Daily Lazy: Quilombo at SALTS / Birsfelden

Quilombo: Tri-continental research and exhibition project

Carolina Brunelli, Joseph Kasau & Stéphane Kabila, Paulo Nazareth, Maya Quilolo, Wisrah Villefort. With a contribution by Denise Bertschi. Opening concert by Orakle Ngoy.

Curated by Samuel Leuenberger, Patrick Mudekereza and Benedikt Wyss.

October 30, 2021 - February 11th, 2020

SALTS

Hauptstrasse 12

Birsfelden, Switzerland

Wisrah Villefort. Tools, 2021. Two-channel sound piece, 5:59 mins, loop.

Wisrah Villefort. Tools, 2021. Two-channel sound piece, 5:59 mins, loop. (detail)

Quilombo. Exhibition view.

Joseph Kasau & Stephane Kabila. Geste des dieux, 2021. In three parts: HD video, sound, plexiglass; sound, paper, strings, glue; mirror, glass, laser print, cups.

Joseph Kasau & Stephane Kabila. Geste des dieux, 2021. In three parts: HD video, sound, plexiglass; sound, paper, strings, glue; mirror, glass, laser print, cups. (detail)

Joseph Kasau & Stephane Kabila. Geste des dieux, 2021. In three parts: HD video, sound, plexiglass; sound, paper, strings, glue; mirror, glass, laser print, cups.

Quilombo. Exhibition view.

Wisrah Villefort. Field, 2021. Field, 2021. Wall Painting (paint, vinyl). Score: The longest wall of the exhibition space to be marked with the indication of its length as specified by the artist, and a wall perpendicular to it to be marked with the length to complete the indication the area of one acre in square meters within the exhibition space as specified by the artist. The marks should be madeon the average height of a commercial ox.Dimensions variable according to the exhibition space.

Wisrah Villefort. Keys, 2021. Various metals. Score: The keys of every door lock of the exhibition space to be made available to the artist. A copy of each of them to be displayed on a stainless keychain as specified by the artist. Exhibition duration.

Wisrah Villefort. Field, 2021. Field, 2021. Wall Painting (paint, vinyl). Score: The longest wall of the exhibition space to be marked with the indication of its length as specified by the artist, and a wall perpendicular to it to be marked with the length to complete the indication the area of one acre in square meters within the exhibition space as specified by the artist. The marks should be madeon the average height of a commercial ox.Dimensions variable according to the exhibition space.

Quilombo. Exhibition view.

Denise Bertschi. Helvécia, Brazil, 2017/2020. Group of three works: HD video, sound, loop, 20 mins; Two-channel HD video, sound, loop, 20 mins; Eyelet embroidery on cotton, 3 textile pieces, 10 meters each. (detail)

Denise Bertschi. Helvécia, Brazil, 2017/2020. Group of three works: HD video, sound, loop, 20 mins; Two-channel HD video, sound, loop, 20 mins; Eyelet embroidery on cotton, 3 textile pieces, 10 meters each.

Quilombo. Exhibition view.

Wisrah Villefort. Lamb and dog, 2021. Magazine cover, polished stainless steel, 50 x 40 x 0.2 cm.

Wisrah Villefort. Dog, 2021. Magazine cover, polished stainless steel, 50 x 40 x 0.2 cm.

Quilombo. Exhibition View.

Carolina Brunelli. Access, 2021. Digital print on blueback 158 x 100 cm; song “Mama Africa”by Birama Niang, 4:25 mins, loop.

Quilombo. Exhibition View.

Paulo Nazareth. _flamingos and other birds from the south: Migratory Archive_how it didn’t happen in Africa / America and Asia, 2021. Archivist, archival furniture, file boxes, folders, clippings from newspapers, magazines, other local periodicals, digital clipping with images and news.

Quilombo. Exhibition View.

Joseph Kasau & Stephane Kabila. Geste des dieux, 2021. In three parts: HD video, sound, plexiglass; sound, paper, strings, glue;mirror, glass, laser print, cups.

Joseph Kasau & Stephane Kabila. Geste des dieux, 2021. In three parts: HD video, sound, plexiglass; sound, paper, strings, glue;mirror, glass, laser print, cups. (detail)

Maya Quilolo. Who carries the Atlantic’s secrets has learned to breathe inside water, 2021. Drawings, plexiglass (words), fishing nets, video, chest, ceramic.

Quilombo. Exhibition View.

Concert by Orakle Ngoy featuring DJ Caipora.

All images courtesy and copyright of the artists and SALTS. Exhibition documentation by Anja Karolina Furrer, performance documentation by Nicolas Gysin.

“Quilombo” involves artists from three continents: Africa (Democratic Republicof Congo), South America (Brasil) and Europe (Switzerland). The coalition-based research and exhibition project comprised residencies in Lugano (Lago Mio) andBasel (SALTS and Atelier Mondial), and a workshop with the Centre for AfricanStudies at the University of Basel.

The project “Quilombo” was initiated out of a personal invitation between theSwiss-based institution SALTS and the Congo-based Waza art center, in order to collaborate, exchange, and learn from each other during a full year of co-pro-gramming and co-curation. The foundation for an intensive collaboration with the artists within the project is laid in the partnership with the Lago Mio Lugano Artist Residency on the Swiss border with Italy.

Once synonymous with escape and resistance, the term ‘quilombo’ today stands for a Brazilian settlement of African descent. Anthropologists and historians mean-while have arrived at a new understanding of these rural communities,calling for a broader definition: Regardless of their specific history, quilombos share collective identities and notions, linking them to their African roots and making them fight common battles as people in DRC, Switzerland or anywhere else: against capitalism and racism, and for the equitable distribution of resources.

The research and exhibition project “Quilombo” attempts to build on the idea of a‘Black Atlantic’, coined by British-Guyanese historian and writer Paul Gilroy in 1993as a “Counterculture of Modernity” in the relations between Africa, the Americas,and Europe. Can we activate aesthetics sensitive to common concerns, taking advantage of the digital age’s challenges, particularly in the unexpected connec-tivity of our pandemic era? Social injustice has its roots in the history of exploita-tion of natural resources and human labor and continues to this day.

How can this be undermined by an alternative reading of human relations between the three continents, imagining an ecology that empowers humanism and diversity?

The project “Quilombo” will continue to develop in Lubumbashi and São Pauloover the next two years. A first catalogue is planned for Spring 2022 as part of the opening of the exhibition’s second itinerary at Lago Mio artist residency in Lugano.

Presented by SALTS, Waza art center Lubumbashi/DR Congo and Lago Mio Lugano artist residency in collaboration with 2021 Amazonia.