Sharing the Sensitive: Majlis Talks curated by Moataz Nasr

How do we manage to keep on going when everything seems absurd? How do we manage to keep that flame that once guided us into the complexity of our world without letting it die? This is the question we shall be trying to answer. In a time where noise has become the rule, we try to remain silent. But this silence is in no case a form of surrendering. On the contrary. This silence allows us to focus on what we think is important. When the late Koyo Kouoh, our dear sister, has chosen to call her Venice biennale “In minor key”, she was attempting to give us a lesson of humility and of resilience. Her project was about smoldering, which means, to keep the fire alive.

The world is facing challenges it never had to deal with before. Listing them would be too long. In this context, the model that the West has erected as the best possible way of living this world has been proven wrong. But when the world speaks about resilience and reinvention of the self, it rarely mentions what is happening in the world. There are other ways to relate to each other. There are other ways to talk about art, resistance, memory and building futures. We are inviting practitioners to share with us the strategies that they have been developing on the ground and on a daily basis in order to make this world a better place to be. Because, for us, art is not just about making art but about living.

The participating speakers have been spending their lives trying to deconstructing the doxa of the world of art. Trying to address those little things that, in the course of the action, we tend to forget. Their experiences are not located in one geography, but they aim at maintaining the potential of transformation where ever it is needed. For them, art can never be more important than humanity. Because, at the beginning of everything, for better or worse, there is a human being. These series of talks are conceived to be lectures of conferences, but a moment of togetherness and sharing. As the French philosopher Jacques Rancière put it, it will be about “sharing the sensitive”.

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Curator Bio
Moataz Nasr (b. 1961, Alexandria) is a self-taught artist based in Cairo and one of the leading voices of pan-Arab contemporary art. Working across sculpture, installation, film and painting, he explores identity, spirituality and collective memory. In 1998 he co-founded Townhouse Gallery, Egypt’s first independent exhibition space. He represented Egypt at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017) and has exhibited at Louvre Abu Dhabi, LACMA, MAXXI and the Islamic Arts Biennale.

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Artist Bios

Jenny Mbaye
Jenny Mbaye is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Culture and Creative Industries whose work focuses on creativity, entrepreneurship and urban transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bridging academic, policy and artistic circles, she collaborates with key funders of African creative sectors, including the HEVA Fund and the UNESCO Expert Facility on Cultural Policy and Governance. She holds a PhD in Human Geography (London School of Economics) and lives between Abidjan and London.

Julie Banâtre
Julie Banâtre is a Franco-Guinean American born and raised in New York. After graduating from McGill University, she began her career in social action, working directly with unhoused communities before co-founding Tout Bénev’, an initiative that connects the social, corporate and cultural sectors through volunteering. In 2019, she co-founded SEPTIEME, a contemporary art gallery between Paris and Cotonou that questions fixed notions of belonging and explores the world’s subtle nuances.

Simon Njami
Simon Njami is an independent lecturer, art critic, novelist and essayist and co-founder of the cultural magazine Revue Noire. He has authored biographies of James Baldwin and Léopold Sédar Senghor, five novels and numerous catalogue essays. He was artistic director of the Bamako photography biennale (2000 to 2010), the Dakar Biennale (2016, 2018) and the Kampala Biennale (2018, 2020), and co-curated the first African pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale.