heteronomy with our own narratives.
Words from WOPANA.
«
Biography
Emilene Wopana Mudimu, born on February 26th 1992 in Kinshasa, is a social pedagogue, racism-critical education officer, moderator and spoken word artist from Aachen. Since 2012 she has been active in various initiatives and projects for the Black community. In addition, Emilene Wopana Mudimu is invited nationwide for workshops / lectures with a focus on Afro Hair Politics, empowerment work with Black people and People of Colour, Antira awareness training and creative writing. She has worked for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, DGB, VHS Cologne / Aachen and Theater Oberhausen and can in referenced in WELT, now, Zeit Campus, Edition F, Vogue and at WDR. Since 2014 she has been running her own socio-cultural youth center “KingzCorner” in Aachen together with her husband Sebastian Walter.
Instagram
Ferat Ali Koçak
Artistic Contribution
»
Since the lockdown, it has been tight in my own home, but it has always been tight outside too. The looks of others who classify me, first according to my appearance, then according to my words, if they understand it at all. They create a ‘we’ and ‘you’ in this society, even if they pretend there is an ‘us’ with some of us in their “we”. But at the next police check in Neukölln, we will all know what it is like to be “us” when they watch as if we were alone in a bear pen.
«
Biography
Ferat Ali Kocak, born 1979 in Berlin, grew up in a large family as the grandson of a guest worker, the child of a women’s rights activist and a refugee trade unionist. He has been involved in anti-racist and anti-fascist initiatives since his youth. After a right-wing attack, in which he and his family only survived through luck, Ferat started as @der_neuköllner to implement his street activism via social media in order to reach young people – especially those affected by racism – and to motivate them to become active. The graduate economist works as a campaigner in the field of racism and right-wing extremism, and uses his experience from various branches of the private sector in marketing and public relations for his voluntary activities.
Instagram
Yasmin Ayhan
Artistic Contribution
»
Maaaaan that’s no rap, close but I’m a poet
This is entertainment in which sounds are not mandatory,
Look at my headscarf and never ask again if I’m sure
The boss of all who prevented the chances for women
I dedicate an album to you
The words show poise
The shoulders too
Attitude oldschool like circuit
Just raise my fist against division
Early 20s, headscarf, African quarter, I’m from Wedding,
Give me 65 seconds and you’ll hear that I’m real
Seriously, RIP this scene cause I’m the stronger sex
I’m not the next thing
I’m on my way to domination
because there has never been anything like me before
You are blenders and posers,
I combine poetry and prose,
Facial expressions and choice of words,
Styles from 030 area code,
Always as personable as Kai Pflaume
You have no chance to withdraw like Frauke
Better than you, if only because I don’t steal
Could live fancy but go home with U8
faster than an angry woman can type texts on you,
So accurate that you can bet on me
Silk Road an album without a song
You heard correctly, I’m talking without a beat
Because what I do is living poetry
«
Biography
Yasmin Ayhan, known as »YasminPoesy«, is a Weddinger poetry slam artist. The trademark of the Berliner, who was built in ’98, is the headscarf and a cheeky manner. You can feel her love for poetry when you listen to the texts about social criticism, prejudice and melancholy. Her first album “SeidenStrasse” is available online everywhere and has finally brought original poetry to streaming portals.
Zuher Jazmati
Artistic Contribution
»
In the summer, they stood at the main train stations and applauded you for making it here after a long journey. They brought you food, drink, clothing, and support. It was a national mission to stand up FOR you. But slowly, the mood changed completely. The picture suddenly did not fit into what one imagined. How can less of you arrive? It was a national mission to stand up AGAINST you – even if it means death to you. Friends and helpers surrounded the “NAFRIS” – like humans and monsters.
Context: thousands of refugees arrived in Germany in the summer of 2015. Many of them were men from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq. It felt like everyone saw it as a duty that the refugees be offered security. This mood gradually changed with crimes that were often carried out by men who had fled, but it turned completely after the events on Cologne’s Domplatte on New Year’s Eve 2015/2016. It seemed as if the refugees, who had been systematically kept away for years, could not be expected to face any difficulties. But as soon as there was a systematic approach to it again: deportation strategies, the expansion of Fortress Europe, racial profiling, etc. On New Year’s Eve 2016/2017, the police described men of color as NAFRIS, derogatory and inhuman, while they, like an interplay of animal keepers and wild animals, encircled. And German society applauded the police for their great work in dealing with the men read as “NAFRI”. When some politicians cautiously pointed out that this was racial profiling and an unjust prejudice against non-white men, they were cut down from left to right – for how they dare question the racial work of the police.
«
Biography
Zuher Jazmati is a political educator, podcaster, trainer and DJ. He previously studied »Politics of the Near and Middle East« in Marburg and Cairo, and »Empires, Colonialism and Globalization« at the London School of Economics. He has been working for many years on the topics of (anti-Muslim) racism, (continuities of) colonialism, Syria, queerness and intersectionality. Zuher is a board member of the »TakeOver – Association for Intersectional Campaign Work« and co-host of BBQ – the BlackBrownQueeren Podcast.
Lewamm Ghebremariam
»The show is over«
A phrase that most people associate with a previously great show. The warm feeling of satisfaction that spreads within us when the experiences of art, music, dance, theater or film have exceeded our expectations.
Some people may even feel disappointment.
Disappointment that what was seen, heard and felt came to an abrupt end.
Desire for more as it is in our nature.
»The show is over«
But how do we feel when these exhibitions are about the repeated, undesired display of >our< culture and life?
Flags
Four points,
marked out like a frame,
Kennel,
cramped,
conquered?
Marked out like the colonial borders, that even today
press, restrict and injure
BIPoC people.
Marked out like the bear’s kennel …
and the colonial legacy,
that the Germans still do not honor to this day.
»The show is over.«
Thoughts by
Lewamm Ghebremariam
Click here for audio (EN)
Biography
Lewamm “Lu” Ghebremariam, born 1989 in Stuttgart, is an activist and full-time senior campaign strategist at the platform Change.org Germany. Here, she has been supporting and advising activists with her marketing and strategy expertise since 2018. Lewamm has accompanied numerous campaigns and initiatives – with a particular focus on giving more space to “marginalized” voices and allowing “niche” topics, including #RKellyMute (#MuteRkelly Germany), #TrueDiscrimination or the recently passed law against upskirting.
Lewamm is also on the extended board of the Berlin “Club Commission”. It primarily focuses on the issue of awareness and strives for a non-discriminatory, diverse and sustainable club culture. Since 2017, Lewamm has been organizing the queer-feminist party series BRENN and, in December 2020, she was included in the “Alternative Power 100 Music List 2020” by shesaid.so and Nativeinstruments to give voices in music and club culture more space.
Erkan Affan
Erkan Affan, born 1994 in London, is a gender non-conforming curator & writer of colour, currently based in Berlin. With an academic background in ‘Middle Eastern’ politics ( SOAS) and global migration (UCL), Erkan’s research focuses notably on the intersections between sexuality, gender, migration and diasporic identity.
Since relocating to Germany in 2019, Erkan completed a residency funded by the European Commission and co-founded the Queer Arab Barty collective; curating social and political spaces in Berlin for LGBTQIA+ Arab individuals. Over the past year and a half, Erkan has collaborated both individually and collectively with a number of venues and organisations across Europe, including the ICA and Rich Mix in London, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Die Kunste Werke and ACUD MACHT NEU in Berlin, and the IQMF in Amsterdam.