Alserkal Arts Foundation, Common Room, Warehouse 51
Join us for a presentation and poetry reading with Fall 2024 resident, Sinzo Aanza.
This intervention, between poetic performance, photography and discussion, explores a pivotal, although little discussed, aspect of the history of African art: the merchant's story, his projections and what he ends up building in space. It will explore, from the history of colonial acquisitions of Congolese art pieces in what then becomes an African art market, the development of stories, knowledge and know-how on the one hand but also of artifacts production and cultural identification on the other.
The presentation echoes the research currently being carried out by the artist in Dubai, interested in the impact of traders on the imagination of cities and their transformation, with the exchanges between Deira and the markets of Congolese cities as a starting point.
The poetry reading will take place as a collaboration between Sinzo and UAE-based author, poet, and performance artist, Chandrama Deshmukh.
Date: 27 November, 2024
Time: 7PM - 8.30PM
Venue: WH51, Alserkal Arts Foundation
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Sinzo Aanza is a Congolese artist whose work focuses on the radicality of fiction. In 2007, Luhindi K. Sinzomene created Sinzo Aanza, a radical fiction to whom he assigns the responsibility for the interactions between his creations, first literary and then visual, and the equally frictional social frameworks in which the encounter, discussion and projections around all the other inventions developed by men to frame life, its understanding, organisation and projections become possible. Aanza (b. 1990 in Goma, DR Congo) lives and works in Kinshasa, DR Congo.
Research Focus:
Sinzo is interested in markets, in their traditional form as the roots of the urban phenomenon, the traditional meeting point for setting the value of things according to different backgrounds and perspectives, but also as the first place for the political exercise radically generalized by the advent of modern States with international forums for discussion, negotiation and competition. During his residency, Sinzo plans to study and collect data in two of these markets, namely Deira and the central market of Kinshasa, commonly called Zando. Even more, how these two markets could become places to understand interactions beyond trade, in the field of history, international policies and current events often shaken up in Congo by the mining question and its conflicts.
Chandrama Deshmukh is an author, poet, playwright, theatre artist, storyteller, screenplay writer and performance artist. She has four books of poems published. The recent ones - A Teaspoon Of Stars and Moonlit Monochrome in English and others in her mother-tongue Marathi. Chandrama has done close to 100 poetry performances in Bangalore and continues to play her role in giving this art-form the appreciation it deserves. She has written plays that have been performed in prestigious theaters of the city. She has received an award by the Karnataka Telugu Writers Association for her contribution to literature. To Chandrama, poetry is the streak of silver lining amidst the chaos of life. The moon is her muse.
Image courtesy of the artist.