Gentle Dust

Categories
animation film installation live music sound

Berlin Biennale X, August 2018
Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam, September - October 2017
ROOM Gallery and Projects, Johannesburg, October 2016
Jupiter Woods, London, August 2016

And so, gently the dust will fall, upon the carelessly wrapped paintings. And gently the colours on the canvas, they will fade away. Images of soup cans, guns and flowers, they will fade away. And gentle dust will fall upon the seamless glass vitrines, scattered pedestals, high security cameras. Gentle dust, upon the long forgotten sculptures, abandoned in the corners of the wide quiet cubes.

Gentle Dust imagines and stages the desertion of the museum of modern art through performative readings, a video installation and music. The museum of modern art is understood here as a symbol, historically and presently linked to the colonial matrix of power. The live performances respond to the question of how we can disengage from the narratives that are told and taught by these museums. The project is understood as the beginning of a dialogue in which we, as a multiplicity of young art practitioners, foreground the stories, perspectives and questions that have a special urgency to us in this time of crisis.

First instalment co-curated with Rianna Jade Parker at Jupiter Woods in London. This instalment includes spoken contributions by Rianna Jade Parker, Isaac Kariuki, Imani Robinson and Caspar Jade Heinemann, a video animation and text by Dorine van Meel, original music to the video by Sami El-Enany and voice-overs by Emma Bennett and Holly Pester

Second instalment organised i.c.w. Mbali Khoza at ROOM Gallery and Projects in Johannesburg. This instalment includes spoken contributions by Thato Magano, Sipho Charles Gwala, Senzo Brian Sibisi and Natasha Jacobs and an expanding multichannel soundtrack by Sami El-Enany.

Third instalment co-curated together with independent artist-curator and writer Rianna Jade Parker at Showroom MAMA in Rotterdam. New contributions to the video by Susu Amina, Tirza Balk, Yakari Gabriel, Abdel-Rahman Hassan and Alina Jabbari. Events organised by Rianna Jade Parker i.c.w. Hudda Khaireh, as well as Natalia Sorzano i.c.w. Nathalie Hartjes and MAMA's Artistic New Talents. New performances by Pelumi Adejumo and Albinus. The exhibition also includes a 'reference space' that contains key texts and imagery compiled by Rianna Jade Parker.

Gentle Dust concluded at the Berlin Biennale with life performances by Abdel-Rahman Hassan, Alina Jabbari, Dorine van Meel and Ibrahim Cissé together with Sami El-Enany.

Gentle Dust has been made possible through additional financial support from the Arts Council England, the Dutch Embassy in London and the Mondriaan Fund.

Berlin Biennale X, August 2018
Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam, September - October 2017
ROOM Gallery and Projects, Johannesburg, October 2016
Jupiter Woods, London, August 2016

And so, gently the dust will fall, upon the carelessly wrapped paintings. And gently the colours on the canvas, they will fade away. Images of soup cans, guns and flowers, they will fade away. And gentle dust will fall upon the seamless glass vitrines, scattered pedestals, high security cameras. Gentle dust, upon the long forgotten sculptures, abandoned in the corners of the wide quiet cubes.

Gentle Dust imagines and stages the desertion of the museum of modern art through performative readings, a video installation and music. The museum of modern art is understood here as a symbol, historically and presently linked to the colonial matrix of power. The live performances respond to the question of how we can disengage from the narratives that are told and taught by these museums. The project is understood as the beginning of a dialogue in which we, as a multiplicity of young art practitioners, foreground the stories, perspectives and questions that have a special urgency to us in this time of crisis.

First instalment co-curated with Rianna Jade Parker at Jupiter Woods in London. This instalment includes spoken contributions by Rianna Jade Parker, Isaac Kariuki, Imani Robinson and Caspar Jade Heinemann, a video animation and text by Dorine van Meel, original music to the video by Sami El-Enany and voice-overs by Emma Bennett and Holly Pester

Second instalment organised i.c.w. Mbali Khoza at ROOM Gallery and Projects in Johannesburg. This instalment includes spoken contributions by Thato Magano, Sipho Charles Gwala, Senzo Brian Sibisi and Natasha Jacobs and an expanding multichannel soundtrack by Sami El-Enany.

Third instalment co-curated together with independent artist-curator and writer Rianna Jade Parker at Showroom MAMA in Rotterdam. New contributions to the video by Susu Amina, Tirza Balk, Yakari Gabriel, Abdel-Rahman Hassan and Alina Jabbari. Events organised by Rianna Jade Parker i.c.w. Hudda Khaireh, as well as Natalia Sorzano i.c.w. Nathalie Hartjes and MAMA's Artistic New Talents. New performances by Pelumi Adejumo and Albinus. The exhibition also includes a 'reference space' that contains key texts and imagery compiled by Rianna Jade Parker.

Gentle Dust concluded at the Berlin Biennale with life performances by Abdel-Rahman Hassan, Alina Jabbari, Dorine van Meel and Ibrahim Cissé together with Sami El-Enany.

Gentle Dust has been made possible through additional financial support from the Arts Council England, the Dutch Embassy in London and the Mondriaan Fund.