When things fall apart catalogue

65 Pages·2016·23.23 MB·English

When things fall apart
Critical voices on the radars
When things fall apart
Critical voices on the radars

February 11th — October 23rd, 2016

Trapholt Museum

Æblehaven 23, 6 000 Kolding, Denmark

Curator: N'Goné Fall

Artists: Nidaa Badwan, Rehema Chachage, Tiffany Chung,
Arahmaiani Feisal, Regina José Galindo, Milumbe Haimbe,

Wambui Kamiru, Dinh Q. Lê, Babirye Leilah, Zen Marie, Thái

Tuấn Nguyễn, Pascale Marthine Tayou.

Special thanks to: Gavin Clarke, CKU, Zoe Butt, Syowia
Kyambi & James Muriuki, Ruganzu Bruno & Gisa Jr Gong
Brian, Nafasi art space, Faisal Kiwewa & Bayimba
Foundation, Danda Jaroljmek, Rocca Gutteridge & Alex

Lyons, Daudi Karungi, Fibby Kioria, Kuona Trust, Alia Rayyan,
This special digital free catalogue has been edited for
Fariba Derakhshani, Rema Hammami, Stefano Harney, Adré
artists, students, scholars, teachers and researchers.
Marshall, Galeria Continua, Gallery Tyler Rollins Fine Art New
York, Kunsthaus Bregenz. The twelve artists in the exhibition.
It is should not be sold, in part or in total.
With the support of
We highly recommend you not to print it. The digital
format allows you to zoom in to have a close look at the
artworks.

Centre for Culture and Development GawLab Collective
© GawLab Collective Dakar, 2016.
Denmark Dakar
[email protected]
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 1
CONTENT

Critical Voices p. 04 Forgetting is not an option p. 46
N'Goné Fall
A comment by Stefano Harney p. 48

Nidaa Badwan p. 49
Pascale Marthine Tayou p. 13
Tiffany Chung p. 53

Dinh Q. Lê p. 57

All human beings are born free

and equal in dignity and rights p. 16
There is no question of handing over
A comment by Stefano Harney p. 18
the world to murderers of dawn p. 59
Arahmaiani Feisal p. 19
Artists' portraits p. 60
Milumbe Haimbe p. 21

Babirye Leilah p. 25
Artists' biographies p. 61
Rehema Chachage p. 27

If you don't stand for something,
you will fall for anything. p. 30

A comment by Stefano Harney p. 32

Zen Marie p. 33
Regina José Galindo p. 35
Thái Tuấn Nguyễn p. 37
Wambui Kamiru p. 41
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 2
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 3
Critical Voices Throughout the centuries, right up to the end of the Second
World War, there was a persistent status quo: to never
N’Goné Fall
question the legitimacy of the European conquest and

occupation of territories with “backward or inferior, or even
The one who has learnt without understanding,
non-existent civilizations”. A legitimacy based on an
The one who has understood without learning,
unwavering conviction of superiority and impunity that sent
The one who has neither learnt, nor understood,
Great Explorers to take hold of overseas wealth and bearers
These three will, one day, cause the destruction of humanity.
of a civilizing mission to rescue indigenous souls from
Fulani proverb from Fouta Djallon, West Africa.
damnation. An unlikely legitimacy still denying to this day that

these encounters led to destruction and genocide in the
Has the world really changed since the old Europe
occupied territories as well as to the regeneration of western
“discovered new worlds”? The globalization of trade,
civilization. For there is no encounter without “cultural
establishment of new commercial routes, the virtual opening
contamination”. Culture is a living organ in continuous
of borders, the access to foreign cultures and knowledge
mutation, which reinvents itself by passing through the phases
systems, accelerated speed of travel and means of
of decline, loss of direction and renewal, as determined by its
communication, all these facts make us believe that the world
has radically changed for the better since the end of the 15th external contacts. Indeed, while travelling, people carry with
them a conception of the world that is transmitted and
century. However, the Epic of the Great Explorers, full of
adjusted through contact with other peoples. No society of
panache and seeking glory, often keeps under a modest veil
sound mind would claim the absolute purity of its culture, but
the structural, economic, social and cultural upheavals it
rather a culture of diversity founded on multiple borrowings
generated. If, thanks to the reports of Arab travellers, Asia and
that arise from migrations sparked by exploration, conquest,
Africa were not a revelation, the Americas and Pacific islands
war and natural disasters. 20th century technological progress
were great surprises. These voyages, which were not
has generated an increase in physical and virtual travels,
motivated by a desire for the Other but by the lure of profit,
leading to a radical change in our perception of space and
gave rise to the most improbable fantasies and fuelled
time, thus questioning the borders of countries, who we are,
irrational expectations of infinite wealth. With the benevolent
where we come from, the nature of our identities and social
and self-interested blessing of the church, royal courts and
values. Resisting the inevitable cultural contamination will
states financed expeditions that, in the name of God, pillaged,
simply make it a long and painful process. All contemporary
slaughtered and converted by force. All these encounters,
cultures, whether popular or intellectual, arise from the ashes
which involved brutal or insidious confrontations, were based
of battles between antagonistic civilizations that fought for
on the arrogant assumption that the so-called great European
survival or ascendancy. This is the paradox of our
civilization had the right to take over foreign lands and
contemporary societies which, although born of a global
subjugate their people in order to prosperously grow.
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 4
"bastard" culture, continue to deny one of their progenitors. story describes a 19th century context, the world hasn’t really
The endless consequences of the encounter of civilizations, changed since the British civilization encountered the Ibo one.
which is itself linked to the Explorers’ journey, can be summed For the power game saga portrayed by Achebe – with the
up as a parricidal power game saga that had different desire for domination and subjugation – seems to be endless.
episodes with two well defined recurrent actors: the Western In fact, our contemporary societies always naively imagine
Predator and the Non-Western Victim. that they are unique, and still define themselves in opposition
to others whom they consider as vital external threats to
In Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, Nigerian author eradicate. And in spite of the Universal Declaration of Human
Chinua Achebe masterfully portrayed these two generic Rights, ratified by 193 nations on all continents, recent geo-
characters confronted with changing worlds and obstinately political events reveal a world-wide increase in intolerance
resisting the collapse of secular certitudes. In this and extremism, as well as an unbelievable lack of empathy
groundbreaking novel, written in English and translated into and international solidarity. This disturbing context, based on
more than fifty languages, the protagonists, who on the face of hostility and ostracism, leads many of us to the conclusion
it seem to have nothing in common, both undergo the painful that the Other is not our brother or sister, has never been and
experience of power play. Through the fabric of the novel run never will be; it is an enemy to neutralize or destroy so as to
the threads of manipulation and lying, pride and insecurity, maintain our own system of values alive and intact. And it
lack of understanding from either one’s own or the opposing matters little if this murder necessitates our own loss.
camp, rejection and opprobrium, injustice and frustration, lack
of support and solidarity, as well as the despair arising from
powerlessness to cope with a complex situation. Things fall The exhibition When things fall apart, Critical voices on the
apart addresses the denial of the Other because of his radars is a metaphor of Achebe’s novel. But rather than
difference; autocratic regimes blighting society; resistance to staging the dichotomy of a hostile geopolitical, economic,
change and the inability to adapt to a world inexorably socio-cultural and religious relationship based on "us" versus
changing for the better and the worse. The tragic destiny of "them", it transcends our relations with others by analyzing
Okwonko, the main character in the novel, is due to his contextual similarities between Things fall apart and our own
obstinate refusal to accept the ineluctable evolution of his time. As indeed, in our contemporary era the values of the
universe. A mutation he struggles to accept because he Age of Enlightenment are no longer anything but a romantic
cannot conceive it, does not perceive it and does not memory gathering dust in old history books. The world of
understand it. And this refusal will lead to his ruin, to his being today has buried the concept of a universal moral code based
the powerless witness of what he thinks is the decline of his on a common human condition. Societies, increasingly build
age-old society, which, far from disappearing, is only on groups sharing the same land, the same skin color, the
undergoing metamorphosis and regeneration. Although the same religion, the same social values and the same cultural
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 5
references, withdraw themselves behind solid concrete and fratricidal conflicts, as there is only one race: the human race.
barbed wire borders reckoned to be impregnable. Physical Achebe’s novel acts as an implacable warning reminding us
travel has become a potentially dangerous act since the that the little we have retained of History could be the reason
collective consciousness decreed that foreign territories – why societies, throughout the entire world, create their own
whether a neighboring town or another continent – had been Nemesis by living in a constant state of intolerance, rejection
invaded by hordes of vindictive barbarians and terrorists of all and fear. The desire of encounter is just an illusion; the
kinds with improbable demands and unacceptable actions. promise of fruitful and inspiring cultural exchanges a pipe
The encounter with the Other now happens through the dream. It is to believe that the cultural contamination we all
reassuring screen of a computer or a cell phone that serves inherited has been stroke by an irrevocable amnesia. As the
as a benevolent protective wall. For the Other is potentially genes of spiritual values and of socio-cultural blending dating
interesting, funny, relevant and inspiring on condition that he back centuries that each of us carries seem to be a taboo
remains at home, at a distance, and contents himself with subject that hardly anyone dares to proclaim openly to avoid
posting videos, photographs and short texts on his well- any public condemnation. The world today has put aside the
regulated little life so similar to our own. These new virtual great humanist ideas that extolled the notions of liberty,
communities, borrowing the codes of the clan, share the same independence, freedom of choice, tolerance, justice, open-
aesthetic and socio-cultural references as well as the same mindedness, curiosity and solidarity. In spite of technological
jargon. This new tendency of dehumanized contact scarcely progress and the appearance of material prosperity, our world,
conceals the inability of human beings to positively challenge like that of Okonkwo in the 19th century, is falling apart
encounter and to embrace their fears, whether real or because the general tendency to withdrawal into oneself is the
phantasmagorical. For this stranger in the mirror, on the other first step towards obscurantism and death. In Things fall apart,
side of the screen or the frontier, who is considered as in all his other literary works, Chinua Achebe refuses to
malevolent because different, has become the reflection of our come out in favor of any of the extremists, and emphasizes
own anxieties. Almost sixty years after the first publication of the vital necessity to overcome our dissimilarities in order to
his novel Achebe is undoubtedly a visionary mind to urgently establish dialogue and sharing, for the survival of the
revisit, as the context of Things fall apart and Okonkwo’s community is at stake, for the survival of humanity is at stake.
trajectory have ironic echoes that seem to ridicule the world of Today, like yesterday, human beings, the architects of their
today. For the (re)-discovery of all the lands of the earth past and their present, behave as tragic gravediggers of their
during past centuries, like the abolition of frontiers made own destiny.
virtually possible thanks to the internet today, has, instead of
opening up an infinite realm of inspiring interactions, created a When things fall apart, Critical Voices on the radars is an
vast intersection of fratricidal conflict. For however much this exhibition directing a critical gaze at a world that is drifting
might displease the narrow-minded, these are always because it is adopting as guiding principles the denial of
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 6
difference and change, manipulation of masses and of is, with meticulous care, digging the trench of
historical facts, as well as withdrawal into oneself. Through the incomprehension dividing human beings.
prism of art, twelve critical voices from Africa, South East
Asia, the Middle East and Central America take a stand
against societies suffering a chronic pathological deficiency of ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN FREE AND EQUAL IN
Equal Justice, Social Change and Empathy. DIGNITY AND RIGHTS.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the
General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 sounds today
There is no witness so dreadful, no accuser so terrible as the like a tired old song that is utopian and obsolete. Can one
conscience that that dwells in the heart of every man.* claim without any reasonable doubt that people, individually or
collectively, really have all the same rights, irrespective of their
Pascal Marthine Tayou has an almost visceral aversion to gender, their nationality, the color of their skin, their sexual
hypocrisy, pretense and conservative social codes that orientation, their religion and their age?
destroy all freedom of thought and action. At the end of the In response to how can a voice be revolutionary? four
eighties, Jean Apollinaire gave up his law studies, changed critical voices analyze the concept of Equal Justice by
his first names to Pascale Marthine in honor of his parents, exploring issues related to Gender, Race and Sexuality.
and started creating installations. He was convinced that law
was not an appropriate vehicle for jolting the nation into Milumbe Haimbe believes that women are misrepresented or
awareness and having an impact on society. Defining himself objectified in the popular media. According to her, even if
as a producer of reflections on the state of the world, his work current audiences’ perceptions are shaped by a variety of
as an artist entails a process of critical analysis of socio- background knowledge and cultural references, many
political contexts. Things fall apart, a direct reference to mainstream media still portray a narrow-minded view. Haimbe
Chinua Achebe’s novel, evokes a contemporary world that is is of a school of thought believing that popular culture
collapsing, deaf and blind to all signs of economic, provides the symbols, myths and resources through which we
environmental, social and political degradation. With this huge develop our sense of selfhood and constitute a common
installation hanging from the ceiling, Tayou makes us believe culture. The danger of stereotyping women or excluding
that the entropy of the world is reaching its maximum, like a cultural minorities from popular media is that this paints a
joyful apocalypse that we welcome with open arms in constrained picture of what we should look like and how we
irresponsible thoughtlessness. And this uncontrolled sclerosis should behave and live, thus denying the reality of alternative
experiences. Her graphic novel Ananiya, the Revolutionist is
centered on the story of a bold, young, black female. The

artist sees her project as contributing to more justice and
* Polybe. Greek historian, military and political strategist, 2nd century BC.
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 7
equality. She believes that art has a responsibility to help as mediums for molding, resisting and subverting the status
introduce a radical interpretation of self-awareness that is quo. In her works, ritual performances are a tool to question
engineered by circumstances, particularly for non-Caucasian class and identity construction. The Flower is a tribute to the
people. By casting a minority, Haimbe tackles race, gender bravery of women, their struggles and their strength. It
and sexuality, advocating acceptance of a more inclusive celebrates generations of women who faced hardship due to
society. For it seems that communities do not accept discriminatory social, economic, and political systems. The
difference, that an ogre is meticulously anaesthetizing our video installation uses the motif of ritual performances to
intellectual and emotional capacity to have a more diversified unfold nuances in gender, womanhood, generation, and
vision of the world. Addressing openness of mind and sexuality. Sexual minorities are an endless source of
awareness, the work of Arahmaiani Feisal has been mapping inspiration for Barbirye Leilah to explore injustice, exclusion
the evolving meditations of an artist whose prolific life of and human rights. Openly lesbian, she uses the public domain
activism and artistic practice has been steadfast in its to demonstrate for her rights as well as to present her work.
relentless probing of social and political issues. Since 2010, a Her sculptures undergo a metamorphosis through the process
particular focus of her work has been on environmental issues of burning, nailing and reassembling. By reworking these
in the Tibetan plateau region, where she has been actively found objects, she allows herself the freedom to re-imagine
collaborating with local monks and villagers to foster her world. Her working process is fuelled by a need to find a
environmental preservation. In Do not prevent the fertility of language to respond to the anti-homosexuality bill, as well as
the mind she explores questions concerning brainwashing, to address the increasing intolerance of her society. Her
gender, and the inequality of human beings. It is at once a performances become metaphors of her social context when
warning against the quasi irremovable system of patriarchy, a she buries a fire. This act is a symbol of the experience of the
questioning of the place of women in contemporary societies LGBT community in her country: underground but not silent.
and a denunciation of the way the masses are manipulated. For Leilah, art and activism go hand in hand; they are her
This work, following the traditional approach of feminist artistic weapons for denouncing the attitude of all the politicians
productions, appropriates social clichés and visual symbols to dangerously flirting with racism and xenophobia. For the artist,
suggest that women will be the salvation of the principle of being alive and jailed will always be better than any silence
freedom of choice. Rehema Chachage also approaches the that will be synonymous with death.
issue of the condition of women through a criticism of
discrimination from the point of view of the stranger, the
outsider, the other, the alien and the often voiceless. Of late, IF YOU DON'T STAND FOR SOMETHING, YOU WILL FALL
she has been using rituals to read into social norms and FOR ANYTHING.
tensions, social relations and subversion. In many African This declaration by Malcolm X, American politician and civil
countries, women have been using cultural and spiritual rituals rights activist, seems exaggerated and outmoded in a 21st
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 8
century considering itself mature and which has been Galindo sees them as the public enemy number one. She has
predicted to be spiritual in nature. But the history of the 20th dedicated her artistic research and production to denouncing
century and the upheavals of this new millennium remind us their crimes against humanity and hopefully take them all
that people should take a stand as individuals as well as down. Coming from a country that experienced 36 years of the
collectively to defend and preserve their rights. Policies, bloodiest civil wars, left more than 200,000 dead and
ideologies and rules supposedly protecting the people are countless victims of physical and psychological traumas,
more often than not designed to split communities, increase Galindo is a radical performance artist who uses art to
the power of political leaders and abolish human progress. address politics, democracy and injustice. Taking a public
In response to what would a radical change look like? stand for the indigenous people, for over a decade she has
four critical voices analyze the concept of Social Change been condemning the rape of women and children, torture,
by exploring issues related to Politics, Democracy and massacres, the scorched earth strategy, violence, persecution
Human Development. and other inhuman tactics commonly practiced by the army
during the dark days. The 1996 peace agreement signed
Zen Marie explores urbanity, politics, leadership, human between the state and the guerrillas granted amnesty for the
development and nationalism. Coming from a nation where majority of serious crimes. This was the wake-up call for
successive politicians have made use of communitarianism, Galindo, who went down into the streets and performed her
questions of race and exclusion as foundations for the disgust before the passers-by. She always involves her body
Apartheid regime, he follows the tradition of artists who have in her performances, a body she injures in public as if this
used art as a weapon of cultural and political resistance. The process would heal the wounds of a society violently coerced
Perfect Leader is a video that borrows social and dress codes into denial. When the collective memory wobbles under the
as well as physical features from the collective unconscious to assault of deliberate mass manipulation caused by a
question the concept of the leader. As indeed it takes a great perversion of established facts, History becomes an
dose of arrogance or unconsciousness to lead people while outrageous fairy tale. A society defines itself by glorifying its
making them believe that we are the only one that can drive exploits, remaining silent about its shameful actions, and
them towards a better future. Drawing from the popular relying on the heritage of the generations of leaders that
imagination, Marie derides authority and all forms of power, preceded it. Taking African history as matrix of her projects,
whether it be religious, economic, social or political. The Wambui Kamiru examines politics, history and social
neutral presentation of the perfect leader is just a subterfuge engagement. As a citizen, she takes responsibility for the
to emphasize all his weaknesses. From pride to pretension, past, the present and the future of her continent. Art is her tool
though narcissism and vanity, Marie mocks the appetite of for having a public conversation with people and rethinking the
leaders for flattery. Whereas Marie adopts a light-hearted, role and legacy of political leaders and revolutionaries. Art is
almost affectionate tone to ridicule politicians, Regina José also a strategy used to rewrite African history and to envision
When things fall apart, Critical voices on the radars. Page 9