Poetic Cartography Days: This is Where We Are
Join us for a three-day festival-residency where we honor the values of care, neighborliness, and friendship through poetry.
This event is also the kick-off for the new entrance to the Institut für Europäische Ethnologie (IfEE) at Amo Salon*
When:
Friday, 15.11.2024, 18:00-22:00
Saturday 16.11.2024, 11:00-18:00
Sunday, 17.11.2024, 11:00-18:00
Friday, 15.11.2024, 18:00-22:00
Saturday 16.11.2024, 11:00-18:00
Sunday, 17.11.2024, 11:00-18:00
Where:
Amo Salon / Institut für Europäische Ethnologie
Anton-Wilhelm-Amo Straße (formerly M-Straße) 40/41
10117 Berlin
Amo Salon / Institut für Europäische Ethnologie
Anton-Wilhelm-Amo Straße (formerly M-Straße) 40/41
10117 Berlin
Detailed program below ︎
The Poetic Cartography Days will create a festival-residency atmosphere in the Amo Salon, providing a space for communal engagement and the nurturing of friendships through poetry. Guided by the participation of esteemed artists, poets, and activists, this three-day festival-residency will offer a counter-narrative to the Berlin Conference, aligning with the central theme of this year's project by the Amo Collective Berlin “Counter-Mapping Berlin: Experimentel place-making after the Berlin Conference”.
This three-day festival offers a space for artistic exchange and the opportunity to reflect on the role of art in resisting oppressive spatial practices. Through performances, discussions, and workshops, participants together with the public will explore how poetry and art can foster new ways of thinking about space-making, neighboring and community.
Building on the foundation of the Counter-Mapping Days festival held in July of this year, we continue to trace our collective journeys and celebrate where we stand today, highlighting and honoring our communities. This act of celebration, recognition, and togetherness stands in contrast to the violence of separation initiated by the Berlin Conference 140 years ago.
The Poetic Cartography Days are inspired by Afro-German Enlightenment philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo and joyous Afro-diasporic, queer, mestizo, and anti-ableist expressions. Through performances, site-specific interventions, and workshops, we will explore Who We Are, Where We Come From, and Where We Are Going, mapping a space of connection and solidarity. The festival-residency will feature poets and artists including Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo, Fatim Selina Diaby, Hanita Firoozmand, Agie Gambian CookBook, Otis Mensah, Savannah Sipho, Rami Shalati, Nhã Thuyên and Daniela Zambrano Almidón.
The Poetic Cartography Days will also mark the inauguration of the new entrance to the Institut für Europäische Ethnologie (IfEE) at Amo Salon. As part of a collaborative effort, the Institute has created an entrance featuring a constructed ramp for accessibility, offering a warm welcome to all students, faculty, staff, and members of civil society. This entrance will serve as a dedicated exhibition space, showcasing the Institute’s collaborative work on critical topics such as (anti-)racism, intersectionality, and the conviviality of urban society. It will also highlight projects focused on multimodal, public, and engaged anthropology.
For the opening of the new entrance and poetry festival, the Amo Living Archive curated by Amo Collective Berlin will be on display, featuring works by members of the collective, as well as special contributions by Coopdisco with their research on the history of the institute's building, Decolonize Berlin in collaboration with the artist Nnenna Onuoha on the history of Re-naming M*straße, and an alternative portrait of Anton Wilhelm Amo by the artist and activist Salina Momade & the Black Student Union of Humboldt University in collaboration with the artist and performer Isaiah Lopaz.
TEAM
The curatorial and production efforts for the Poetic Cartography Festival and the Amo Living Archive exhibition are being led by Melanie Garland, hn. lyonga and Alejandra Atalah, in collaboration with a dedicated core team from the Counter-Mapping Project and members of the Amo Collective, including Carla J. Maier, Julia Seibert, Ingri Pavezi, Adela Taleb, Magdalena Buchczyk, Piero Trias, Nicole Pearson, Eryn Staiblin, Ren Loren Britton and Flora Corinna Ohlberger. Special thanks are extended to the documentation team: Inti Gallardo, Pablo Hassmann, Kika Echeverria, Imad Gebrael for his graphic design contributions and Christian Maier in the technical set-up. Additionally, recognition is given to IfEE professors Regina Römhild, Magdalena Buchczyk and Ignacio Farías for their support and valuable guidance, also in collaboration with coopdisco, in developing the new entrance and exhibition space at the IfEE.Detailed program
Friday November 15th (public)
Time: 18-22
Kick-off of Poetic Cartography Days & Opening of the Amo Living Archive exhibition.
The opening night will feature poetry performances by Savannah Sipho, Otis Mensah and Fatim Selina Diaby.
Saturday November 16th (public)
Time: 11-18
Poetry Festival & Writing Workshop
11:00 - 16:00
Poetry festival with performances by Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo, Hanita Firoozmand, Rami Shalati and Daniela Zambrano Almidón.
16:00 - 18:00:
Writing workshop facilitated by hn. lyonga and collaborators.
Sunday November 17th (by invitation only)
Time: 11-18
Poetic Residency
Gathering of artists and poets from the July event “Counter-Mapping Days” and the “Poetic Cartography Days”, together with the Amo collective and and further collaborators. Featuring a digital performance by the artist Nhã Thuyên, the evening will conclude with a collective dinner with a culinary intervention by Agie’s Gambian CookBook project.