After two amazing years of Kosmos² (2015-2017), created and curated by Grada Kilomba, with inspiring guests, and a dedicated audience, we are closing the series with an evening dedicated to #13 SPOKEN WORD, with two wonderful female artists: Babiche Papaya (Rwanda) and Mariam Sawires (Egypt), followed by a farewell party with DJs Dj.DivaB, Grace Kelly and Moses Leo.
The artist talk series Kosmos² recalls the famous Kosmos lectures by Alexander von Humboldt. After his colonial journeys in the 19th century, Humboldt held these lectures at the Singakademie zu Berlin – today’s Maxim Gorki Theater – to describe and classify the world. With the series Kosmos², created and curated by Grada Kilomba in collaboration with Studio Я, we intend to create new configurations of power and knowledge. In conversation with artists, who were forced to flee home, cross borders, and become refugees, Kilomba raises the question: How can we transform spaces and decolonise knowledge and re-think artistic practices?
During these last two years, we have created the following series of Kosmos² Labor: #1 Knowledge, #2 Film, #3 Music, #4 Performance, #5 Activism, #6 Fine Arts, #7 Dance, #8 Literature, #9 Party, #10 Video Installation, #11Illustration, #12 Photography, # 13 Spoken Word.
We want to thank all the participating artists who made Kosmos² possible and beautiful: SINA ATAEIAN DENA (film-maker, Iran), RICHARD DJIMELI (film-maker, Cameroon), LIAN KHALAF (musician, Syria), SAMEE ULLAH (musician, Pakistan), MARTHA FESSEHATZION (actress, Germany/Ethiopia), MICHAEL EDODE OJAKE (actor, Nigeria), SARA-HIRUTH ZEDWE (actress, Germany/Ethiopia), MOSES LEO (actor, Germany/South Africa), ELIZABETH BLONZEN (actress, Germany), HAMZE BYTYCI (actor and activist, former Yugoslavia), ELIZABETH NGARI (activist, Kenya), RULA ALI (fine artist, Syria), OSAMA ZATAR (fine artist, Palestine), KAVEH GHAEMI (dancer, Iran), DIVA MAGUY (dancer and LGBTQ activist, Lebanon), SAID AIT EL MOUMEN (choreographer and dancer, Morocco), BINO BYANSI BYAKULEKA (writer, designer and activist, Uganda), RASHA ABBAS (writer, Syria), MILO KNEFATY (Musician, Syria), K.A.G.E (Kefaet Prizreni, Selami Prizreni, Hikmet Prizreni, Musicians, Gemany/ Romania), DIANA MCCARTY (Radio Moderator and Activist, USA), TASNIM BAGHDADI (Illustrator, Morocco/Germany), MOSHTARI HILAL (Illustrator, Afganistan), MUHAMMED LAMIN JADAMA (Photographer, SeneGambia), KRISHAN RAJAPAKSHE (Photographer, Sri Lanka), BABICHE PAPAYA (Spoken Word artist, Rwanda), MARIAM SAWIRES (Poet/Musician, Egypt).
Die Reihe Kosmos² wird gefördert von der Allianz Kulturstiftung und kuratiert von Grada Kilomba in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Studio Я.
