Cooperation: Crossing the Boundaries of Doubt – Fragmentary narrative from the Global South and North, Live Web-Launch on Reboot.fm, 01.06.2014

The art project http://crossing-boundaries-of-doubt.net will be going online on June 1, 2014 and will be celebrated at 7 p.m. on air with a sound collage at the free artist-run radio station reboot in Berlin. Join us on air to celebrate! Swich in at http://reboot.fm

A project by Astrid S. Klein in collaboration with these partners: Susanne Weiß/Heidelberger Kunstverein, Germany, Em’kal Eyongakpa /Artspace Khaliland, Cameroon and SadraK/Collective Hip-Hop Développé, Douala, Cameroon.

Contact: ed.enilno-t@k.s.a

CROSSING BOUNDARIES OF DOUBT – PASSER LA FRONTIÈRE DES DOUTES
ÜBER DIE GRENZE DER ZWEIFEL

A fragmentary narrative in nine chapters with contributions by:

Lady B, Vincent Ndoumbé D, Em’kal Eyongakpa, Justine Gaga, Simone Gilges, Peter Haury, Felix Kama, Astrid S. Klein, Elsa M’bala, François-Stéphane Alima Mbarga, Stone Karim Mohamad, Franklin Aleba Mokala, Serge Ngouffo, Platino, SadraK, Yam, Hervé Yamguen and AdanGo Zulu

CROSSING BOUNDARIES OF DOUBT is a fragmentary narrative in nine chapters, in which authors from the Global South and North foster a space of agency through their contributions and collaborative exchange and exploration. This space of “narrative” can be used as an extra-institutional platform.

The artists probe their relations with one another through music, texts, poems, and images. They poetically and critically reflect on the past and the present of their societies along with the intertwining of these societies, on their own everyday life realities and the necessity of change, self-organization, and self-determination. It is a collection and a narrative as artistic space where the question of communality is negotiated.

The artistic undertaking was initiated in 2013 by the artist Astrid S. Klein, who also coordinates the project. It is immersed in an open process as a transnational and transcontinental dialogue between Cameroonian and German participants. As a “work in progress,” the project is presented in various formats above and beyond the website through cooperation with the project partners and other international artists.nCROSSING BOUNDARIES OF DOUBT – PASSER LA FRONTIÈRE DES DOUTES
ÜBER DIE GRENZE DER ZWEIFEL
A fragmentary narrative in nine chaptersnWata Culture / Water No Get Enemy – Rituals of Violence – Poubelle de l’Histoire / Trash of History – Objects of Cohabitation – Passer la Frontiere des Doutes / Crossing Boundaries of Doubt – Conversation with Masks -Mort de Luxe – Nouvelles Langues / New Languages – Dancefloor of the New World / Dancefloor to Come

On the rubbish heaps of violent colonial histories, cultural producers from the South and North talk about their ideas and their relationships to one another.
They speak of the currents of water, of being without memory, of the rubbish of history; they talk to masks and about scars, about rituals of violence, about the circulation of people and goods, about objects of cohabitation and about “Mort de Luxe,” or death by luxury.

Against the dark foundation of words, the heavy and precarious things have been sinking, things that are secret, unutterable. In moving beyond this, people intersect. In everyday strategies of survival, where the structural violence of societies resides, the yearning for the “promised lands” shines through.

Aware of their differences, the artists speak of appropriation and self-determination. They express doubt as to whether they can change and act. In which way, and on which paths, can boundaries and barriers, the inscriptions of ideologies of superiority and exploitation, be overcome? nHow are we impacted by the advancing capitalization of contemporary societies and the daily negotiation and evaluation of our personal relationships? Using and being used—societies that celebrate objects.

In their poetic explorations, the authors query the potentialities of communality, pursuing their individual, social, economic, and geopolitical meanings and conditions. They start conceptualizing an artistic space of agency with their narratives and become active there. Polyphony of Geography, of Past and Present. Is it possible to be both pragmatic and utopian? Which identities do we want to live? How can we expand the imaginary beyond these boundaries of doubt? As flowing ones?

Evident in this project is the emergent desire to invent other languages between the languages and known words, creolized, in gestures, with text appeal.nFor a moment, the utopian Dancefloor der neuen Welt becomes a promising future site eluding fixed geographical orientation. A place of non-hierarchical, dancing movement, where one’s counterpart transforms the gestures. Movements that simultaneously give rise to manifold meanings and shifts in meaning, that are sensually shared and generate energy.

(Astrid S. Klein, 2014)

The website and artistic dialogue were funded by Aktion Afrika/Auswärtiges Amt.

Concept and realization by Astrid S. Klein in cooperation with Susanne Weiß/Heidelberger Kunstverein e.V. and the partners Em’kal Eyongakpa /Artspace Khaliland, Yaoundé and SadraK/Collective Hip-Hop Développé, Douala, Cameroon

With additional contributions from the following projects:

"ENTANGLED TRACES" – "VERFLOCHTENE SPUREN" – "TRACES TRESSÉES"
The artistic research conducted in Cameroon in 2013 was funded by the Goethe-Institut Yaoundé

Concept and realization by Astrid S. Klein, coordinated by Justine Gaga in Cameroon, with the partners Em’kal Eyongakpa /Artspace Khaliland, Yaoundé and SadraK/Collective Hip-Hop Développé, Douala, Cameroon

Artistic research in Cameroon on the traces of German colonial history and the interlinked stories and biographies between Cameroon and Germany. With Justine Gaga, Elsa M’bala, Franklin Aleba Mokala, Vincent Ndoumbé D, Serge Nguelou Ngouffo and Astrid S. Klein

Kindly supported by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, Institut für Auslandbeziehungen, ifa e.V., Württembergischer Kunstverein e.V, and Theater Rampe.

Concept and realization by Astrid S. Klein, in cooperation with Susanne Weiß/Heidelberger Kunstverein e.V. and the partners Württembergischer Kunstverein e.V, Em’kal Eyongakpa/Artspace Khaliland, Yaoundé and SadraK/Collective Hip-Hop Développé, Douala, Cameroon

Performances and events conducted with artists from Cameroon and Germany in Stuttgart, Germany, from September 1 to 25, 2013.

With: Em’kal Eyongakpa, Simone Gilges, Astrid S. Klein, Stone Karim Mohamad, Elsa Mbala, Shamack, Franklin Aleba Moukala, Sadrake and the guests: Angela Brinckmann, Peter Haury, Felix Kama, Fender Schrade, Andor Schwarz and family, Umbruch/Thilo Kuhn, Werner Nötzel, Kersten Ginsberg. Additional contribution from Cameroon by Hervé Yamguen, Justine Gaga and Lady B
         
For further information, please feel free to contact: ed.enilno-t@k.s.a