1-54 Forum

1-54 Forum London14 - 17 October 2021 Overture/Talk - The Continental Drift: Recuperating the Echoes, the Ghosts, the SongsIn this opening keynote, 1-54 Forum curator Dr. Omar Kholeif frames the context of Continental Drift. They demonstrate this through the work of continental poets, songwriters, lyricists, and historians deceased and erased; forgotten or lost whose ghosts have been summoned. Here they beckon, primed to be heard. Dr. Omar Kholeif will be joined by Koyo Kouoh (Executive Director and Chief Curator at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA).www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum London14 - 17 October 2021The Virtual SalonThe digital, the virtual, the augmented, the real, the imagined; A.F.K versus I.R.L—the lexicon around our digital world both perplexes and invigorates ‘our’ collective consciousness. In the western world, debates of African digitality often summon references to ‘digital divides’ and social inequity. The reality, in many instances, contrarily exhibits a much more complex picture. Internet diffusion across the continent has proliferated at warp speed across the last decade, enabling an entirely new generation of artists and makers to explore the possibilities of digitality in motion. Here, artists have produced a multitude of virtual forms and artefacts; NFTs, memes, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Within these interstitial spaces, creative practitioners have found tools that have enabled new forms of expression—an agency that enables independently-driven storytelling techniques that embody queer, feminist alter-narratives to breathe in open space. Princess Alia al-Senussi, PhD (Cultural strategist, writer, patron, public speaker and academic) leads a discussion with Osinachi (Artist), Sumayya Vally (Principal Architect, Counterspace), Gemma Rolls-Bentley (Chief Curator, Avant Arte) and Tinie Tempah (Rapper and Singer).ww.1-54.com

1-54 Forum London 202114 - 17 October Performance : Objective Romance and Scarce New FlowersA short experimental musical performance by Zimbabwean musician, mbira player and poet Hope Masike. With three studio albums, a published poetry book and several collaborative and tour credits to her name, Masike shares her art with audiences across the globe.ww.1-54.com

1-54 Forum London14 - 17 October 2021A History of Echoes Amidst this symphony of voices: curators, artists and creative collaborators discuss the exhibitions fashioned from the imagination of the late Nigerian curator, Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019). By exploring the sediments of the past, the collective voices herein sketch out a path for listeners to imagine an alternative possible future—one that is inclusive of the dissonant voices and identities, which make up our shared world. Hoor Al Qasimi (President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation and President, The Africa Institute, Sharjah) leads a conversation with Jo-Anne Birnie-Danzker (former Director, Villa Stuck; Vancouver Art Gallery; Frye Art Museum and Biennale of Sydney), Godfried Donkor(Artist, Gallery 1957) and Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (Artists).www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum London 202114 - 17 October The Poetry Salon: On Fragile Ground In this curated poetry salon, five artists-writers present a collective dreamscape. Newly commissioned pieces of lyric, poem and song exploring themes of environmental justice will converge in myriad life-like forms—the drift resuscitated. Join Anaïs Duplan, Lubaina Himid CBE RA, Isaiah A. Hines, Dr. Omar Kholeif and Otobong Nkanga.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum London 202114 - 17 OctoberThe Walk Towards the Future (English)This open-ended conversation explores the concept of artist as philanthropist; the artist as the maker and progenitor of institutions, and the diverse ways that they approach this aspect of their practice. Is institutionalism a form of artistic practice? Or rather, is it a by-product of a hollowed vacuum that requires re-imagining, regenerating? How do these engines fuel a vision for a collective future? How do we sustain them and enliven them with the potential tools required to sustain their existence? Dr. Omar Kholeif leads a conversation with artists Michael Armitage, Bill Kouélany, and Otobong Nkanga.In partnership with Phaidon to celebrate the publication of 'African Artists.' Available for purchase on phaidon.com. Save 20% using PHAIDON20.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum London 202114 - 17 OctoberThe Walk Towards the Future (French)This open-ended conversation explores the concept of artist as philanthropist; the artist as the maker and progenitor of institutions, and the diverse ways that they approach this aspect of their practice. Is institutionalism a form of artistic practice? Or rather, is it a by-product of a hollowed vacuum that requires re-imagining, regenerating? How do these engines fuel a vision for a collective future? How do we sustain them and enliven them with the potential tools required to sustain their existence? Dr. Omar Kholeif leads a conversation with artists Michael Armitage, Bill Kouélany, and Otobong Nkanga.In partnership with Phaidon to celebrate the publication of 'African Artists.' Available for purchase on phaidon.com. Save 20% using PHAIDON20.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum London 202114 - 17 OctoberIn the Last Days of the City Q&AA Q&A with the film’s director Tamer El Said and the film’s star Khalid Abdalla led by Dr. Omar Kholeif.In the Last Days of the City, Tamer El Said’s ambitious debut feature, tells the fictional story of a filmmaker from downtown Cairo played by Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner, United 93, Green Zone, The Square) as he struggles to capture the soul of a city on edge while facing loss in his own life. Shot in Cairo, Beirut, Baghdad and Berlin during the two years before the outbreak of revolution in Egypt, the film’s multi-layered stories are a visually rich exploration of friendship, loneliness and life in cities shaped by the shadows of war and adversity.AWARDSCaligari Film Prize at BerlinaleCritics Award for Best Arab Film in 2016, Arab Cinema Center Grand Prix of New Horizons International Film FestivalGrand Prix of Festival des 3 Continents, NantesBest Film, San Francisco Arab Film Festival, USA, 2016 Best Director at Buenos Aires International Film festival (BAFICI)www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum New York17 May - 2 June 2021Artist Talk with the 2021 Ritzau Art Prize Winner | Micha SerrafWe are pleased to announce that Micha Serraf is the winner of the Ritzau Art Prize 2021! Serraf will be speaking about his practice alongside Colleen Ritzau Leth (Founder of the Ritzau Art Prize) and Kneo Mokgopa (Advocacy Manager, Nelson Mandela Foundation). The Ritzau Art Prize is an award supporting extraordinary artists from the African continent with three-month career-enhancing residencies at International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City supported by Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy.About ISCPThe International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) supports the creative development of artists and curators, and promotes exchange through residencies and public programs. Housed in a former factory in Brooklyn, with studios, galleries, and a project space, ISCP is New York’s most comprehensive international visual arts residency program, founded in 1994.For more information visit here.About Ritzau Art PrizeThe Ritzau Art Prize is funded by Colleen Ritzau Leth, Executive Director at Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy, a private family foundation that since 2017 has supported residencies for young, promising African artists at the International Studio & Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York. The prize builds on the foundation’s commitment to provide artists from the continent with dynamic, immersive residencies that create visibility and advance their careers.For more information visit here.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum New York17 May - 2 June 2021Threading Histories: Dindga McCannon and Tina Williams Brewer in ConversationWorld-renowned artists Dindga McCannon and Tina Williams Brewer have taken quilting and storytelling practices to new realms, memorialising African American histories as they do. Led by curator and art historian Kilolo Luckett, McCannon and, Williams Brewer will explore their work in Knotted Ties as well as their work more broadly within the context of quilting practices in the US.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum New York17 May - 2 June 2021A Reflection: The arts in the time of the Black lives matter movementJoin Destinee Ross-Sutton (ROSS-SUTTON Gallery), Rudy Shepherd (Artist), Everette Taylor (CMO, Artsy) and Claude Grunitzky (Founder, True Africa) as they reflect on a year of art world practices following the protests against police brutality and broader racial inequalities in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Are we witnessing change or statements unkept? Where there has been change, how is this materialising and set to change the future of the art world and beyond?www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum New York17 May - 2 June 2021THE BLACK FILE: Perspectives of the Contemporary Afro-Brazilian ArtJoin Igi Lola Ayedun (Artist and Founder, HOA Galeria), Carollina Lauriano (Independent Curator and Co-curator, 13th Mercosul Biennial) and Thiago de Paula Souza (Curator and Researcher) as they discuss the importance of contemporary Afro-Brazilian art to Black art scenes globally and how it’s full potential locally and globally can be reached through the art market and institutional frameworks.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum New York17 May - 2 June 2021Artist Talk with Timothy WashingtonJoin artist Timothy Washington and curator Kilolo Luckett as they discuss Washington’s recent work and practice for his solo exhibition, INDUCTION & SUSPICION, currently on view at Duane Thomas Gallery. Alongside they will also be discussing Washington’s life and work in ‘60s and ‘70s Los Angeles as a central figure in the Black Arts Movement that comprised of artists such as Charles White, David Hammons, Betye Saar, Noah Purifoy, John Outterbridge, and Senga Nengudi, amongst others.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum Paris 20 - 23 January 2021Curated by LE 18, MarrakechSMILE! Vernacular photography and the family album: a history of chosen moments, or performing the social. Vernacular photography is a kind of amateur photography whose subject is everyday life, without aesthetic or artistic intent. For several decades, many artists have been interested in poor images, found photos, recovered albums, which do not belong to them and which tell stories, intimate, anonymous, constituting a raw material to be re-sculpted, fictionalized, in order to reinvent and re-present its function as an object of memory. A three-way conversation between Laila Hida, artist photographer and founder of LE 18, Anne Delrez, photographer and founder of the Conserverie and Carolle Bénitah, photographer, whose practices converge towards the family album that they have in different ways, reactivated, manipulated, exhibited to explore.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum Paris 202120 - 23 Janvier Curated by LE 18, MarrakechSOURIEZ!Photographie vernaculaire ou l’album de famille, une histoire de moments choisis ou la performance sociale.La photographie vernaculaire est un genre de photographie d’amateur dont le sujet est la vie de tous les jours, sans intention esthétique ni artistique. De nombreux artistes depuis quelques décennies s’intéressent aux images pauvres, photos trouvées, albums récupérés, qui ne leur appartiennent pas et qui racontent des histoires, intimes, anonymes, constituant une matière brute à re-sculpter, fictionnaliser, pour en réinventer et re-présenter la fonction, d’objet de mémoire. Une conversation à trois entre Laila Hida artiste photographe et fondatrice du 18, Anne Delrez, photographe et fondatrice de la Conserverie et Carolle Bénitah, photographe pla, dont les pratiques convergent vers l’album de famille qu’elles ont de différentes manières, réactivé, manipulé, exposé pour explorer.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum Paris 20 - 23 January and through February 2021Curated by LE 18, MarrakechSonic Archaeologies A radio performance by Abdellah Hassak in conversation with artist-performer Ghassan El Hakim, initiator of Cabaret Cheikhat, and artist Othman El Kheloufi, composer, saxophonist and theater director. Turning to a history of sound allows one to “de-center” history. While political history draws us to the formal places of power (capitals, royal courts, parliaments, palaces), sound history takes us to much more varied places, both strange and wonderful. Political history is centripetal; sound history is centrifugal. – David Hendy, author of the BBC Radio documentary series entitled Noise, a Human History of Sound and ListeningSonic Archaeologies is an invitation to experiment the multiple capacities of sound recording to re-construct and re-compose the historical narratives of territories, experiences, or policies. Proposed and animated by Abdellah Hassak, this spontaneous conversation, activated by a listening session of sound archives proposes to restitute the past, through an unconventional approach.A record, a voice, a song, a rhythm, or a sound archive can be listened to and discussed, from their socio-political context and through their sound practice, their production, and the recording context. What do recordings from the past tell us? How do they shed light on some important events of Moroccan history?The conversation, live streamed from LE 18 in Marrakech, will further reflect on the reciprocal influences between the recordings and the sociological, historical or anthropological evolution of Morocco.Full transcript in English here: https://www.1-54.com/paris/1-54-forum-paris-2021-sonic-archaeologies/

1-54 Forum Paris 20 - 23 January and through February 2021Curated by LE 18, MarrakechResounding Waves: on the making of sonic solidarities through radioDeparting from their respective research projects Radio Earth Hold and we dreamt of utopia and we woke up screaming, in this conversation Rachel Dedman and Yasmina Reggad explore the formation of sonic solidarities across different regions and liberation struggles, carried out by and through radio, sounds, acoustics and acousmatics in Palestine, Algeria, and beyond.Recording Credits and References(1) VOICE: Salah Badis, From the sound intervention ‘On the Palestinian Cause and Western Sahara Question’ by Yasmina Reggad, commissioned by ‘Kibrit: Reactivating collective histories, shares spaces and common places’, broadcasted from Algiers via Skype to Le 18 (Marrakech, Morocco), December 2017. (2) ENG: ’This is the voice of Algeria’, by Franz Fanon, From "A Dying Colonialism", Translated by Haakon Chevalier, Grove Press, 1965. FR: “Ici la voix de l’Algérie”, in Frantz Fanon, Sociologie d’une révolution (L’an V de la révolution algérienne). François Maspero, Paris, 1972. (3) المجد للثورة (Glory to the Revolution), provenance unknown, 1970s. Listen to the whole song here. (4) Abdullah Haddad, ‘Tactics’, performed for Yasser Arafat at a ceremony devoted to the Palestinian revolution, Yemen, 1983. Listen to the whole song here. (5) VOICE: José Francisco Falero From the digital sound archive of one broadcast of 'La Voz de Canarias libre'. Direction des Archives de la Radio algérienne, Algiers (Algeria), n.d. (6) Listen to Radio al-Hara: https://yamakan.place/palestine/ (7) Jericho - First Palestinian TV Test Transmission, World Television News, no. w067280, 1994.See the whole video here. (8)VOICE: AISSA MESSAOUDI ‘Palestinian Radio Ends Broadcasts From Algeria’. Algiers Voice of Palestine in Arabic 17.02 GMT 7 Aug 94 Daily Report. Near East & South Asia (FBIS-NES-94-152), 08 August 1994, Palestinian Affairs, Page 17Sonic LinksEclosion: https://smartlink.ausha.co/eclosion?fbclid=IwAR0j7kVpG8a_Q2e0CtuZznWSEjCQo54iVMnrXzyhOZh9MivjOHoYvI798_YElle m’écrit d’Alger: https://play.acast.com/s/elle-mecrit-dalger?fbclid=IwAR3gphJQotCm0S6vpTH9nsJLjMl08kbD7AwfXDfMXLG75awbzTltCKlrqqMMachahou: https://smartlink.ausha.co/machahouRadio Corona Internationale:

1-54 Forum Paris 20 - 23 January and through February 2021Curated by LE 18, MarrakechAn Oral Gaze: Between Bouanani and SembeneLed by Nadir Bouhmouch and bringing together artist Touda Bouanani and filmmaker/film scholar Samba Gadjigo, this conversation situates itself at the intersection between African cinema and the popular oral arts which have sometimes inspired it. With a focus on Ousmane Sembene and Ahmed Bouanani, the discussion will revolve around how the oral arts have inspired or informed the works of African film pioneers looking to “Decolonise the Gaze.”www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum Paris 20 - 23 January and through February 2021Curated by LE 18, MarrakechAn Oral Gaze: Between Bouanani and SembeneConversation entre Touda Bouanani et Samba Gadjigo, modérée par Nadir Bouhmouch. Réunissant l’artiste Touda Bouanani et le cinéaste / chercheur en cinéma Samba Gadjigo, cette conversation se situe à l’intersection entre le cinéma africain et les arts oraux populaires qui l’ont parfois inspiré. En mettant l’accent sur Ousmane Sembene et Ahmed Bouanani, la discussion portera sur la manière dont les arts oraux ont éclairé ou influencé les travaux des pionniers du cinéma africain qui cherchaient à “décoloniser le regard”.En effet, si Sembene a vu dans le cinéaste un “Griot”, Bouanani y aurait vu un “Amdiaz”. A ce titre, nous partirons de la récente sortie du livre La septième porte : Une histoire du cinéma au Maroc pour aborder la manière dont les cultures, les histoires et les arts indigènes ont contribué à créer un cinéma africain qui remet en question les codes et l’esthétique occidentaux.www.1-54.com

1-54 Forum Paris 20 - 23 January and through February 2021Curated by LE 18, MarrakechMaking and Unmaking Art Schools from The Nineteenth Century to the PresentIn this conversation led by Francesca Masoero and guided by the research of curators and art historians Aude Mgba and Nadine Atallah, we will explore histories of the making, unmaking, and remaking of artistic learnings and schooling institutes across the African continent. Through a historically-informed journey moving from pre-colonial forms of transmission, to colonial and post-colonial infrastructures of knowledge and artistic production, the conversation will examine on the one hand, the ways in which artists, collectives, and movements navigated dominant, institutional educational sites. On the other, by investigating the ways in which some of these actors attempted to recraft learning modes anew, grounding them on vernacular processes and spaces of knowledge-making, we will try to reflect on the situated futures of artistic education ahead.www.1-54.com